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Hiring Software Works For Internships

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I can’t believe it’s already November! Fall is in full swing and school is back in session. I love this time of year, cool crisp weather and football all weekend! Unfortunately, time flies and seasons change! Before you know it, it will be full blown holiday season…is your company ready? Do you offer internships through holiday break or even for spring quarter? Believe it or not, college kids are already thinking about their potential internship opportunities! A hiring software solution, such as an applicant tracking system or employee onboarding software, can be a wonderful tool for helping to source and onboard not just permanent employees, but also interns for your company now and in future hiring seasons.

Why not use applicant tracking to recruit interns, or even seasonal help?

Revisit your typical recruiting process for picking interns…do you use a separate employment application for these positions; or, is it the same standard application used for permanent positions? Either way, ExactHire’s ATS can help streamline your internship application process. Students (who are, by the way, your potential full-time employees of tomorrow) will be impressed with the overall recruitment experience and technology. This promotes positive word of mouth awareness for your company – it’s a win-win!

In addition to your standard application questions, you may still use job-specific screening questions with scoring and disqualification filters, too! Think about what you would ask of a current student before hiring them as an intern…for example:

  • Have you had an internship previously? If so, what did you enjoy/dislike?
  • Please describe how your school extracurricular activities have prepared you for this internship position.
  • Are you able to work while still attending school?

All of these (as well as other topics) are important and can be made into screening questions. After you have a pool qualified applicants, you will be able to start to narrow down your choices and pick the final intern candidates that best fit your needs and company culture.

Another bonus of using applicant tracking software for your internship hiring process is that you can accumulate an inventory of students that fit your requirements. The next time you have an internship or full time position to fill, you already have a pool of “warm lead” applicants from which to engage interest and potentially convert candidates.

Using a hiring solution such as an ATS to find those students that will be the best fit for your company’s intern positions makes the selection process more efficient and consistent, benefiting your company in the long run as well.

To see our software solutions in action, please visit our resources page or contact us to schedule a live demo.
– See more at: https://www.exacthire.com/hiring-software-works-for-internships.blog#sthash.22fUkHZO.dpuf

Image credit: Fallen Leaves by mksfly (contact)

How to Use Applicant Tracking Software to Source Internship Candidates

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It’s that time of the year…the grass is green, the birds are chirping, and many new faces are popping up as potential employees (and perhaps as new LinkedIn followers) for your organization as students dive full throttle into the internship search process.

Let’s say you are pretty satisfied with the questions asked on your employment application, and it helps you capture appropriate, job-relevant information from experienced job seekers and recent college graduates. But is the same application appropriate for your potential internship applicants? Will these interns-to-be take the time to complete the whole application thoughtfully? What will they think when they get to questions like “please list all applicable licenses and certifications,” etc.? They probably don’t yet possess such credentials and might abandon the effort to complete the application thinking it won’t result in any employment fruits for their labor.

With this scenario in mind, how do you customize your applicant tracking software to engage potential interns to apply and capture the right type of information on the internship employment application? Here are some tips:

  1. Create a link dedicated to internship opportunities on your ATS site’s landing page. By specifically calling out your organization’s focus on internship opportunities, you are establishing credibility and making it easy for students to navigate your careers page.
  2. Establish a secondary employment application dedicated to internship applicants and/or recent college grads. This version will likely be shorter than your regular application (i.e. not as much room will be necessary for previous employers, certification listings, etc.), and you may use it to capture student-focused information such as: school and permanent home address, extracurricular activities, and expected graduation date.
  3. When posting job listings, make sure one of your available employment types is “internship.” When sorting through available jobs, students may quickly hone in on the positions relevant to them. NOTE: Take it a step further and give students a direct link to your job listings already filtered down to available internships only. This can easily by placing some strategic hyperlinks on your “Internship Opportunities” page (see tip #1 above).
  4. Be sure and include specific information about the compensation, benefits, hours and responsibilities associated with the internship when crafting the job listing within your applicant tracking system. It is important for employers to take care in determining whether an internship will be a paid position, stipend, or unpaid. There are very specific rules to follow in order for an internship to be eligible to be unpaid. For more information about internship pay guidelines, visit the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division site.
  5. Take advantage of Bookmark & Share Icon links to promote your internship opportunities on social media sites – especially Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. Your applicant tracking software should allow you to promote links to your listings on your own social profile pages, as well as allow applicants to easily share interesting employment options with friends.
  6. Give students (and this goes for all of your other applicants, too) the ability to sign up for automated job alerts on your careers portal. They may not be in the market for your specific internship opportunity this semester, but if they receive an email alert with new open opportunities the next time you post, it will be easier for them to apply sooner in your selection process.