Agencies get a jolt of energy from the enthusiasm and fresh perspectives of college students and career switchers interested in joining our industry. The extra hands around the office are helpful to backfill your folks who are taking some much-needed time off during the summer. It's always great to have an intern who can focus on the tasks that no else has time for or wants to do! I was just kidding in that last sentence. No one benefits when interns are performing meaningless tasks—not your agency or the interns themselves. This generation of interns crave real-world experience where they can learn new skills, validate their interests, and establish their professional network. Unlike previous generations, simply being in the building does not check all the boxes.

Internships provide practical experience for students, recent graduates, and people changing careers. Whether you're just starting out with internships or looking to evolve your current program, the following nine tips will help you design an experience to meet the needs of your agency, interns and potential future employees.

9 Tips to Elevate Your Agency Internship Program:

1. Focus on Outcomes

Begin by identifying meaningful outcomes for your internship program. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

• Identify ideal future employees. Internships bring a pipeline of future employees to your doorstep.

• Accomplish project goals. Interns can help meet project goals and deadlines.

• Increase diversity. Interns bring diverse backgrounds and perspectives to your agency.

• Provide management experience for younger staff. While altruistic, you can take pleasure in knowing you are training the next generation of our industry.

2. Develop Relationships with Local Schools

Internship programs are a great opportunity for agency leaders to foster relationships with their alma maters. Take the chance to establish relationships with professors who align with your agency focus. Offer to guest speak in their classrooms. Give professors an opportunity to pick one or two students to intern at your agency. This creates a great carrot for the professor to motivate students with real-world experience.

3. Have an Orientation

On the first day, take a moment to clarify the overall purpose of the internship program. Provide incoming interns an opportunity to introduce themselves to fellow employees, and vice versa. Spend some time going over the vision for the agency and how their work will contribute to that vision. Discuss the outcomes you expect to see from their time with the agency.

4. Assign a Buddy

New interns should be assigned a "buddy" when they arrive. Buddies should tend to be closer to their age, and will help the intern figure out how things work at your agency.

5. Assign to Client Team(s)

Being assigned to a client team ensures that interns get real reps working with a client. You won't put them in a position to fail, but they should be given meaningful work and project-specific responsibilities to experience the rigor of agency life.

6. Broadcast Intern Experience

Provide periodic updates to the agency about what the interns are working on. Broadcasting the work of interns has three benefits: (1) Keeps your agency honest about the type of experience the intern is receiving; (2) Reminds agency staff to incorporate interns into current work streams; and (3) Signals to the intern their work is valued by management and fellow employees.

7. Develop a Farm-System

Look at interns the way sports teams look at their developmental leagues. With an internship program, you are trying to spot talent to add to your team. Internships are a great opportunity to test potential entry-level employees. Keep in touch with the good interns after they've returned to school or taken another job. Staying in touch allows you to quickly connect if you have an opportunity that is a good fit in the future. Once hired at your company, these individuals should not be subject to the typical probationary period of new employees—they’ve already logged substantial time with your agency.

8. Provide Feedback

Conduct mid-term evaluations to give and receive feedback on the internship experience. Additionally, conduct exit interviews with interns and give them an opportunity to evaluate their experience. Incorporate their feedback to improve the quality of your internship program.

9. Provide Cross-Functional Experience

Offer interns the opportunity to interact with different parts of the business. Give them insight into how the business works by allowing them to sit in on leadership team meetings.

We've all had our fair share of bad internship experiences. Some of us have failed interns in the past—not due to negligence, but because we did not have the right structures in place. My hope is that these 9 tips will help to elevate the outcomes of your internship program for your agency and future interns alike.