If this is the day your summer interns started and you’re reading this at 2 p.m., know this: Your interns have already told all their friends from school — potentially future employers of your company — what they think of your organization.
Social media moves quickly in Gen Z.
Also know this: Your interns may be smarter than you.
Not now, of course — except for social media. But when all is said and done — when your career and their career are over — they may have been the brightest person in the room. Raise your hand if you felt that way when you were the intern.
This is not a call to placate the new generation’s every request. Working when they want, dressing as they want, interacting as they want — employers get to set boundaries, too. The next generation is all about setting boundaries. So are you. Finding the middle ground is the goal. That’s what this summer is about.
In addition to finding out if they can think on their feet, problem-solve and communicate (a key attribute), you need to do a self-assessment of how you and your company are treating them.
Are you respecting their potential? Who knows, the next Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos may be in your building.
Are you meeting them where they are? Like it or not, you don’t get to dictate everything. Even in a depressed job market, they have access to exponentially more opportunities just by scrolling their phone at lunch.
Which brings up meals, probably the biggest missed opportunity of the intern summer.
Ice cream socials are nice. Here’s what’s better: real conversations. Ask them what they think about the company. Ask them how they would do things differently.
They may be young and inexperienced. Their thoughts may miss the bigger picture of the workplace. That’s fine — they are with you to learn. But they may offer a viewpoint you didn’t see. They may show you how the next generation thinks.
Either way, they will feel seen.
You don’t have to offer your interns a full-time job when they graduate. But if you want to, you have to make sure you’ve shown them an environment they want to join.
That’s your task for the summer.
