While your start-up business may be a thriving venture, if internship opportunities within your business are slacking, your start-up may fall short of the competition. Before you totally revamp the role of the intern, you must decide what you hope to achieve with all the added talent. What are the goals of your venture? Compose a list, call a team meeting, and decide what is needed before you decide who is needed.

Once you’ve located the areas of your business that need the added manpower, you’ll benefit from matching potential interns in the areas in which they naturally excel. If a new intern is a natural born artist and the ultimate right-brained thinker, let this imaginative individual develop their creative expertise within your startup. If your intern is a devout salesperson from the start, make sure they’re involved in fostering marketing growth. By allowing people to work within areas they enjoy, you’ll produce work with a clear passion and focus.

Next up, freedom. Yes, freedom. If your internship program seems more like the typical 9-5 and less like an exciting learning experience, it’s time to start over. Make it clear that you value the work of the intern. Take time to listen to intern input and advice. Make sure the internship team is involved in the decision making process across multiple facets of company life. Here at Parisleaf, we have an OCD-like obsession with our interns. Beyond building a unique team of Parisleaflets, we’ve grown an environment based on group appreciation. The Parisleaf internship experience is truly unmatched.

Lastly, make sure to humanize your businesses internship opportunities. The “real world” all to often introduces us to a work environment that is rigid and unbending. A place where one person dictates the direction of the collective. The core of any intern program begins and ends with the person. The voice of the intern is now more important than it has ever been. Learn to develop your team by striving to continually appreciate and listen to your team. Today, the internship experience is of unmatched value to a budding company. Leave your competitors in the dust and emerge with a lineup of passionate team members ready to take on the challenges of the 21^st century business world.

Have an internship story or message you’d like to share with the world? Comment below and start the conversation!