Keeping in Touch After the Internship...

One of the mistakes intern supervisors often make is NOT keeping in-touch with their interns after the internship concludes. This lack of ongoing communication may occur for a variety of reasons. For example, I’ve often heard supervisors tell me they simply “got too busy” with work, or that they were promoted. While these explanations are completely understandable, a lot of opportunities are lost as a result.

Although the internship is officially over, you’d be very wise to keep in touch with your (now former) intern throughout the following year. This situation applies to interns who have already received a job offer, who will receive a job offer in the future, and who will never receive a job offer. You want to make absolutely sure that you ask the student for his or her forwarding information (including a non-campus email address) before they leave. Your goal is to ensure that the relationship you’ve developed with the student remains strong throughout the final year (or years) in school.

Why is this so important? Let’s look at the following scenarios:

1.      You’ve offered the student a position, and he or she has accepted.

Great! Fantastic! Congratulations! But wait a minute. There’s almost an entire year between now and the date the student would officially start as a permanent employee. Hmmm… Isn’t there a fairly large recruiting program at the student’s school? Aren’t there other companies who do the same thing you do? And have better benefits? And pay more? And offer more exciting opportunities?

Despite the fact that students are repeatedly told to never renege on an accepted offer, it occasionally happens. If you keep in touch with the student throughout the course of the academic year, it won’t necessarily prevent this kind of thing from happening, but it could make it less likely.

2.      You haven’t offered the student a position yet, but you plan to later down the road.

Wonderful! You already have a (potential) head start on filling your recruiting pipeline. But again, your organization is one of many competing for top talent. Don’t think that your intern isn’t checking out all of the other fabulous opportunities available to him or her. In this scenario, you must continue to woo your intern throughout the year, or else you’ll risk losing him or her to another company. Remember, memories only last for so long, and the loving feelings that your intern has towards your company in September may quickly fade by February—unless you make some effort to retain the student’s interest.

3.      You didn’t offer the student a position because there wasn’t an opportunity to do so.

No open positions right now? Not a problem. But given the recent instability of the economy and the workforce, who’s to say that things won’t change on a moment’s notice? By staying in touch with the student, you may also become connected to other students (who may be better fits for jobs that eventually open up). The most successful headhunters know that you should always end your conversation with a candidate by asking, “Who else do you know?” Or, “To whom can you refer me?”

The same principle applies when working with students. Literally and figuratively, they’re connected to hundreds of other students— through both interpersonal relationships and social media platforms. Therefore, staying in touch with your intern (despite the fact that there aren’t any current opportunities available) is a smart way to recruit in the future.

There are several ways that you can choose to stay in touch with your intern. Some actions require more time and effort than others. But any of them are perfectly acceptable, and they’ll accomplish your goal of maintaining some form of contact throughout the following year. Regardless of the approach, it’s important to regularly communicate, so that your organization is never far from the intern’s mind.

Here are some tried and true methods to consider:

• Send cards (e.g., holidays, birthdays, and good luck)
• Send food (e.g., candy for Valentine’s Day and Halloween and pizza for exam weeks)
• Email the company newsletter or a monthly update about new projects and/or people
• Invite the student back for company gatherings (e.g., picnics, sporting events, and holiday parties)
• Establish a company presence on social media, and friend the student.
• Sponsor a campus event, preferably one in which the student participates.
• Offer to have the student work at your company part-time or during school breaks, or ask him or her to contribute to a special project.
• Continue the mentoring relationship by having monthly lunches together.
• Randomly pick up the phone, and call to say hello.

Another idea that’s worth mentioning has been successfully used by larger organizations for quite some time. Here’s the theory: Students who have interned within your company (and who have had great experiences) will be able to help you in your recruiting efforts by helping to convince other (top) students to find out more about available opportunities within the organization.  These programs are sometimes called “ambassador” programs because your former interns act as goodwill emissaries, and spread positive press about their experiences as interns.

Some companies choose to compensate their former interns for this work, but others don’t. The ones that pay usually require the interns to conduct more formal marketing campaigns. The recommendations that the student ambassadors make can easily lead to increased interest amongst the student body, which can save you a significant amount of time and money.

One of the reasons these programs are so successful is because students tend to listen to other students more than anyone else. Fellow students appear more credible and believable than recruiting professionals or Career Services representatives. Therefore, the information they provide holds more weight. Here’s another reason an ambassador program works well: Students are extremely knowledgeable about their school’s unique culture and communication mechanisms. They know exactly when, where, and how to tap into the best student talent. Whether it’s student groups, clubs, classes, extracurricular sports, and online programs, great students will attract and interact with other great students—which will result in a self-generating target market of exceptional students!        

Although it may be time to say goodbye to the internship, it’s not time to say goodbye to the intern! Keeping in touch with your intern during the school year can yeild immeasurable benefits.