Top 5 skills recruiters look for in interns

Students invest considerable amount of time to hone their skills and gain hands-on experience through internship program. They also understand the functioning of an organization along with their culture, policies, rules and regulations in the process. As a recruiter you would, more often than not, prefer a candidate with such a strong background while hiring individuals for a job profile. This is because these candidates are market-ready and also have the ability to handle projects independently with little training and assistance. This is not only a cost-effective deal for you as a recruiter but also the right approach since such an individual will be able to contribute tremendously to the company’s growth and productivity.

But before taking on an intern as a full-timer, you must ensure they possess these top 5 skills that are sure to make them  a good resource for your firm:

• Technical efficiency: Although interns cannot be expected to be experts in the domain for which you are hiring, having a sound understanding of the subject is something you must evaluate them for. Good theoretical knowledge combined with practical experience will improve their skills and help them come up with new perspectives. Therefore, technical efficiency is an absolute must for interns.   
• Communication and interpersonal skills: Since they have a short-term experience working in an organization, they must possess good communication and interpersonal skills. Recruiting such candidates will enhance your existing environment in the company and will also help interns mingle well with your employees.
• Critical thinking and reasoning: As a recruiter you must evaluate interns for critical thinking and reasoning abilities since these capacities explain the fact that they will be able to work with a problem-solving approach. It is not an easy task to train candidates in these areas and is something that you may or may not have the resources to do.
• Adaptability: Interns must have the ability to adapt to the environment and work along with other staff members. If they lack this major ability, they may not be able to work efficiently and may not contribute effectively for the growth of your organization.
• Time management: This is one of the key skills that an intern must be proficient in. Big or small, they should be able to deliver the work on time and must be able to manage and prioritize their day-to-day tasks effectively.

These are the major skills an intern should be assessed for in order to understand whether they will be a good resource to the company or a bad hire. For more details on hiring interns and other recruitment-related matters, visit https://pod.ai/employers