As a small business owner building my business from the ground up, I’ve not had the option of hiring full-time staff in the early days of my startup. Instead, interns have played a significant role in helping the business grow.
Internships and apprenticeships offer numerous benefits to small businesses (and larger ones too!). After recently bidding farewell to my 9th and 10th interns, who both returned to the U.S. in late 2024, I’ve been reflecting on what I’ve learned from the experience and how I can make the most of future internships for both StreetHunt Games and the interns.
Here are my top five tips for making the most of what can be an invaluable resource.
Ensure the intern is properly onboarded and gains a strong understanding of the business
We run an outdoor adventure game company offering immersive, self-guided mysteries set in captivating locations—a unique blend of a grown-up scavenger hunt, escape room, and murder mystery, all played outdoors in the heart of a city, with the game accessed and guided through a smartphone.
For my business, onboarding begins with an initial presentation about what we do, along with an overview of our business strategy and goals. I then encourage each intern to spend time reviewing our website, social media accounts, and to also spend some time understanding our competitor offerings. They also head out to experience one of our games firsthand, ensuring they quickly gain an understanding of our offering from a customer’s perspective.
Through this experience, the intern is better equipped to produce work that is both insightful and valuable.
Key elements to consider during the onboarding process include:
Systems/Tech admin -Ensure the intern has access to all necessary tools and platforms to hit the ground running.
Business Processes – Discuss how and where they should document their work.
Branding and Values – Provide background on the business’s brand identity and core values, first hand wherever possible.
Expectations – Clarify working hours and arrangements for office or remote working, with dedicated meeting times.
Intern Goals – Understand their objectives and aspirations (more on this later).
Communication – Establish a system for the intern to ask questions and provide updates in a way that works for both of you.
Provide relevant training
To get the most out of internships, it’s crucial to ensure the intern has the necessary skills and capabilities to complete the tasks you assign. As these tasks are given, it’s worth investing time upfront to understand their experience level and ability to complete them independently. If there are any gaps, provide training. This approach ensures the quality of their work is significantly higher and reduces the likelihood of you needing to redo tasks, making it time well spent.
There are numerous online training resources available—such as YouTube or ChatGPT — I’ve also found excellent free Excel courses and training on tools like Google Analytics on platforms such as Udemy.
In addition to task-based training, it’s valuable to provide opportunities for professional development, such as goal-setting workshops or career-focused discussions. These help your interns gain a broader perspective and improve their skills for the future, ensuring they get the most out of their experience.
Common areas I’ve provided training on include Canva and AI courses (You Tube videos), excel (Udemy), PR (using courses from The PR Set) and Maddy Shine’s groups for SEO. I also attended a unique mood board workshop with an intern at the start of 2024, where we cut up magazines to create visual representations of our personal and professional goals for the year. It was a fantastic bonding experience and a creative way to reflect on our aspirations for the year ahead.
Find the right tasks
One of the trickiest aspects of making the internship process work for both business and intern is avoiding excessive time spent on setting tasks and answering questions. I’ve found the best way to mitigate this challenge is by assigning tasks based on the individual intern’s skillset.
Once you’ve started working with the intern and completed your onboarding process, you’ll have a better understanding of their strengths. Maximising the benefit of the internship involves playing to these strengths. Assign tasks that they are likely to enjoy and engage with, or at the very least, tasks they have the skills and knowledge to complete successfully.
I’ve listed below some tasks that have worked well for me with multiple interns. Once you’ve set up a task for the first time, make sure to document it in process notes so the setup becomes quicker in future. As questions come up about tasks, I add to the process notes, making them more comprehensive over time.
Research – Research is always an important element for small businesses, yet business owners often run out of time to do it themselves. Interns can perform research on competitors, marketing trends, partnership opportunities, influencers, and backlink targets. These tasks are easy to set up and can be very engaging for the intern, also bringing insight from fresh eyes and potentially a different demographic.
Recurrent Tasks – Tasks that need to be completed daily, weekly, or monthly are ideal for interns. Examples include creating social media content, responding to customer testimonials, bookkeeping, creating blog content and uploading those blogs to your website. In my experience, interns enjoy these tasks because they can improve their efficiency over time and become familiar with the work, which adds a sense of accomplishment. Creating marketing content like blogs or social media again can produce new ideas, whilst allowing interns to put their personal spin on your business.
Review Your Own To-Do List – Look at your own to-do list and identify tasks that never seem to rise to the top. How can you break them down and delegate some of this work to the intern? Having the accountability of working with interns can help you finally make progress on tasks that you have been avoiding.
Take advantage of having a new perspective in the business
I’ve been fortunate enough to have all my interns from Accent Global Learning, and the quality has been consistently high. Each intern has been enthusiastic, eager to learn, and brought a unique perspective.
Interns offer a distinct advantage to small businesses: they often have up-to-date knowledge of industry trends and technologies, thanks to their recent academic experiences. They’re keen to contribute and unafraid to challenge traditional ways of thinking, which can provide fresh insights into your business and help solve existing challenges with innovative solutions.
For businesses like ours, which integrate modern technology into real-world experiences, interns can offer valuable ideas on the latest apps, augmented reality features, and sustainability trends, alongside key insight into a specific customer segment.
An example of this has been in the onboarding process, where I ask interns to review our website and social media accounts, providing as much constructive feedback as possible. This review process and listening to their feedback has resulted in multiple changes to both the structure and content of our website, as well as adjustments to the type of content we share on social media. Interns have also identified partnership opportunities working with other types of businesses that I had not previously considered.
Listening and actioning these different perspectives has ultimately resulted in StreetHunt Games growing as a business.
Feedback, mentorship and checking in on the interns
It is essential to check in with the intern regularly throughout the internship. Ensure the tasks they’re assigned continue to engage, and ask if they have any other ideas for contributing to the business. I’ve found that the quality of work is always greater when the intern understands what they’re doing, is engaged in the task, and knows the benefit it will bring to the business. Even higher when the intern has put their hand up to do it themselves!
I also make an effort to share any thought leadership I receive as a small business founder with the intern, and provide updates on business strategy during their placement. This helps them see the wider context of their work and how it fits into the overall goals of the business.
If there are tasks or behaviours that aren’t working well, it’s important to address these as they arise, rather than waiting until the end of the internship. Give the intern the opportunity to adjust their approach, as it’s often the result of a miscommunication. Prompt open and honest feedback is critical to all successful work relationships – interns are no different!
Whether the internship is face-to-face or remote, regular catch-ups are essential. Ideally, face-to-face meetups and informal discussions, alongside formal work meetings, help strengthen the relationship and ensure clear communication throughout the internship.
From the perspective of the Intern
At the end of an internship, I asked one of my interns to consider what top tips they would give to future interns to maximise the benefits of the experience. Here are Alex’s top tips:
I’ve had the opportunity to intern for StreetHunt Games for the last two months while studying abroad in London. I also have previous experience interning with UCLA Athletics and Bally Sports in California and through these experiences, I have learned a lot about how to make the most of your limited time working as an intern. Here are my top five tips to make the most of your time:
Set Clear Goals: Understand what you want to achieve during your internship in order to set specific, achievable goals and share them with your supervisor or mentor.
Take Initiative: As an intern, you should be proactively seeking out opportunities to contribute and learn. Offer to assist with projects and ask questions to deepen your understanding and make the most of your time working.
Network: Use your time as an intern to build relationships with colleagues, supervisors, and other professionals in your field. Attend company events, join professional groups, and connect with people on LinkedIn.
Seek Feedback: At the end of your time interning, check in with your supervisor or mentor to discuss your progress, strengths, and areas for improvement. Use their feedback as an opportunity to learn and grow, and make adjustments in the future.
Reflect and Learn: Take time to reflect on your experiences and what you’ve learned during your internship. Consider what skills you’ve developed, challenges you’ve overcome, and accomplishments you’ve achieved.
I would echo all of Alex’s recommendations and also add a few more:
Ask questions when unsure – It’s better to clarify things early on; it will save time and ensure the work is completed correctly.
Provide updates – At the end of each day, share what you’ve completed and highlight any areas where you may need assistance before your next working day.
Take advantage of opportunities offered – Internships are often short-term, so make the most of the various types of work and experiences you’re given to maximise your learning.
In summary, internships provide valuable opportunities for both small businesses and interns. By ensuring proper onboarding, assigning relevant tasks, and offering necessary training, businesses can maximise the benefits of interns. Interns bring fresh perspectives, up-to-date knowledge on industry trends and consumer behaviours, and technological insights that can help drive innovation and business growth. Regular check-ins, feedback, and mentorship also contribute to a positive and productive experience. For interns, setting clear goals, taking initiative, networking, and seeking feedback are essential for making the most of the internship. With mutual investment, internships can lead to substantial growth for both the business and the intern. You never know – you may also be meeting a future employee!
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