Getting the Most Out of Interns

When Cary Catalano launched his marketing firm, Catalano Fenske & Associates, last year, it was clear that he and his partner would be quickly overwhelmed by the size of the to-do list.

In addition to crafting boffo proposals to land those first clients, someone had to set up the office, create filing and billing systems, and take care of the myriad tiny tasks that come with launching a new company. Unfortunately, the Fresno, Calif., entrepreneur had hit his budget limit for payroll. So Catalano went out and got himself a couple of employees who were happy to work for next to nothing. In other words, he hired a few interns.

For start-ups like Catalano Fenske, internships are almost too good to be true. A young, eager-to-please student less interested in cash than in school credit and some shiny new bullet points for the resume can be just the solution when you lack the money to hire.

But while interns may be a bargain, they're far from without cost -- and not only in terms of money. Finding, training, and managing an intern who will help your business grow takes time and effort.

Do it right, and you'll have an enthusiastic helper -- as well as a potentially skilled and trusted employee should you need to hire someone down the line. Get it wrong -- and you'd be surprised at how many people do just that -- and an intern can be just another headache to add to the list.

Obviously, you want a go-getter who is determined to make the most of his or her time at your company. This could prove more challenging than expected: Just 11% of teenagers today (the hiring pool for interns, by and large) say their generation is focused on goals, while 50% say their generation is all about having fun, according to a survey by Peter Zollo, founder of Teenage Research Unlimited, a market research firm.

Somewhat discordantly, Zollo also found that 71% of teenagers expect to be successful.

How to separate the driven and talented from the lazy and deluded? Enlist the help of the people who know students best: their professors, for example, or staffers at the career centers at local colleges and universities. The beginning of the school year is a good time to start establishing these relationships.

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