How to Hire a Middlebury College Intern Ursula Olender Director of Career Advising and Employer Relations Dee Gilbert Assistant Director of Employer Relations and Outreach
Agenda ▪ College students and Vermont ▪ What makes a successful and meaningful internship ▪ Before, during, and after the internship ▪ Posting and recruiting
Vermont Initiatives In addition to enriching the undergraduate experience, Vermont-related initiatives can: • Facilitate a path for college graduates to stay in Vermont for post-grad employment. • Contribute to a more robust Vermont economy.
The Numbers 10% of our students have identified Vermont as a geographic preference for jobs and internships. Many of our graduates remain in Vermont for employment or grad school. Approximately 2,000 alumni live in Vermont. Middlebury students provide approximately 50,000 volunteer service hours annually in Vermont.
What is an Internship A typical internship : ▪ Includes developing intentional learning objective goals that are structured into the experience and supervised by a professional with relevant and related background in the field. ▪ Promotes academic, career and/or personal development. ▪ Balances the intern’s learning goals with the organization’s needs. ▪ Involves industry related and soft skill development. ▪ Provides adequate supervision in a reasonably safe environment with the necessary tools to perform the learning goals agreed upon for the duration of the internship. An Internship is NOT : ▪ Free help. ▪ Meant to replace an employee. ▪ More than 20% busy work (filing, covering phone, errands).
Who are the Interns Middlebury College’s class of 2023 offers wide range of talents ● Members of the incoming class are from 42 states, Washington, D.C., and 56 countries. ● 11% are the first in their families to attend college ● 27% are students of color and 12% of the class are international students And what about Generation Z? Source: EY
Skills Sought by Employers Very Important* Skills for Recent College Graduates We Are Hiring Fulfilling the American Dream: Liberal Education and the Future of Work/2018 Employers Survey
Career Readiness Competencies The National Association of Colleges and Employers defines career readiness as the attainment and demonstration of requisite competencies that broadly prepare college graduates for a successful transition into the workplace. ● Critical Thinking/Problem Solving ● Oral/Written Communications ● Teamwork/Collaboration ● Digital Technology ● Leadership ● Professionalism/Work Ethic ● Career Management ● Global/Intercultural Fluency
What Makes an Internship Great ▪ Thoughtful training and orientation ▪ Meaningful and challenging projects ▪ Development of goals and objectives and a specific plan to meet them ▪ Regular meetings with the intern to provide guidance and constructive feedback ▪ Opportunities to interact with others “… I was able to shadow numerous clinicians during their clinics or grab coffee with them and learn about their experience in their field and their journey that led them to where they were today. This was something that I found to be the most influential aspect of my internship because I was able to meet women in the field that I desired to be in, and these connections helped me to set goals for what I would like to do in the future with my career.”
Before the Internship Begins Determine if your organization is ready for an intern. What does your organization hope to gain? What are the tools and workspace necessary to provide the student Who will be primarily responsible for the intern(s). Will that person be a mentor, supervisor or both? Do they have time ?
Before the Internship Begins Develop a Clearly Defined Job Description ● Paint a picture of the position ● Describe the work environment ● Outline the day-to-day duties Keep language gender-neutral/gender-inclusive ○ Use descriptive adverbs ○ ○ Clearly describe what you would consider success in this role ● Requirements ● Compensation ● Choose a title for the position
Our internship program is designed to launch your career as a digital marketing strategist. This is a paid internship in the heart of Kendall Square’s thriving tech scene. You’ll work directly with brands on real world projects. Highlights Digital Marketing Intern ● Opportunity to grow at a fast moving company ● Fun work environment with entrepreneurial people ● Ability to run your own projects ● Gain real world experience ● Earn Google certifications “I was able to get my hands dirty on client projects within days of starting at Fire&Spark. The work I did during my internship prepared me to excel in my role as a full- time analyst at Fire&Spark.” - Noah G. (fall 2018 intern) “I was thrilled when I was given challenging and meaningful work on my first day as an intern. On top of this, I have found it to be a fast-paced but supportive work environment. Everyone around you wants you to succeed.” - Auden E. (summer 2019 intern) Training Our training program includes three components that combine to accelerate your learning opportunities and career growth. 1. Pairing with a senior digital strategist - Weekly one-on-one meetings with an experienced marketer to guide your learning and get your questions answered. 2. Hands-on work with our clients - You will work directly with our brand name or startup clients, delivering analytical market research and digital campaign management services. 3. Learning materials and certifications - Our structured curriculum is designed to help you acquire the knowledge you need to excel as a digital marketing analyst Specific learning objectives : web analytics, search engine optimization, written/oral communication, content marketing, market research and Amazon marketing. Our team is looking for interns who are passionate about learning digital marketing and enthusiastic about applying analytical methods to digital campaigns that benefit our clients. We look for applicants who are detail oriented with phenomenal communication skills (written and verbal). If you like working with numbers in Excel to figure out what they mean then explaining your findings to a client, you might thrive in our internship. Our ideal candidate has the skillset of an investigative journalist -- s/he works hard to uncover the facts, figure out what they mean and explain the findings to others.
You will work with nonprofit staff on important projects, build policy expertise and gain valuable professional development skills. This is an excellent opportunity to experience food and farming policy advocacy while working for a well-established, community-based nonprofit organization. Responsibilities : ● Developing, designing, and maintaining resources for our website, blog, and farm to school resource site; ● Collecting data on existing programs from teachers, administrators, and food service directors via surveys or phone interviews; ● Developing comprehensive “healthy food environment” plans for schools and food pantries; ● Conducting research on grant opportunities and partnerships; ● Collaborating with staff on new ideas, directions, and venues for training and communications with local advocates (including teachers, parents, school administrators and community members); ● And, generally supporting the Food & Farming Policy Specialists as needed. “I've adopted a set of skills during my time at Midd that allow me to take what I know, and apply it to other disciplines. I was able to utilize this skill in my internship on many different occasions.”
Before the Internship Begins Establish expectations during the interview process ▪ ▪ Discuss the objectives and goals of the position as part of the initial recruiting stage ▪ Determine who will be a mentor or coach for the intern – this may be someone besides their direct manager NOTE: For Middlebury, an adequate number of weekly hours is 30-40 in summer, 25 during January term (four weeks) and 5 to 10 in fall and spring.
During the Internship ▪ Introduce the intern(s) to staff ▪ Review learning goals and revise if necessary ▪ Provide resources to the intern. Consider creating an intern handbook or guidelines sheet ▪ Set measurable timelines and goals and keep the intern accountable for reporting their progress against them ▪ Provide ongoing professional development opportunities when possible ▪ Provide feedback to the intern throughout the internship period ▪ Provide opportunities for intern to ask questions
After the Internship ▪ Provide feedback to the intern at the end of the internship and ask them for feedback as well. ▪ What did they enjoy the most? What would they suggest for the next intern? ▪ Take the time to learn about the intern’s experience and see if there are ways to improve the program. Give them time to reflect . ▪ Provide feedback to Middlebury. This will help us improve preparing our students for work in your organization.
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