At one agency I worked for we had a very active internship program. When interviewing interns for my department I asked them what kind of experience they wanted to have during their internship. I think the words “not getting coffee all the time” came up more than a few times. (Hey, they were lucky because I don’t drink coffee anyway).

I wanted to make sure that whatever the rest of the agency had them doing, they’d always have something that added true value to their experience. One of the most successful ideas was creating an agency newsletter and giving the interns 100% responsibility for the content and production. Their role was to capture the agency culture, have their pulse on agency activity, and keep everyone educated on new developments relevant to branding, technology, and advertising. They rotated responsibility for stories every week and two of the creative department interns served as co-editors.

The newsletter was structured to include team-building components, opportunities to write articles and to do their own independent research at the university, interview various members of the agency staff for feature stories, and ultimately be seen as thought leaders. They were actively encouraged to express their opinions, communicate their ideas, and look for ways to build team spirit. Not only did this go a long way in bringing everyone closer, it also gave the interns a great opportunity to be proactive participants in the agency and never have to feel like they were just there to make copies or look over shoulders.

I’d suggest the intern-driven newsletter strategy to any agency that doesn’t have the resources for a structured internship program, but wants to make sure the interns have a positive learning experience. At the time, we didn’t have the resources for something structured, but by giving the interns autonomy and responsibility, it gave them something to focus on during the times when they weren’t working on agency projects. This was developed before the recent surge of social media, but the concept could easily be translated into a social media project. With online groups, community aggregation, and agency blogs, the sky’s the limit.

The key is to give interns responsibility for something that’s tangible, on-going, and that encourages creativity and self-motivation. Interns are giving us their time and trust. We owe it to them to give back something valuable and lasting!

At one agency I worked for we had a very active internship program. When interviewing interns for my department I asked them what kind of experience they wanted to have during their internship. I think the words “not getting coffee all the time” came up more than a few times. (Hey, they were lucky because I don’t drink coffee anyway).

I wanted to make sure that whatever the rest of the agency had them doing, they’d always have something that added true value to their experience. One of the most successful ideas was creating an agency newsletter and giving the interns 100% responsibility for the content and production. Their role was to capture the agency culture, have their pulse on agency activity, and keep everyone educated on new developments relevant to branding, technology, and advertising. They rotated responsibility for stories every week and two of the creative department interns served as co-editors.

The newsletter was structured to include team-building components, opportunities to write articles and to do their own independent research at the university, interview various members of the agency staff for feature stories, and ultimately be seen as thought leaders. They were actively encouraged to express their opinions, communicate their ideas, and look for ways to build team spirit. Not only did this go a long way in bringing everyone closer, it also gave the interns a great opportunity to be proactive participants in the agency and never have to feel like they were just there to make copies or look over shoulders.

I’d suggest the intern-driven newsletter strategy to any agency that doesn’t have the resources for a structured internship program, but wants to make sure the interns have a positive learning experience. At the time, we didn’t have the resources for something structured, but by giving the interns autonomy and responsibility, it gave them something to focus on during the times when they weren’t working on agency projects. This was developed before the recent surge of social media, but the concept could easily be translated into a social media project. With online groups, community aggregation, and agency blogs, the sky’s the limit.

The key is to give interns responsibility for something that’s tangible, on-going, and that encourages creativity and self-motivation. Interns are giving us their time and trust. We owe it to them to give back something valuable and lasting!