Step 2: Establish your hiring process for interns

When you hire an intern, you’ll want to treat it like a regular hiring process but with some tweaks. You’ll need to work together as a team to determine who is going to bring the right blend of curiosity, skills, ideas and enthusiasm while being a good value fit for your company.

📣 If you’re new to hiring, check out our Guide to Creating a Hiring Process which includes lots of helpful tips.

For an internship, we recommend the following hiring process:

Put together your hiring team – You’ll need an owner of the hiring process + at least one team member who will work closely with the intern.
Create and publish your job post – You’ve already created your internship program, so share all the important/exciting details in a job post and get the word out there!
Reach out to universities – Learn what internship programs they have in place and if they can recommend students for the position.
Review applications – Discuss with your hiring team and decide who you want to interview.
Conduct interviews – Students may have first-interview jitters, so it’s a good idea to conduct more than one interview to give them a chance to show who they are and what they’ll bring to the internship. Be sure to ask if there are any requirements for you as an employer, like completing evaluations or forms so they’ll receive academic credit.
Make an offer – Share the good news with your selected candidate that you’d like to hire them as your intern. Once they agree, be sure to thank others for their time, the opportunity to get to know them and let them know if you’ll be keeping them on file for future positions.
Get the paperwork signed – Provide a contract with start and end dates and any other onboarding documents you’ll need your intern to sign. Also complete and send off any paperwork required by the school or internship organization.

This hiring process for interns doesn’t need to be set in stone. Keep it flexible and accessible for everyone so that you don’t miss out on diverse and qualified candidates. For example, instead of a Zoom interview with tons of resume- and communication-based questions, consider digital whiteboarding or more relaxed get-to-know-you meetings to start.

Note that there are times when interns might come recommended by a faculty advisor or there may only be a couple interns available with the specific skills you seek. In that case, you should modify the above hiring process as you see fit.

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