While hiring interns, employers feel quite excited about their Internship Program. They follow the proper process to hire the best interns, and create amazing training formats. But what is equally important is the interns need to be made feel like a part of the team as well. They definitely are not the permanent employees, but it's wiser to not let them feel that way.

If employers want their interns to stay focused, motivated, productive they must feel some dedication towards the company. Companies need to work on making them feel at home and accepted, so they are able to train better and produce the desired results.

Once they feel familiar with the surroundings, they will also feel comfortable in clarifying their queries. Below are a few tips that may help companies create a better environment for interns.

1.    Learn more about them:
Just like the rest of the team members, Interns should also be introduced to everyone. Their stories must also be heard. A fairly new employee can also be appointed as the buddy for interns who could tell them more about :

• The company culture,
• Understand what is their thought process about the company,
• What are they passionate about,

This makes them comfortable with what is where in the company. Interns must be able to ask questions freely, whether it is regarding their own job role or anyone else in the company.

2.    Avoid using them for Coffee Runs:
Interns join a company in hopes to get trained for their dream jobs or to get practical knowledge about the domain they are passionate about. If they see that they are being utilised for menial jobs and coffee runs while rest of the teams work towards making their career, they would not feel great. It’s true that they can’t simply jump to the critical tasks but there has to be a balance between the kind of tasks they are given. Their training and actual work will be affected by the same.

3.    Create Intern Batches:
Youngsters prefer communication and interaction between themselves. It helps them understand and grow together. Creating batches of more than 3 interns while training them would be a great idea. They will not feel alone, and will develop a team spirit among themselves.

4.    Assign Friendly Mentors:
Instead of having some senior or more experienced team member training them, try and get someone younger who can relate with them well and guide them better. Trainers or mentors with whom the interns can gel well, ask questions easily, give them their opinions and suggestions about projects, assist in smooth transition from inexperienced to learned pretty well.

Interns when treated as a part of the family, enjoy working more. Everyone needs a motivation to come to the office, and such simple thing scan help create these young student’ careers. Internship Programs must be designed to educate and train the interns, so they can become a part of the team. They should be able to increase their productivity and accountability to achieve their professional as well as organisational goals.