Establishing a relationship with your intern or co-op employee
To make the most of your experience with a Rose-Hulman intern or co-op employee, we suggest you take these steps to establish a good working relationship.
- Early on, advise the student of all issues of confidentiality in the workplace.
- Make sure that all who need to know are aware of the student's arrival date and time.
- Have the student's workplace properly set up prior to arrival including a computer, telephone, e-mail address, and other materials necessary to immediately begin contributing.
- Provide the student with orientation of your organization including physical layout, pertinent personnel and safety issues and practices.
- Discuss with and inform the student of realistic expectations of learning and contributing.
- Assist student with learning objectives for each work term. Situations with expressly stated expectations have greater chances of success.
- Help student to feel part of the team. This involves being aware of the age difference between the student and co-workers, the difference in level of experience and that a student's "purse" is generally much slimmer than a professional's. Encourage interaction but remember that students, for instance, cannot afford to go out for lunch every day.
- Create opportunities for interaction among all students on the premises.
- Make sure that the student's work assignments increase in scope of responsibility and level of contribution and that his/her salary increases accordingly. Please contact our office for the latest NACE salary information.
