Attracting Awesome Interns: Your Organisation Profile
You want to attract the best junior talent in New Zealand, right? To achieve this, you will have to provide candidates with the information they need to put you at the top of their shortlist.
Here are some best practice tips for writing a compelling organisation profile that will appeal to and engage potential graduates or interns, during recruitment seasons and all year round.
Attracting the Right Candidate for Your Company
Understanding your intended audience is advantageous when completing your organisation profile and writing job ads. Consider what is important to your prospects and align that with your business. Candidates are actively looking for a tech role, but their motivations might vary.
They could be:
Keen to learn
Wanting industry experience
Ready to level up their CV
Wanting to apply what they've studied
Eager to test drive their new career
Aiming to get a permanent job
If you're hiring someone for their first professional tech job, they'll likely seek advice from others. Family, friends and trusted advisors all influence their final decisions, so your audience may be larger than you anticipated! Show your candidates that you understand the responsibility of training an intern or grad and plan for mentorship and support.
Share your Company "Why"?
How you describe your organisation can connect you with future interns/employees.
What is your purpose? Be clear about your value proposition. Many candidates want internships, but you want to attract the "best" prospects for your role and team!
If your brand is well-known, potential employees may have an impression of you, so you may need to overcome preconceptions. You have an opportunity to impress via your website and social channels, on your employer profile, and when making direct contact with candidates during the recruitment process.
Students are attracted to employers who have a clear "why". If you can explain why your employees are excited to get out of bed every morning to do what you do, you are likely to attract and inspire employees who are as passionate as you.
So...What do You Do?
Don't assume potential interns know what you do. They may know your brand, but not what products/services you deliver. Basic information like who your customers are or how big your organisation is goes a long way to help students understand what you do. Other areas you might like to cover are:
your office locations and culture
the roles on offer
the size and depth of the team they'd be working with
Keep it simple and avoid jargon. If you want to include jargon, make sure it is easily researched and doesn't put off candidates who may be less confident. They may assume you want a certain level of expertise and opt-out of your pipeline.
Why are You a Good Choice for an Intern?
We talked about your "Why" previously, but you might have some work perks to offer that will help you get ahead of the pack. Hack days, volunteer days, having a small team or a big team, a blameless culture, continuous learning, exceptional mentorship, remote internships, independent projects, time with the CEO, a neat program of rotational work. Even mention the table tennis tourney if that's important to your team!
Welcome Interns Well!
Think about your collateral - do you have images, videos, and stories that feature recent graduates? Who is your team? Can potential interns see that they will be welcomed and belong? Can you share more information about their potential future with your organisation? What's your company culture for learning, development, training, mentoring, career development?
Explain Your Intern Recruitment Process
Applying for jobs is stressful, especially if you're new to it! Can you explain your selection process? Do you have any technical tests, site visits, follow-up interviews outside of the Summer of Tech recruitment events? Bonus points if you can include tips for applicants here too. Be clear about your requirements, especially if you have an R&D Experience Grant through Callaghan Innovation.
Now that you're equipped with tips and insights into what you can offer your future employees, you have all the fire you need to create and optimise a hot profile for recruiting cool tech talent!
