School is coming to an end for another year, and many students will be participating in internships for the summer. An internship can be a real win-win situation—the hirer (you) gets low cost or even free help while the intern gains valuable work experience.

I did a number of internships in my college days. I’ve also managed interns in my professional days. When I worked for a small, post production company in Boston, we had an intern in our office every day of the week. They helped us with tasks such as blacking out tapes, burning DVDs and videotapes for our clients, assisted in shooting projects, and brought a great, young energy into the office.

What did they get out of it? They got to use state-of-the-art professional shooting and editing equipment for free. Many of these students couldn’t even get their hands on stuff this awesome at their colleges. Plus, they were encouraged to create their own projects when the equipment was free, which happened often since we were such a small shop.

In graduate school I was an intern at both PRWeek and Inc.com—two business publications where I learned a tremendous amount. The best part of going to grad school was that it allowed me to take advantage of some stellar internship opportunities.

I know I have been lucky, especially when I read about interns who are worked to the bone and aren’t learning much. This recent article in The New York Times shares some horror stories.

Many students who are graduating are having a tough time finding work, and thus are turning to unpaid internships in the hopes it will help their resumes. Many are finding that the internships aren’t all they’re cracked up to be—that they’re working 12 hour days doing menial tasks like grabbing lunch and cleaning, which, if the internship is unpaid, is actually against the law.

If you’ve been thinking about hiring an intern, here are some things you should think about:

Keep it Legal

In order for an internship to be legal, it has to fall under certain criteria. You need to either pay the intern or the intern must receive college credit.

The Labor Department says that if employers do not want to pay their interns, the internships must resemble vocational education, the interns must work under close supervision, their work cannot be used as a substitute for regular employees and their work cannot be of immediate benefit to the employer. —The New York Times

I found the following information about the Fair Labor Standards Act at YFS Magazine:

If an internship is unpaid, it must qualify as a trainee program and meet the following criteria:

• Intern must receive on the job training.
• Intern can’t be sued to displace other workers.
• Interns can’t be offered a guarantee of employment once the internship is completed.
• Intern must be taught skills which could transfer to other career opportunities.
• Intern must receive industry-specific training.
• Intern must be aware that he/she is not entitled to wages or compensation.
• You can’t receive immediate benefit from the intern’s activity (though you should expect to get some productive work by the end of the experience).

Paid internships give employers a little more leeway, since the intern is benefiting monetarily. Still, you shouldn’t use your intern as your personal cook/shopper/laundry person, but if you have them pick up lunch or coffee, you’re less likely to be sued if they’re being paid.

Hire Wisely

When you look to hire your intern, do so like you would any other employee. Have interns submit a resume and samples of work, if they have them, and interview them. It’s good practice for them and it means you can pick and choose who you want to work with.

You want to make sure your intern is the right fit for you, since you’ll be spending time teaching them the ropes and trusting them with responsibilities. Find someone who is excited about learning and anxious to work. You don’t want to hire an intern who calls out sick once or twice a week or doesn’t show up on time. That’s more frustrating than it’s worth for you.

Create a Plan

You can’t just have your intern answer your phone and make photo copies for you. Those are things regular employees can do and don’t offer much benefit to interns. What you should do is come up with a plan for what an intern should be able to accomplish during their time with you.

Depending on what it is that you do, create a plan so the intern doesn’t show up every day not knowing what to do. Whether it’s writing blog posts or updating your website to working on crafting press releases, let them shadow you. Give them something meaningful to work on and critique them once they are finished. If they create a killer press release, use it!

Having an intern isn’t always easy, but the benefits can be great. You get to mentor the younger generation and teach them the skills they will need to succeed in the “real world.” And the right intern can benefit you, too! They may have a certain skill set that you want to tap into and even learn. Creating the right program and hiring the right person can be a very rewarding experience.

Photo credit: Some rights reserved by xilius.

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