One Essential Thing You Should Do on Your Summer Intern's First Day

College students and recent grads will begin to fill desks at corporate offices this week and next, performing stints as summer interns. Most people agree that summer internships are a great entryway for young 20-somethings looking to gain some footing. I still look back on my five internships with great fondness.

Supervisors hold a lot of power over how the internship goes for the budding professional. With the equipment and expectations our of the way, supervisors can broaden the focus of the first day to make introductions around the department and, depending on the size of the company, beyond.

Even in the internships I gained the most from professionally, I sometimes felt something was missing: I didn't have anyone to have lunch with, or I didn't take enough advantage of who was available. Some companies have more formal internship programs and encourage the group to communicate among them. This usually happens more organically, too.

But one easy thing that's often overlooked is pairing up the intern with people at the company a year or two ahead of them. There's tremendous value to be found in having peers to have lunch with and to ask questions about their experiences after graduation and during that difficult, often tumultuous first year out of school.

Accordingly, I pinged four junior members this afternoon to welcome our summer intern to the team. With that, she can hopefully find some people she connects with and can turn to.