One of my Vistage members has hired interns for his company-10 in the last 9 months. How is that for new people for his company? He would readily admit that the concept of hiring paid interns was not his-it came from his new VP of Manufacturing. They tapped into a local state university and hired industrial engineering students hungry for real life experience. This was something the new VP had done at his last company. In essence, he already knew what to do to make a program like this work.
Think about it: someone has to take the time to come up with an internship program that will provide needed skills and talents that the company is lacking. Then, they have to contact schools, and interview candidates. That is just to get them in the door. Who will supervise, train and evaluate the interns once you get them?
Meanwhile, many companies delay hiring until past the point where they need to hire and into the point where it is a necessity. This is a reactive strategy that may have made sense in a recession. It’s not working now. More employees are taking calls from headhunters as it seems safer to move jobs. Are you giving them a reason to stay? Is there opportunity for growth, promotion, learning new skills? Are you taking care of what you have while you create a strategy to add more good folks to your team?
As Marshall Goldsmith said: “What got you here, won’t get you there.”
illistration courtesy of Alexdea.com