Q. Is it acceptable etiquette for my students to buy gifts for their internship supervisors?
July 20, 2010 at 2:10 pm | Posted in career center | Leave a commentTags: intern, intern gifts, internship, internship question, internship wrap up, supervisor gifts
by the Intern Coach
A. Your question is controversial, and the answer is debatable. Some schools may have strict rules forbidding students to give supervisors any gifts that cost money. Other schools may help students select and pay for an appropriate gift. A few career centers may waver on the question, depending on the circumstances in each internship. Here are a few points to ponder:
- Make sure that your school has a clearly defined policy that applies equally to all internship supervisors and companies. Inform all internship supervisors of the policy, so they know what is acceptable and what is not. You and the internship supervisors need to act as partners on this policy and refrain from making any exceptions to the rule—whatever that may be. Emphasize the career center policy in the student internship materials, so no student can say that he/she didn’t know the rule.
- Suggest alternate ways for your students to express thanks to internship supervisors. Hand-made crafts or home-made food items are appropriate gifts. Even a hand-written thank-note on good paper is an acceptable way to show appreciation. Another effective technique for your students to thank their internship supervisors is to write the internship supervisor’s boss a glowing thank-you, enumerating the ways that the supervisor helped the intern.
- Take the burden of gift-giving away from the student intern and shoulder it yourself through the career center. Your staff may have a policy of giving each internship supervisor a framed certificate of appreciation or a coffee mug engraved with the school’s name. Such gifts will reflect well on the student and the school, leading to more internships with the company. The internship supervisor will be grateful to the school and be relieved that the intern is not spending his/her limited money on the supervisor.
- Consider creating a policy of no gifts in order to save any interns from embarrassment, especially if your student body is suffering in the weak economy. Many interns do not have the money and will be upset or humiliated if other interns are handing out expensive gifts. Remind your students that such gifts reek of a form of bribery in hopes of getting hired by the company. Try to keep an even playing field in the very competitive field of internships. A student should be evaluated solely on performance, not gift-giving.
Q. Do I really have to remind my students to thank everyone who helped them during their internships?
July 15, 2010 at 10:23 am | Posted in Advising interns | Leave a commentTags: career center, interns, internship, internship questions, internship wrap up, thank you notes
by the Intern Coach
A. Yes, please do remind all of your students to thank everyone who helped them during their internships. It’s to your benefit, too, if you want to keep all the company doors open when it’s time to place new interns. The competition for those coveted spaces has really grown. A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers in 2008 found that 50% of graduating students had held internships compared to 17% in 1992. So those thank-you letters are important for both your students and your career center. Here’s how to make sure the students follow through:
- Remember that students are very busy, especially at the end of the summer and may forget about thank-you notes as they prepare for the coming semester. To help them complete their thank-you messages on time, set a deadline a week or two before the internship ends. And remind your students that you’ll be sending your own thank-you letters to the appropriate intern supervisors, too.
- Enclose sample thank-you letters in each student intern’s package of informative materials. Include various versions, ranging from formal letters for internship supervisors to informal notes or even verbal thank-you scripts for other employees who have been helpful during the internship. Encourage your students to customize their messages based on the samples.
- Consider providing your student interns with note cards or letterhead engraved with the school’s name. Then, you can be assured that the student is using appropriate stationery for the thank-you messages. Having the school name in front of the company personnel is also a tangible reminder of the professional relationship that exists between your career center and the company.
- Collaborate with your student interns on the list of people who deserve thank-you messages. Prepare a form for them with three columns—one for names, a second for type of thank-you, and third for dates. Review the list with each student, dividing the names into formal letters, informal notes, and verbal thanks. Then, add due dates beside each name and ask your student to check off each date upon completion.
- Impress upon your students that these seemingly simple courtesies are an important way of networking. For example, the secretary who has been helpful and deserves a thank-you note may have a brother who works in a company where your student intern may want to apply for a job and needs an employee to put in a good word for him/her. If the student perceives a thank-you as a way to continue a relationship that could lead to new opportunities rather than a closure to a former experience, he/she will need few reminders about thanking everyone.
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