Evaluating your internship programme
Evaluating your internship programme on a regular basis will help you connect more effectively with future interns and provide you with the best opportunities for discovering future professional accountants for your business.
INTERNS BECOMING FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES
Internship programmes can help employers identify future talent. Internship programmes should provide a positive experience for both the intern and the employer, and employers should consider and evaluate each intern as a potential future full-time employee.
Recommendations for evaluating interns and making an offer of employment include the following.
- Discuss potential opportunities with your intern and establish whether they are interested in joining your organisation as a full-time employee.
- Use evaluations from managers and/or mentors to establish the business case for hiring the intern.
- If feasible, make offers before the end of the internship or before their final exams (if they are still studying).
- Be clear about what any future role within the organisation might involve, will it be a continuation of current work, or will it mean taking on different/ additional areas of responsibility?
EVALUATING YOUR INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME
Creating and building an internship programme is just the beginning. Evaluating your internship programme on a regular basis will help you connect more effectively with future interns and provide you with the best opportunities for discovering future professional accountants for your business. Evaluation and feedback will help improve your internship programme.
Tips for evaluating your internship include:
- seeking feedback from interns on completion of the programme
- seeking feedback from mentors and/or supervisors on how successful the internship was in terms of meeting business needs
- if possible, discussing your internship programme with local colleges and universities to see if you are providing the type of work experience desired by students.
Further reading and resources: