Sunrise. Photo credit: Flickr user Nouhailler
Why in the world would you want an intern program? Just thinking about all the time interns can take out of your day to manage and direct gives some people heartburn.
Why? Because if you have a strong intern program, you can change lives.
In the 1990s, HRB began to formalize its internship program by focusing on students interested in public relations. We drew up online application forms, established a writing test and did formal interviews with the students. Our goal was to take them through the actual hiring process they would soon encounter in order to give them a real world experience. We expected the students to act like employees, and at some point to become billable – at a much lower rate than an employee.
Our thinking was that the more billable an intern became, the more confidence they gained and the more valuable the experience for them.
We took it a step further and developed an intern handbook that outlined our dress code, philosophies and business processes. In addition, we outlined what we expected from each intern and what they could expect from HRB. As each intern completed his or her internship, we asked them to add things they had learned to the handbook. Our objective was to constantly improve the internship experience for the student via fine tuning it each semester.
Now for the real life part. Recently, I asked several of our former interns to drop me a few lines on how their internship helped them in their professional lives. I was truly interested in seeing if all that extra effort we had gone through for our interns really made any difference.
This is what one of our 2006 interns wrote back in response.
I owe a great deal of my professional success to my internship at HRB. I firmly believe it was my experience at HRB that helped me land a full-time PR position at an agency in Chicago immediately after graduation.
During my time at HRB, I developed the skills I needed to be successful in an entry-level PR position and also gained an understanding of how agencies work. Because I started with such a solid foundation, I was given a great deal of responsibility very quickly and was recognized for my work.
My time at HRB also helped me confirm that I am indeed interested in a PR career and an agency setting is right for me. HRB is a unique agency full of smart, talented, creative professionals, and I feel truly fortunate that I was able to be a member of that team.
I am now a Manager at Burson-Marsteller managing a number of award-winning programs for Fortune 500 clients.
Katy (Hendrickson) Gucinski
University of Iowa graduate
Thanks, Katy, for your kind words, and congratulations on a great career. And, thanks to the team at HRB for supporting our internship program and all the students who participate in it. You’re the ones who make a big difference in a life.