The step-by-step plan for supervising and hiring interns!

The benefits of hiring an intern

Are you considering offering an intern a place in your company? We can imagine that, because the benefits are many:

• First of all, it's good for your karma. As an internship provider, you are socially responsible. After all, you offer someone a good chance to learn new things and successfully complete an education.
• An intern takes a young, fresh look around your company and asks the questions you already stopped thinking about. In addition, your intern brings a lot of new knowledge directly from the course. You are also being put on edge again.
• If you've been struggling with a complicated issue for a while, that might be a perfect graduation job for an intern. He or she can provide the business advice you've been waiting for!
• The average intern has a huge drive. A study must be completed and a performance delivered. As a counselor, you will probably have to slow down rather than motivate.
• If there is a good click between the organisation and the intern, this could just become your new employee. By now you know what you have in common, so it recruitment and selection process you can mostly skip.

That probably sounds like music to your ears. But you know us. We write our blogs for good reason, we want to share knowledge!

So read on, because we have drawn up a step-by-step plan for anyone who is considering one or more to hire trainees.

Step-by-step plan for supervising & hiring an intern

1. Step 1 - Determine your investment in time, attention and money

It may seem very easy: such a motivated person in the house who pays you little or nothing. Make no mistake. An intern is entitled to good guidance. At a great internship, where new knowledge and skills can be gained. And that requires an investment in time, attention and therefore money.

Calculate that before you open an internship. If you do not do that, there is a good chance that the intern will drop out prematurely, or will score a big failure on the course. Of course, no one is waiting for that. Make sure you have a good internal internship supervisor who likes to teach someone the tricks of the trade and who can also set aside enough hours in the agenda. Involve the supervisor in the selection process as well, so you can be sure that there is a mutual click.

2. Step 2 - Do you meet the conditions?

There are still some formal snags at an internship, which are worth investigating before you decide to embark on the internship path.

Do you want to offer space for a VMBO or MBO intern? Then you must comply with the conditions that are set for an approved training company. It is therefore necessary to go through a few extra steps before you can actually recruit and hire an intern.

Such recognition is not necessary for higher professional education or university students. However, this does not alter the fact that the course sets requirements for the content of the internship assignment and the accompanying guidance. So be well informed before making commitments to a candidate. Of course, a good intern often knows everything about it, but it doesn't hurt to also contact the university or school yourself.

It is also possible that, as an internship provider, you are entitled to a subsidy. Check whether this is the case in good time, and especially do that before you actually record things, to avoid fishing off the net.

3. Step 3- Draft an internship agreement

Record the agreements with the intern in an internship agreement. You usually not only conclude it with the student, but the school or university is also a party to the contact. Is your intern under 16 years old? Then the parents must also sign. In any case, include the following parts in the agreement:

• Activities
• Learning objectives
• Working hours
• Liability
• Any internship allowance (check the course and your collective labor agreement)
• Conditions in case of dysfunction or illness (notice period, costs)

Of course, it all has to be legally correct, but it doesn't have to be higher mathematics. Not at all! Opt for clear readability, so that everyone really understands what is written and what is expected of all parties.

4. Step 4- How do you supervise an intern?

See your intern as a 'real' employee! An internship supervisor is not an employer; an intern is also not a staff. Indeed, you have a different relationship with each other. But that does not mean that an intern also has rights. To name a few:

• The Working Conditions Act equates an intern with employees: as an internship provider, you must ensure a safe, healthy work environment. Provide protective equipment if necessary and check that they are also being used properly.
• Ensure a healthy schedule that complies with the Working Time Act.
• Include the intern in the payroll administration if there is a fee, and check which rules apply to the situation.
• As an internship provider, you are responsible for damage caused by the intern.

Of course, apart from the legal frameworks, it just feels good to act as a pleasant, responsible employer. With the added advantage that, by arranging it neatly (or even more than that) now, you immediately give a boost to your employer branding.

Talk about a win-win situation!

5. Step 5- Get your intern off to a flying start

Keep in mind that, as an internship provider, you are often the first real “workplace” for your intern. It is often a young newcomer to the labor market who still has a lot to learn about relationships of authority and fulfilling agreements. Sometimes even the coffee machine or printer still has secrets that need to be explained.

Therefore, make sure you have a permanent supervisor and a good induction program.

Don't take too big steps. Give your trainee enough space to learn. It is important to explicitly invite you to mainly ask questions, with the premise that stupid questions don't exist, but stupid answers do.

Also, check regularly whether your guidance is still sufficiently in line with the internship assignment. Do you doubt it and the intern can't figure it out himself? Then a little extra support and guidance wouldn't hurt. Then feel free to contact the contact person from the course together with the intern.

Useful tools for supervising interns

Of course, you can write down a lot in your notebook or a document on your laptop. But it can also be so much more convenient. There are many options: make use of a online platform where you can chat, keep track of developments and pop-ups appear when important deadlines approach. Feel free to ask us to think along with you! Take contact on for a free brainstorm.