In today’s get-it-fast, get-it-now society, we hear about things before we have an opportunity to read about them or see them for ourselves. As an established figure within the internship space and someone who runs on Pacific Standard Time, I always hear about internship news from someone before I have a chance to pull up the actual article.

You can imagine the texts, emails, tweets, and phonecalls I received the day the New York Times headline read, Unpaid Internships May Be Illegal. The irony of this article begins with that headline. If you were to pull up that article today, you would read a different and more correct headline: The Unpaid Intern, Legal or Not?

The title of the article is really what bothers me. keep reading…

(this is part of a larger feature on internships in the next Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership)

For the first time in years, there are new things to be said about the quality and quantity of internship programs. Interns should run social media campaigns. Employers should advertise for interns on Twitter. An entire unit of interns should be brought on to achieve A, B, and C.

Internship programs are on the rise. Take a look back before looking forward. Yes, many improvements can be made to any internship program. But, how is your company’s internship program to begin with? How does it run? Do the students enjoy it? What do they get out of it? Are employees properly using interns?

I question the current internship programs at companies across the United States. I question if all employees, from CEO to entry-level assistant, are really aware of their internship programs and how they run. Are clear goals defined within the company to outline the purpose of hosting interns? How are these students managed and used on a day-to-day basis?

With that in mind, here are some suggested quick fixes to your internship program:

keep reading…