The University Space A discussion of corporate university recruiting strategies with experts in the field

You’ve successfully hit the hiring goals of your growing internship recruitment program. You now have your largest group of undergrad and graduate interns reporting to work for their 2011 experience. Your primary goal MAY be to help them have a rich and meaningful “professional” experience over the next 10 to 12 weeks. If you succeed, you’ll have a better shot at placing this crop of young professionals into full-time positions next year.

But you really could—and should—expect a more substantial and long-term return from your program investment. After all, you’ll be working hard at this same task year after year.

Here are 10 ideas that you can apply right now to help this year’s internship experiences deliver longer-term value for your business and for its employer brand among students.

1. Provide story-telling channels
   Interns who feel well utilized will want to tell their stories. Why not provide a channel for them to tell that story… connected to your employer brand. These could include intern diaries, YouTube video channels, or even relatively low-key blog posts.  The stories that get told will show future candidates what a great internship experience looks and feels like. You’ll also have a chance to use these stories as compelling content in a whole range of more “official” places.
2. Connect interns with executives
   If you tell candidates that THEY are the future leaders of your enterprise, why not prove it to them by connecting them with the current leaders? You can be sure that the most confident among them will feel they have a lot to offer the executive team (and they probably do). You may also be offering your current executive team some innovative ideas from a younger generation that approaches problems differently.
3. Disconnect toxic line managers
   We know they exist in every organization… that line manager who just isn’t cut out to lead young, emerging talent. We all need to remember that there are fewer ways to burn critical program dollars than to have a toxic manager offer a disappointing experience.  We put our A-team on winning the best new customers… let’s put our A-team managers on engaging our best new talent.
4. Offer seasonal challenges
   Give interns a chance to prove their potential by offering exciting seasonal challenges. Remember that interns from all functional roles are critical to your business success, so make challenges broad enough to interest everyone.  Then recognize and reward the heck out of those who offer great solutions.
5. Plan REAL work assignments
   Gen-Y interns are prepared to change the world. Fixing other people’s half-baked PowerPoint presentations IS NOT world changing and it won’t turn them into advocates for your business or your culture.  We all know that it takes advanced planning, but your innovative team of engaged line managers can help.  Make sure the assignment sends interns back to school with rich stories of important, challenging work.  They’ll be advocates for many years to come.
6. Create a tiered program structure
   You many have heard us talk about how Disney moves successful interns to a more advanced level of assignment in their second year. This not only creates continuity (because successful interns want to come back), but also sets up a culture focused on advancement.  After all, people who know how to succeed in YOUR organization are the people you should hire.
7. Help interns connect with one another
   One of the richest rewards of a great culture is the great people you meet there. By creating events and experiences that allow your interns to network and connect with one another, you’ll build memories and bonds that will be related to a rich experience with your company. Picnics and networking events can help… private social networks are even better. One way or another, you’ll offer value as an important shared experience among smart emerging talent.
8. Build a showcase of talent
   You’ve probably had interns before, and you’ll probably have them in the future.  Show off your legacy of successful interns from each of your key schools.  You’ll help future interns see themselves playing important and successful roles in your organization.  You’ll also create amazing relationships with advisors and faculty members at each school.
9. Establish a campus ambassador program
   Successful interns want to know that they’ve done something for you worth talking about. Ask them to come to campus presentations to tell their story (and yours). Chances are, if the experience was a good one, they’ll love the peer recognition. They’ll also tell a much more credible story about the kind of work and culture you offer.
10. Build bonds between alumni and interns
    If you want to build a powerful three-way relationship between your organization, talented student interns, and key universities… work on connecting successful university alumni with recently hired interns. You’ll be demonstrating an exciting legacy of performance and partnership between your company and each key university. You’ll also build valuable mentoring relationships between employees who have a strong common bond.

Find ways to remind candidates of those key emotional differentiators within your offer letter. Enable their due diligence with supportive collateral material or with credible brand stories from employees. Help them remember why they were drawn to your organization…from the gut.

The key to all these ideas is that brand is built by rich experiences connected with opportunities for ongoing word-of-mouth communication. And social media is the new engine of word-of-mouth communication.

Have fun with your interns this year. Those strong connections can reinforce your employer brand for many years to come.

Ray