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Thinking about hiring an intern, and wanted to know a bit more about it. I know some are paid and some are not, but when it comes to this sort of thing I’m at a bit of a loss. The main questions I’m looking at having answered are:
1. Are they normally paid or unpaid?If they’re paid, what’s the standard rate, is it a percentage depending on the industry or normally minimum wage sort of stuff?
2. How often do you ask them to work? Is it like full time work, or is it more casual work when stuff comes in?
3. Are internships normally set time frames or are they ongoing until they either leave or are promoted?
Any resources/books/articles/links/answers are all welcome!
I am not strong on the legal side of internships so I am not going to try and speak about something I don’t know enough about. From my experiences:
1. They are usually unpaid. Ensure both parties understand this. Put it both in your ad, and in the contractual agreement that “This is unpaid work for X months”.
2. Generally internships fit in with academic work, so they are part-time. Each week will have set hours, but it won’t be every day. Try to set a routine so the intern can be familiar with a typical working week.
3. Internships are normally for a set time frame, e.g. 3 months/6 months. They don’t tend to be longer than that for unpaid work. After that, if the intern is good enough and fits into your business plan, they should be hired.
My ‘payment’ for my internship is experience.
