Powerful Effects of an Intern Mentor

George Ambler over at The Practice of Leadership has a great post on the value of having a mentor.
The word mentor is defined simply as a Guide. George offer’s the following benefits of having a Guide in our life:

• …a guide has been there before
• …a guide has more experience than you
• …a guide shows you the way
• … a guide keeps you away from dead-end trials
• … a guide helps you steer clear of the quicksand

I personally have benefited from having mentors / guides in three areas of my life:

• Career
• Family
• Faith

I don’t feel we are designed to function on our own. The more we can talk with people who have gone before us the more we can learn from them and hopefully not make the same mistakes they have.
Internship Mentors
In the area of career development, a mentor can have a huge impact on the life of a young intern. If you are mentoring a college students during their internship at your company you might not realize how much of an impact you have on them. These interns are truly looking for guidance and advice on what to do during the next phase of their life.
Questions To Ask An Intern

• Are they going to work at your company after their internship?
• Is the work you are having them focus on worthwhile?
• Are they gaining valuable knowledge during their internship?
• Are they able to put into practice what they have learned in the classroom?
• Are they making friends in the office?
• Are they working enough hours?
• Are they going to earn academic credit during their internship?
• What can we change about our internship program to make it a better experience?
• As a new person to our company, how do you like our corporate culture?
• Would you tell your friends about our company to ensure we have quality people working for us in the future?

Hopefully you are giving them meaningful work and valuable projects to let them prove their value. Make sure you are doing your best to give your interns a valuable experience because if done right you will help propel the career of the next world-changer.
Feedback
As a mentor one of the most important things you can do with your intern is give them consistent feedback. The more feedback the better. A young student is use to receiving feedback in the form of grades, video games, and friends. In fact some young people who don’t receive any feedback can wrongly think they aren’t doing a good job because they haven’t been told so in about two hours. I know it is a bit absurd but we must remember the type of person you are hiring. If they need more feedback we should try to give it too them.
More Meetings
Often, when a young person enters the workforce they have a tough time migrating to a zero-feedback environment. During their internship try and schedule regular meetings to talk about progress and offer them feedback, good or bad. I know it can be tough to schedule more meetings but the more often you can meet with your intern the more likely you are going to give them a good experience and in turn they will produce higher quality of work.
Being a mentor is not a small job. If you are one, or become in the future please take the time to think about what you are about to do. Try and work with the intern as much as possible because you never know what type of results can come from a good mentor / mentee relationship.
Article by Justin Driscoll, Career Development Speaker and Author to College Students, and courtesy of Justin Driscoll blog.

Originally posted by sarah ennenga