Guide to Hosting Successful Internship Programs for Dartmouth Students
Internships play a crucial role in preparing college students for future career opportunities. Dartmouth students, with the D-Plan flexibility, benefit from off-term internships. This guide provides insights on why hiring Dartmouth interns is beneficial, key factors for a successful internship program, and encourages alumni to offer internships. By following these guidelines, companies can create valuable experiences for both interns and employers.
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Internships in a Box An Alum s Guide to Hosting Simple, Successful Internship Programs for Current Dartmouth Students Experiential Learning Liberal Arts Dartmouth
Introduction Internships have become increasingly important for college students generally as they are seen as one of the key steppingstones to getting the optimal full time job after graduation. Dartmouth students have an advantage as the D- Plan enables them to have offterm internships at times of the year when most other college students are in school. In addition to being available in the fall, winter and spring terms, some students may also be available for the month of December. These off term internships can often be a key competitive advantage to solidifying the harder to get summer internships. In some industries, the internship a student has his/her junior summer is a very important factor in landing that optimal job upon graduation. Dartmouth students also benefit from very loyal alumni who often are willing to be mentors and help in the Dartmouth student s job search. We believe that more Dartmouth alums would offer internships for Dartmouth students if they knew how easy it was to implement a program with a high probability of success. Hence, we have put together these basic guidelines for implementing a highly SUCCESSFUL, EASY to execute internship program at your company. We call it Dartmouth Internships in a Box . This is a brand new guide. Your feedback and input is welcome. It is our hope that this leads to better productivity at your company via some terrific new internships with smart, capable and dedicated Dartmouth students. Sincerely, Roger Woolsey Director of the Center for Professional Development & Senior Assistant Dean 2
Why Hire Dartmouth Interns? Benefits to the Employer Benefits to the Intern Ability to mentor the next generation of leaders in your respective field Gain real-world experience and explore potential career paths Potential to complete more projects as you can hire a steady stream of interns each season Develop important and practical skill sets that compliment a liberal arts education Find future employees who can hit the ground running when they start full-time Chance to network and meet more people in the intern s desired field Gain a new perspective of your organization with an intern s fresh ideas and abilities to potentially streamline basic tasks Establish mentor relationships with people at the company Gain self-confidence in abilities and choices Free on-campus advertising: leads to increased brand awareness and more potential employees Boost the intern s resume and potentially find future internships and full time jobs Give back to the Dartmouth community and support students 3
Key Factors for a Successful Internship Program On Day One, set clear expectations and office guidelines. Tell them what previous interns have done that were huge successes & give them some examples of what an interndisaster would be. Make sure you are clear on open vs. closed door policies. Make it clear how you expect an intern to communicate if he/she doesn t understand what they are supposed to do and how often & with whom they should communicate. Not all interns will be equally qualified. Play to the student s strengths whenever possible and help a student understand what they need to work on. If you can afford it, hire multiple interns so they can work together and help each other out. This makes the supervisor s job easier. Also, it enables the interns as a group to work on larger projects. Make it fun for everyone. Think of some group bets or contests and include fun, small prizes (e.g. maybe an hour off, a fun lunch, etc.) Bets can be on expected outcomes for a particular new business pitch or valuations expected from potential buyers of a company. Contests can be amongst various interns when given the same research assignment. Also, a casual Friday lunch offsite for the interns is always a good way for them to bond together. Keep a database of past interns & give that to your current intern in hopes that he/she will reach out to them early on for do s and don ts advice and later on for how to spin their internship experience in a future job interview. 4
Potential Projects for the Interns Start with projects that test the basics and tell the interns it will depend on how they do the simple stuff to how successful their experience will be both for them and for you. The Right Attitude Getting to work on time Proactively asking questions & showing a basic understanding of what is being asked of them Willing to be flexible if plans/projects change unexpectedly Overall attitude & desire to learn Problem Solving Advanced Analytics & Understanding of the Big Picture Basic Organization/Attention to Detail Updating admin stuff adding names to contact & mailing lists Basic PowerPoint presentation processing Presentation & Selling Skills Proofreading client presentations Being a key administrative support on specific projects Research & Analysis Skills Oral and Written Communication Skills Give interns opportunities to present their ideas Oral & Written Communication Skills Assign a weekly task to present each week at internal meetings These tasks can require varying levels of analysis and can be company or industry related Basic Organization/Attention to Detail Give interns specific writing assignments might be associated with something internal or might be some slides for a client PowerPoint Consider a longer term writing/research project if you have a group of interns The Right Attitude 5
Potential Projects for the Interns (contd) Research & Analysis Skills Again, start basic and see how they do Potential projects include research on a particular person in advance of a meeting, a company, an industry, a pending legislation, etc. You d be surprised at how smart & resourceful Dartmouth students are. Projects that work particularly well are those that can be repeated multiple times throughout the internship so he/she can see tangible improvement Also, there may be specific industry databases that you use & that they can learn to use (e.g. CapitalIQ). This helps build their skillset for future jobs. Problem Solving Advanced Analytics & Understanding of the Big Picture Presentation & Selling Skills Interns can practice their presentation skills on internal projects including potential research ones they are working on. Presentation & Selling Skills Problem Solving/Advanced Analytics/Understanding the Big Picture Research & Analysis Skills Generally, this is where Dartmouth students shine relative to their peer group. If the intern has earned the right, find at least one meaty project for them to do during their internship. It is better if it is something that they can easily talk about in future interviews. Oral & Written Communication Skills Examples of this could be writing a research report, quarterly newsletter, rewriting internal operations documents, helping to organize content for a big internal office or client event. Basic Organization/Attention to Detail The Right Attitude 6
How to Post a Job or Internship in DartBoard Access the following website https://employer.gradleaders.com/DartmouthU/Employers/Login.aspx?jprid=4363. New Users Registration:If you are not a current user, click on Create a New Account Search for your Organization and select; If your company name is not listed, click on [Add Company] . Complete all sections. Required * fields are marked with an asterisk. Click Save . Once registered, click the Job/Internship Postings (Non-Recruiting) tab at the top of the page in order to create a posting. 1. NOTE: Once you have registered and if you posted a job, both your account and job will be in pending status. An administrator will review both your account and job. If your registration is approved, you will receive an email notification. If you do not receive your email notification within 2 full business days, please email Patrice Vidal at patrice.vidal@dartmouth.edu. 2. Existing Users: Enter your Username and Password. Click on Sign In . Update my Profile To update Employer or Contact Information, click on [Edit]. Make changes and click on SAVE to complete the changes. To Create a New Job Click the Job/Internship Postings (Non-Recruiting) tab at the top of the page. Fields with an * are required information. Fill out as much information as possible to make the job posting complete. To Make Changes to Existing Jobs There are several sections (Position Information, Contact Information and Posting Information) that you may update. To make changes to any sections, click on the [Edit] link and make your changes. Once completed, click on SAVE for each section. You can re-post an inactive job by opening the job profile and clicking on Copy Job under the page functions on the left side of the screen. NOTE: Once you add/make changes to a job, the information will be reviewed by a member of the CPD team before it is posted. 7
Sample Interview Questions/Topics General Resume Walk Through High School Activities Why Dartmouth? Dartmouth Academics Major Why Chosen? Favorite & Least Favorite Classes? Passionate Topics? Example of Intellectual Curiosity? Any Off Campus Quarters? Dartmouth Extracurricular Activities Depth of Extracurricular Experience Outside the Classroom Leadership Examples? Passions? How these Activities Relate to the Candidate s Character? Summer/Off Term Activities & Jobs Same Questions as Dartmouth Extracurricular Activities Above How Did They get Involved with these Jobs/Activities? Personal Characteristics How would Their Friends Describe Them? What 2-3 Characteristics Do They Think Describes them Best & Why? Examples of Adverse/Pressure Situations & How They Reacted Interest in the Internship Why XXX Company? Explore How Much Research They ve Done on the Company & How Much Knowledge They Have of the Industry How Does Their Interest in this Internship Relate to all of the Areas Above? Questions from the candidate How Thoughtful are They? 8
Offering a Student the Internship General Guidelines Under Dartmouth s policy, allow one week to decide on an offer for next term, and allow two weeks to decide on an offer two terms ahead. Make sure the offer is in writing with the following details specified: Start & Stop Date Hours to Work Any Skills/Reading Expected Before the Internship Starts Contact at Company, Supervisor s Name Basic Internship Job Description (include how/when the student is reviewed) Paid vs Unpaid (include amount if paid) 9
What Industries Does Dartmouth Want Internships For? All of them! Career Fields Arts/Media/Entertainment Community Service Consulting Education Engineering & Manufacturing Environment & Sustainability Finance & Banking Government & Military Health & Public Health Law Marketing & Communication Retail & Wholesale Goods & Services Science & Research Sports/Recreation Technology We are interested in internships at companies of all sizes: small, medium, and large. We need more internships for 1st and 2nd year students. 10
Join the companies who currently offer internships to Dartmouth students, and sign your company up now! To learn more, please contact: Monica Wilson Senior Associate Director Monica.Wilson@Dartmouth.edu 603-646-2665 Fiona Hall Assistant Director Fiona.Hall@Dartmouth.edu 603-646-1163 11
