Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals, January 18, 2012 

With an intern conversion rate reaching 57.7 percent in 2011—the highest recorded by NACE since it began tracking it in 2001—employers report using several common best practices to help boost conversion. Following are some of the key steps employers take to achieve a high conversion rate:  

• Recruit Strategically—The basics behind recruiting for full-time hires apply to recruiting for interns. Successful organizations target schools where they have achieved success and take care in selecting candidates to identify the best fit possible.
• Offer Housing Assistance—Many organizations provide intern housing or help interns find housing for the internship period. This can be especially important for organizations looking to attract interns from outside of its geographic area.
• Assign “Real” Work—Providing meaningful work assignments may be the single-most important factor in developing a successful internship program. Both intern and employer need to gauge how well they are suited to each other, and that requires providing the intern with “real” work and projects, not just menial tasks.
• Provide Mentors—Employers say that offering their interns one-on-one support from full-time employees helps the intern feel less alone and more a part of the company during the internship. The mentor can serve as a professional resource.
• Give Feedback—While most companies offer formal performance reviews at the end of the internship, many also provide interns with informal feedback periodically. In addition, many organizations solicit the interns’ perspectives on their experience, which can help identify areas in the internship program that may need improvement.
• Offer Social and Networking Events—Exposure to the organization’s business units, access to company leadership and networking, workshops, and social events foster a sense of community and let the interns know that the organization is interested in their professional growth. Some organizations use the geographic location as another positive, attractive facet of the job as well as social activities that are available.
• Keep in Touch—Employers say it’s important to maintain contact with interns after they return to campus. That can range from simple communication—keeping in touch via phone or e-mail, for example—to more involved contact, such as asking former interns to participate in information sessions on an employer’s behalf or requesting their help in planning events for the company with targeted student organizations. Some recruiters take former interns out to lunch when they’re on campus to recruit or interview. 

For more information about converting interns, see Best Practices for Converting Interns: Getting to Yes from the November 2011 NACE Journal.