Reverse Internship/Mentoring

One day while scrolling through the internet I found a viral post about an ad for an interning job where you pay $15 an hour to intern at the company. of course, it was a scam ad. I wasn’t surprised though, there have been so many scam ads over the years, and most are deliberately doing it because they know how desperate people out there are for jobs. Especially when you are a recent graduate excited for your future.

Eventually what caught my eye about this whole saga was the word ‘’Reverse internship’’ this word I had not heard of before. On the ad, they said reverse internship is where you intern at a company but you are the one who pays the company instead. A lot of people who posted their comments said it was ridiculous. How would you pay to use your skills? When you are struggling yourself?

There was one lady in particular who said she had paid once to intern at a certain company. To be fair though, she said it was an NGO, and the only place that had the resources to she could use. So she was happy paying for it as long as she used their resources.

So being that I set out to learn new things, I ventured into learning more about what reverse internship is and trying to see if it something I might be able to do in future. 

Turns out, this reverse internship is real but not how the scam ad presented it. There are companies who do reverse internships programs in a number of ways and I was able to pick out two which stood out.

Reverse mentoring.

This is a program where student’s advice company executives on solutions to implement to be successful.

Most industries are constantly adapting to the rapid pace of change brought by new technology, competition, and consumer preferences. So these companies hire interns who work directly with the executives to coach and mentor them. Where they have old, uptight ideas, young people share lively and fresh ideas. The company gains and the intern gains. During this process, the interns will come up with solution ideas that they will share with the company, and if the ideas get implemented by the company, the company rewards the students in terms of money, jobs or scholarships.

Reverse career fair

Career fairs have existed for as long as I can remember, and it is always companies showcasing how good their company is and what you will become working for that company. In a twist of things though, reverse career fair is where the focus is on the students and not on the companies. In these events, each student has their own table or booth where they welcome and interview potential employers.

They have an opportunity to take control of the kind of questions to ask to determine if the company will be fit for them. I think that’s freedom.

As a business owner I am always looking for excellent ideas that involve the hiring process, how to attract talent, retain and how to create a sustainable culture that most employees will be happy with. Especially more so now that we are not able to afford the kind of talent we wish to attract. These two ideas came at a perfect time. And I am sure they can be real game changers for recruiters and companies at large.

Is this something you are willing to look into or your company is already working on? What do you think?