Interviewing & Screening Interns: Challenges Of Hosting An International Internship Candidate
Al Lostocco
November 23, 2008
www.internship4america.com
In writing this article my first inclination was to regurgitate the same old stuff you see all over the internet, like all those websites that answer the faqs about Visas and where to recruit an intern. None of these sites will tell what its really like to have an international intern on staff, the challenges you face, what you need to understand in advance about hosting an international on a day-to-day basis and how their expectations and goals may differ from yours. There can be a huge gap in understanding, which you completely missed during the interviewing process. Therefore if you want to make their experience and yours worthwhile you need to understand what to look for during the interview. So each column will deal with a different phase in the internship process and how to avoid the pitfalls.
The Interview And Screening Process
Before you start the interviewing process here are somethingīs you need to understand. First everyone wants to come to the US. Some will do whatever it takes to get here, including cross the border illegally, obtaining false documents or even expand the truth during an interview. Since you have a scheduled interview with your candidate we can assume the first set of extreme motivations do not apply. Here is where we come to the more subtle motivations. A J-1 visa is a training visa, not a work visa. They are here for the experience not the money. You will have candidates that believe the money you are paying is substantial and they can afford to send money home.
I had one candidate tell me she was planning on sending at least half her money home to her family. I tried to explain that she did not have a sufficient amount to accomplish her goal and enjoy her internship. She was totally convinced that I was wrong. We did not offer her the internship. Knowing from experience that she would ultimately become disenchanted with the program and end up leaving. Why? Because in an attempt to save she would became so frustrated that she would either leave the program, seek illegal employment or return home.
Another sign of a problem candidate is one that during the interviewing process s/he starts asking about remaining in the US at the end of the internship. The goal of the program is to introduce individuals to our processes and methods and then to return to their own country. In this case the best thing to do is, explain the purpose of the program and make it clear that you have no intention in assisting them in any way with remaining at the end of their training. If you donīt you will be pestered to help them get their status changed. If you do help you have no assurance that as soon as they get their status change that they will leave you.
Always avoid the candidate who says s/he does not care what the internship is in s/he will take it. We have found candidates who will take any internship regardless of their background. This is a red flag. We tried this a few times and each time it was a disaster. Now we no longer allow crossovers. Here is an example of what can happen to you.
We had a couple of marketing interns accept an internship with a hotel. It was the intent of the GM to eventually give them some marketing exposure, but the position included actually training in all the hotel positions. Well it was fine until they got here and started their training. This was not acceptable to them and they raised such a fuss that the sponsoring agency had to get involved and they had to eventually be sent home.
Here is another subtle one that will surprise you. When you are interviewing beware of the intern who is too impressed with his or her educational credentials. We found this especially true of candidates with an MBA or other master or doctoral degrees. For us in the US we take it for granted that many young people today have masterīs degrees. In many countries individuals having an advanced degree are looked on with esteem and are accorded special treatment. Let me give you an example of this:
We recruited for a fast food restaurant chain an individual with an MBA in business. They were very impressed by him and intended for him to rise to a high-level management intern in just a short period. But initially they wanted him to spend time with one of their multi-store managers to become familiar with the operations. As he was touring the operations with this manager he learned that this manager did not have a degree and had worked up to this level. The next day he quit his internship. Why. Because he said he could not work for a guy without a degree. He was smarter then the manager because he had a degree.
To sum it up
1. Listen to what a candidate is or is not saying during the interview.
2. Do multiple interviews with multiple interviewers.
3. Make sure the candidate fully understands the scope of the training.
4. Document the terms of your agreement with the candidate.
There are many good candidates out there who would willingly accept an offer to train with you and be very appreciative of the opportunity, you just need to screen through them to find that individual. If I can be of any further help feel free to contact me at lostocco1@internship4america.com. If you would like to review some of my other articles on interns and internship programīs youīll find them also listed at www.internship4america.com .
Look for my next article entitled: Documenting Your Agreement with a Prospective Intern Candidate.
Alexander H. Lostocco
In writing this article my first inclination was to regurgitate the same old stuff you see all over the internet, like all those websites that answer the faqs about Visas and where to recruit an intern. None of these sites will tell what its really like to have an international intern on staff, the challenges you face, what you need to understand in advance about hosting an international on a day-to-day basis and how their expectations and goals may differ from yours. There can be a huge gap in understanding, which you completely missed during the interviewing process. Therefore if you want to make their experience and yours worthwhile you need to understand what to look for during the interview. So each column will deal with a different phase in the internship process and how to avoid the pitfalls.
The Interview And Screening Process
Before you start the interviewing process here are somethingīs you need to understand. First everyone wants to come to the US. Some will do whatever it takes to get here, including cross the border illegally, obtaining false documents or even expand the truth during an interview. Since you have a scheduled interview with your candidate we can assume the first set of extreme motivations do not apply. Here is where we come to the more subtle motivations. A J-1 visa is a training visa, not a work visa. They are here for the experience not the money. You will have candidates that believe the money you are paying is substantial and they can afford to send money home.
I had one candidate tell me she was planning on sending at least half her money home to her family. I tried to explain that she did not have a sufficient amount to accomplish her goal and enjoy her internship. She was totally convinced that I was wrong. We did not offer her the internship. Knowing from experience that she would ultimately become disenchanted with the program and end up leaving. Why? Because in an attempt to save she would became so frustrated that she would either leave the program, seek illegal employment or return home.
Another sign of a problem candidate is one that during the interviewing process s/he starts asking about remaining in the US at the end of the internship. The goal of the program is to introduce individuals to our processes and methods and then to return to their own country. In this case the best thing to do is, explain the purpose of the program and make it clear that you have no intention in assisting them in any way with remaining at the end of their training. If you donīt you will be pestered to help them get their status changed. If you do help you have no assurance that as soon as they get their status change that they will leave you.
Always avoid the candidate who says s/he does not care what the internship is in s/he will take it. We have found candidates who will take any internship regardless of their background. This is a red flag. We tried this a few times and each time it was a disaster. Now we no longer allow crossovers. Here is an example of what can happen to you.
We had a couple of marketing interns accept an internship with a hotel. It was the intent of the GM to eventually give them some marketing exposure, but the position included actually training in all the hotel positions. Well it was fine until they got here and started their training. This was not acceptable to them and they raised such a fuss that the sponsoring agency had to get involved and they had to eventually be sent home.
Here is another subtle one that will surprise you. When you are interviewing beware of the intern who is too impressed with his or her educational credentials. We found this especially true of candidates with an MBA or other master or doctoral degrees. For us in the US we take it for granted that many young people today have masterīs degrees. In many countries individuals having an advanced degree are looked on with esteem and are accorded special treatment. Let me give you an example of this:
We recruited for a fast food restaurant chain an individual with an MBA in business. They were very impressed by him and intended for him to rise to a high-level management intern in just a short period. But initially they wanted him to spend time with one of their multi-store managers to become familiar with the operations. As he was touring the operations with this manager he learned that this manager did not have a degree and had worked up to this level. The next day he quit his internship. Why. Because he said he could not work for a guy without a degree. He was smarter then the manager because he had a degree.
To sum it up
1. Listen to what a candidate is or is not saying during the interview.
2. Do multiple interviews with multiple interviewers.
3. Make sure the candidate fully understands the scope of the training.
4. Document the terms of your agreement with the candidate.
There are many good candidates out there who would willingly accept an offer to train with you and be very appreciative of the opportunity, you just need to screen through them to find that individual. If I can be of any further help feel free to contact me at lostocco1@internship4america.com. If you would like to review some of my other articles on interns and internship programīs youīll find them also listed at www.internship4america.com .
Look for my next article entitled: Documenting Your Agreement with a Prospective Intern Candidate.
Alexander H. Lostocco
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