they're always super-excited when they come in, and despite telling them up front that i need self-motivated individuals that don't want to be micro-managed, the production tends to trail off unless i'm hands on and telling them what they need to do.
the best motivation i can point to is a former intern of ours busted his ass and we rewarded him with an equity stake moving forward.
what kind of motivation tactics of you used to increase productivity and get your interns/employees to try to best each other? any great ways to recognize great work that don't come off too cheesy?
-adam
my only hesitation about bringing money into the equation is i believe it can cloud the focus...and when the going rate around here is free internships, they're fortunately eager to pad their resume & get experience with us
http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.pdf
If your internship program doesn't meet the Department of Labor regulatory test, you may owe pay to all of your interns.
A subsequent reply to the submission here said,
I really believe in paying interns if they are doing meaningful productive work
Well, that's not only a good idea, it's the law. Interns generally must be paid if the value of their work to the employer exceeds the value of the training program to the intern--which certainly appears to be the case described in the original post here.
Anyway, interns who work without pay while possessing computer skills are chumps. In the job market in my town, anyone with serious programming skill can get a paid internship readily at a company with a genuine future--whether that is a start-up or an established big corporation.
According to that pdf if the internship was just a trial for a job then I was considered an employee. At least that is my understanding of what I read. I'm going to contact the department of labor and see if I am owed anything.
" Interns generally must be paid if the value of their work to the employer exceeds the value of the training program to the intern--which certainly appears to be the case described in the original post here." How would that be determined? All of the interns choose to work with us over other opportunities because of the hands-on real world experience.
"Anyway, interns who work without pay while possessing computer skills are chumps. In the job market in my town, anyone with serious programming skill can get a paid internship readily at a company with a genuine future--whether that is a start-up or an established big corporation." Athens, GA is a different breed. We are one of the only places in town where these students can get real world ruby experience. It's said, but essentially true.
Make that a stated goal for them, and have regular meetings/mentorship as to how they're doing.
It sucks to bust your ass on the offhand hope that one day your boss will say "you're hired!". It might not happen, and you have no idea. You get burnt out. But if that's a concrete goal you can achieve...
i make sure their expectations coming in are understood. unpaid (we tell them to go out and find part-time (or full-time) paid work if money is a necessity). you'll come out with some great experience working with a company that's taking shape. great opportunity to get three strong & unique bullet-points on your resume (compared with the other opportunities in town).
if i had the money/means/funding, i would have no problem compensating the ones that were bringing value to the table.
this should lead to a subsequent thread though: how should i pay for students workers when the CEO/company has no money coming through? as many credit cards as i can get my hands on?
If I were you, I'd figure out what your interns want and make damn sure I was able to give it to them. Otherwise, you're going to get this tailing off scenario where the interns realize they're getting a raw deal and just make time until they get out.
"Is GoRankem something I should have heard of that I haven't? Yet another benefit could be brand recognition on a resume. " probably not on a real national level to date, but as i truly believe we can offer some of the best 'bullet-points' in town.
Saying "Awesome job!" is not cheesy.
Don't pit them against each other, give them a shared goal.
Set them up for quick wins as a team.
when i implied pitting them against each other, i was trying to imply that hopefully they have motivation to excel at their role instead of letting the dead weight bring them down.
All in all, since you aren't paying the interns you have to provide them with an experience that will be equivalent of getting paid.
Just my 2 cents though.
a former teacher at university once told us students to only do interships if we get something out of it. (money, reputation fame, whatever)
maybe you can offer them something they´d be excited about? martin
