Employer Report: WSJ on Virtual Internships

You may have seen the article about virtual internships and Urban Interns in today's Wall Street Journal.  If not, a few highlights:

• Virtual internships are most popular among small to midsize companies and online businesses.
  
• Virtual internships first became popular in the late 1990's in information technology and software development. Today, they also include the sales, marketing and social media departments of companies across various industries.
  
• One of the many benefits of virtual internships include an expanded pool of candidates and saved money on office overhead.
  

Hmmm...Interesting. Does a virtual intern make sense for your business? If so, here are a few things to consider: 

1. If working virtually is new to you, before jumping in and hiring a completely virtual intern(i.e. you're in NY and your intern is in Seattle), test the concept with someone semi-virtual (i.e. you're in Boston, so is your intern). This allows you to have the benefit of bringing someone on without increasing your office overhead, but still gives you the opportunity to meet face to face with your intern as needed.
   
2. Set up the structure for communication at the outset. Do you prefer to talk on the phone once a day, or receive an email update once a day? Especially because you won't be sitting together and your intern won't have the opportunity to observe your work style, it's particularly important that you set the rules at the outset.
   
3. What's the schedule you expect your virtual intern to keep? Do you want them to be available for you during your business hours or can they work on their own schedule? With a virtual arrangement comes a lot of independence for your intern, so if you'd like them to be working more on your schedule (and not potentially at 3 am!), it's necessary to state this at the outset.

A virtual intern can be a great resource for your company. Sure, because virtual internships are relatively new (and may be completely new to you!) you'll need to make an upfront investment in time in thinking through the position. But, find someone great (like our very own Urban Intern) and it could very well pay off in multiples.

 

Ready to find your perfect virtual intern? Login here.

Writing an Effective Job Post - an Urban Interns Success Story

Last week we told you about one of our recent users, savvy lawyer and insurance guru, Keith Le Pack. Keith heard about Urban Interns from a colleague and quickly posted a job-on a Friday night, no less.

When we checked in with Keith this week, he already hired an incredible Urban Intern. Now that's the kind of success story we like to hear about!

We're often asked for advice on what makes a good job post, so we decided to do some first-hand research on the topic. (Keith's post being one great example). We found the following common elements among the most effective job posts.

• Be concise.  While you want to give Urban Interns a comprehensive overview of your position, you don't want prospective candidates to get lost in the details.  Include the key elements (what kind of company, what kind of work) but the rest is better suited for direct communication with interested candidates.
  
• What's the opportunity? That's right- Urban Interns are working for you but in order to entice top talent, you also need to make it clear what you're offering. Is it a paid position, do you offer school credit, will you offer the best of the best mentorship and networking?  
  
• What's the potential? Do you envision your position as a short-term gig or is their an opportunity for a more  long term arrangement. There's a market for both, just be clear about your goals.
  
• Be flexible.  One of the great things about Urban Interns is that you can edit your job post mid-month!  So if you're not getting the number of responses you wished for, consider re-thinking the terms of the position and what you're willing to invest in it.

Have a job you've been meaning to post? Login here. 

The Employer Report: How to Build a Marketing Team on a Budget

Welcome to the Urban Interns Employer Report - a free resource to help you grow your business by creating and implementing win-win opportunities for part-time staff and interns.

This issue is brought to you by Traci Feit Love, a small business writer and consultant. To learn more about Traci and how she can help your company, visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

 

Question of the Week:

I need to do a better job promoting my small business, but I have a very limited marketing budget. What's the best way to get some marketing help without breaking the bank?

Answer:

Marketing plays a key business development role in any small business.  It's important to focus on, regardless of your budget.  

If marketing is a foreign language for you, setting a strategy is best left to the experts.  The good news is that once you have that strategy in place, you can bring in some less expensive resources to help you execute.  

For example, if part of your marketing strategy involves e-communication, there are many do-it-yourself email platforms out there that provide you with great templates.  Many programs also provide easy-to-understand analytics, so you can see how effective your campaign was.  We use Constant Contact, but another great one is Vertical Response.  Or if you're more tech-savvy, we've heard Campaign Monitor is good.

Still, developing the content for your campaign can be time-intensive and perhaps writing isn't something you enjoy.  This is a perfect job for a part-time person or even a really great intern.  

This can apply to many other areas: social media, guerrilla marketing, blogging, even PR. These "free" forms of marketing can comprise the bulk of your marketing campaign in the early days of your business.  The key is that as a business owner, you set the strategy, and hire others to execute.

The bottom line:  The more limited your budget, the more creative you need to be about finding great resources.  That doesn't mean cutting important pieces out of your growth plans, it just means understanding what's worth your time as a business owner, and stretching your dollars to include some highly efficient "do-ers".

When you're ready to find the perfect candidate, visit www.urbaninterns.com and click on "Find an Urban Intern." To submit your questions for future issues of Urban Interns' Employer Report, just e-mail us at admin@urbaninterns.com.

Announcing the Urban Interns Employer Report

Welcome to the first issue of the Urban Interns Employer Report - a free resource to help you grow your business by creating and implementing win-win opportunities for part-time staff and interns.  The report will go out by email to our registered employers, so if you are not already registered as an Urban Interns employer, you can do so here.

Each week, Urban Interns will answer your questions about internship programs and inspire you to think creatively about using flexible resources such as part-time staff and interns to achieve your business goals. This issue is brought to you by Traci Feit Love, a small business writer and consultant. To learn more about Traci and how she can help your company, visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.

 

Question of the Week:

I live in a city with tons of college students. Back when I worked at a big company, we would often hire interns. I don't have the resources to support a formal internship program. Is hiring an intern still a good option for me?

Answer:

Yes! There are plenty of reasons why small businesses should consider hiring an intern, especially with so many qualified people looking for internship opportunities. Here are a few of them:

• Increase your productivity without the expense of hiring a permanent, full-time employee.
  
• Find the perfect fit for your next full-time opening by using an internship as a "trial period" to test out qualified candidates (instead of taking a risk on someone you've never worked with before).
  
• Only invest in the time and work you need - internships can be temporary, seasonal, or part-time, or unpaid depending on what you're offering and what your expectations are.
  
• Bring fresh ideas and energy into your business. College students, for example, are usually more familiar with new trends in technology and social media and can infuse your business with fresh perspective.
  
• Former interns who become full-time employees can hit the ground running.

The bottom line: if you have more work than you and your current staff can manage, you should consider hiring an intern to handle it. To find the perfect intern for your business needs, visit www.urbaninterns.com and click on "Find an Urban Intern."

To submit your questions for future issues of Urban Interns' Employer Report, just e-mail us at admin@urbaninterns.com. 

Lessons from the Inc 500

The Inc. 500 recently came out. This issue, with Inc’s Annual Report of the Fastest-Growing Private Companies is one of my favorite.  I love seeing who made the list, observing current trends among high growth start-ups, and of course, doing that gut check to see- are we on track to one day (fingers crossed) cross the threshold to be included in the All-Star Round-Up? One can dream, right….

One particular profile caught my eye—the story of Diapers.com, the niche marketplace that focuses exclusively on baby products. (You know how the Urban Interns team loves the niche marketplaces!) The stats (as per Inc.): Diapers.com, number 34 on the List, was founded in 2004.  Annual revenue: $89.4 million. Three year growth- 3,473.8 percent.  Amazing!

You just have to ask- what’s the secret sauce? Lots of retailers sell diapers—what’ so unique about this company that’s allowed them to achieve such rapid results and explosive growth?

Marc Lore, the CEO is profiled in Inc.  A couple of points I find fascinating. First-- the company’s reliance on word-of-mouth for early growth.  And think about it, that was before they had all these word-of- mouth enablers (ie social media outlets) at their fingertips.  Pretty inspiring for those of us who are faithfully blogging, tweeting, facebooking and ever other “ing” that gets us in front of people.

The second point is their emphasis on customer service.  Lore describes his customer service philosophy as “taking care of the moms at whatever cost.” He gives his really good customers “over the top treatment” including gift baskets and certificates to say thank you.  Lore reports that they spend $1 million a year on this kind of customer service, close to ten percent of their marketing budget.  It’s an interesting statistic, allocating that amount of marketing dollars to saying thank you to customers.  Clearly Lore believes that in keeping the Moms happy and making them feel valued they’ll pay it forward in multiples.  Judging from his numbers, looks like he’s right.

Now taking a step back, a very wise, successful and incredibly wonderful friend recently suggested that I focus on taking one important point away from every learning opportunity, whether it be an important conversation or something read.

My take-away from the Diapers.com profile? Treat your customers well and they’ll be more inclined to help you spread your word.  And as for our Urban Interns plug, if you’re personally too busy to devote yourself to customer service, hire someone who will. Going the extra mile to keep your community happy can take you very far…..

Cari Sommer, Co-Founder, Urban Interns

Urban Interns Is Launching In Boston!

You heard it here first!  We're launching in Boston in early September.

Whether you have a client in Boston and need some local support or you're colleagues in Boston could also use an extra set of hands, Urban Interns will soon become the go-to marketplace for connecting small business owners with college-students and grads seeking part-time work and internships.

 

Good news travels fast, and we already have Urban Intern registrations from Boston area students and recent grads. We've also received a warm welcome from  career services folks at Boston University and Boston College (see us listed as a resource on the BC Career Services page!).

PLEASE HELP US spread the word and forward this news to your colleagues in the small business, startup, and entrepreneurship community in Boston.  Stay tuned for more details.

 

Login to start posting jobs and searching the database now!

Did you know many students can qualify for school credits for their internships?

With back-to-school right around the corner, small businesses can take advantage of the high level of competition amongst student bodies to beef up resumes, network, and gain hands on experience: internships for credit!  At first, the whole area of credit might seem like confusing terrain to navigate: university offices, documentation, etc.  But we have great news for employers: applying for credit is actually the responsibility of your intern.  You might have to fill out some brief forms, but consider it up to them to bring you the forms, provide all the documentation, and just have you review and sign.
 
Now, every university is different, and some don’t even offer school credit for internship.  But we’ve done a little digging at some of the major NYC universities, and we’ve found that certain undergrad majors at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development and at the NYU Journalism Institute can receive internships for credit. The same holds true for graduate students from Columbia School of International Public Affairs, which actually requires students to do internships. Barnard and Columbia do not offer academic credit for internships, but if an employer is only offering an internship for credit, some eligible internships can qualify for registration credit (not academic credit) through the career services department.
 
Feel like you need an advanced degree to figure this all out?  We do too.
 
So here are our suggestions.  First, find your ideal candidate (on Urban Interns, of course!).  Then, if he/she happens to be attending university or grad school, ask if school credit is an option.  Let them do the research.  If the answer is yes, keep in mind that your intern will have certain academic goals that they are trying to accomplish throughout the course of working with you. They may have to write a paper, may have to report to a professor. If you genuinely have the time and interest in accommodating these needs, then proceed with the hire. And remember, you can always check in with career services if you have any questions.