Thread: Interns - Any point or precedent?

There are a few tasks in my firm that need doing that I reckon would suit an intern perfectly - anyone had any success in offering intern-ships / employing full time students? Oh, and no, I am not interested in graduates and this is not a money thing - I would actually pay them for their time.

So any direct experience on internships in Thailand before I make a prat of myself emailing a couple of close Uni's?

Yes I have done it in the past and had good and bad experiences - no different than permanent hires.

I have found unis to be fragmented institutions therefore finding the right individuals that can help may be an issue as communication between faculties is not wonderful.

Also found a need to explain in great detail what was required to avoid issues as most of the students I spoke to had not had any previous work experience.

Some saw it as something only to benefit them and did not see it from the employers side at all.

Overall I think it is a good thing and worth trying

I don't know what kind of business you are in but the hospitality biz has interns all the time, they are the ones that have "Trainee" on their name badge.

I've seen them from Uni's, vocational colleges and even high schools.

In my experience the high schoolers tend to be a bit useless, they are (naturally) immature and because of their age there are restrictions on what hours they can be asked to work and what they can do. They are handy for pumping up balloons for a kiddies party and stuff like that.

The vocational and Uni students are better as they have an aim or at least an idea of a career path they want to follow, the problem is that the Uni often wants them to spend equal time in every department so somebody studying hospitality accounting or tourism isn't going to apply themself when they get rotated into housekeeping or the F&B dept or POMEC.

As HAL said above, being specific about what is required is going to be key to getting somebody useful.

I wouldn't worry about making a prat of yourself; nothing ventured nothing gained and all that and you may be able to give somebody valuable real-world experience or even find a future employee.

so basically it requires a lot of leg work to make it successful. I would be looking at business majors more or less, economics or even English majors with a minor in something actually useful. How would you go about it though? Contact the Unis? Post an advert on a job board? Specific places anywhere?

Contact the Uni's direct, explain the situation and see what they suggest.

There is a job fair soon at QSNCC, bound to be lots of students wandering about at that:

Event Calendar - Bangkok Career Expo 2013

Originally Posted by pseudolus

How would you go about it though?

Yes contact the university directly- heads/directors/deans of specific programmes not simply a general enquiry. Provide full details of what would be involved, period of time, skills required etc.
Many programmes especially hospitality courses require an internship to be completed as part of the degree. If not involved in the hospitality business try English and Business programmes