New Graduates Can Help Your Side Hustle

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As you may know I am a big fan of outsourcing, but when I’m asked about it, typically people want to know about one thing – interns. The idea of hiring interns is appealing, but the practicality of finding good ones and deciding how best to use them can be tricky.

I’ve had a history of success with hiring interns to help me at ListProducer.com and PaulaRizzo.com , and while some of that comes down to luck, there are ways to increase your chances of creating a successful internship for both the employer and the intern.

Where to find them

June is graduation season, which means there are plenty of excited fresh graduates out there who are looking to get started on their careers. So where’s the best place to find them? Big websites like Indeed or SimplyHired seem like a good place to start, but there’s so many postings it’s easy for yours to get lost among the many. So where should you put ads?

Your Own Website – When looking for an intern, you want to find someone who’s at least interested in your business or your field of expertise. So perhaps one of the best places to start would be to look at the people you already know. If you have a sizable following there’s bound to be a few graduates or people looking for extra work on that list!

LinkedIn – Many colleges encourage students to build LinkedIn profiles and try to connect with people who are in the industry they would like to work in. Even if, like me, you don’t connect with people you don’t know you can still publish job postings on to LinkedIn or in various alumni groups or other private boards. That way any student doing their research should be able to find it.

Idealist.org – This 501(c)3 helps people find internships, jobs and volunteer opportunities. If you’re interested in working with a nonprofit, this is the site you should check out. Applicants can search for internships by keyword, skill or interest, as well as narrowing down by location, including remote options!

Your Alma Mater – Many colleges have services that allow alumni to publish job and internship listings for current and graduating students. This is great if your business is still based in your college town or if you’re looking for a remote intern. You know what kind of education level to expect from the graduates and what they might need more help based on your own experiences. Plus it feels good to give back.??

Delegating tasks

So you’ve found yourself an intern, now what do you give them to do?

Scheduling – To keep everyone on track I have always had a weekly call with my interns. This way we can talk about upcoming events in the calendar and pitch blog post ideas. This ties in with an online calendar and Notion database that we all have access to, so everyone knows what’s going on. During the week we stay in communication with email and Slack. With a newer intern I might have a larger role in checking over work or answering questions, but as time goes on they tend to become quite self-sufficient once you lay the groundwork.

Tasks – If you’ve never had an intern before you might be a little hesitant about giving away anything you think might be “too important.”. Part of having an intern means putting a little faith in them though. Write a list of everything you do for your business and then grade how easy the tasks are. To first test the waters and help the intern ease into things you can give them the easier tasks and as they become more confident you can progress up the ladder. I would recommend keeping most of the harder tasks to yourself, but if you think the intern is up to it you can delegate as much as you like!

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Make it worthwhile for them

The purpose of an internship is to help a person to gain experience in their chosen field while you lighten a bit of your workload. And most interns are looking for payment in exchange for their time. So don’t set out with the idea of just pawning off every task you find boring, but at the same time don’t put too much pressure on the intern to achieve things beyond their scope. You’ll find a good balance.

What type of internship did you have or want to have when you left college?

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BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

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