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Welcoming an Intern

Intern orientation is an important time for setting expectations and ensuring interns have all the information they need to be effective in your organization.

Before the intern arrives, take time to do the following to ensure a warm welcome:

  • Prepare your staff for the intern’s arrival. Be sure that staff members understand the intern’s role and how the intern will fit into the office. Have people suggest projects for the intern and volunteer to help with orientation to the office and/or to the city.
  • Have the intern’s workstation planned and adequately equipped for the job to be performed.
  • Develop an orientation program for incoming interns. A good orientation includes: a tour of the site, introductions to co-workers (including a brief description of their responsibilities in the organization), identifying how assignments and delegation of responsibilities will be handled, clarifying to whom the intern will report, and emergency procedures.
  • Send the intern and/or regional director materials or resources that will be helpful to his/her preparation. These might include articles, annual reports, websites, or the contact information of previous interns.

Once the intern arrives in the office, hold the orientation you planned and discuss duties with the intern. Creating a workplan with the intern can help avoid confusion later. Click here for guidelines on outlining a workplan.

  • If you will be away from the office for several days, designate a temporary supervisor.
  • During the internship, meet with the intern every few weeks at least to discuss job responsibilities, performance and progress, as well as areas for development and improvement. Interns prefer to receive feedback about their performance so that they can know what they are doing well or where they need to improve.
  • Make sure that the intern has diverse and challenging projects. Include the intern in meetings, tours or introductions to people, places or procedures that relate to projects and assignments the intern is working on.
  • Treat the intern as a professional.
  • One project idea is to have the intern develop a handbook for future interns. The handbook could include information on how to handle routine responsibilities, a list of facility staff, a diagram of the office or facility layout, organizational chart, standard department protocol and procedures, and corporate policies and services. In addition, the handbook could include non-work related information such as a local map, housing options and recommendations, suggested sites to visit and recreational activities available nearby, as well as other logistical information.
  • Understand that interns want to prove their ability to do the job. The sooner you integrate them as useful and contributing members of the work group, the sooner their confidence and level of productivity will rise.

Ask the IE3 Regional Director for advice and insight related to your use of the intern and to deal with any problems or concerns you have before, during or after completion of the internship.

If you would like handouts for your staff on the above suggestions or on creating a workplan, they are available below as Word documents.