Tis the season to give alms. According to Wikipedia “Almsgiving involves giving to others as an act of virtue, either materially or in the sense of providing capabilities (e.g. education) free. It exists in a number of religions and cultures.”
I was saddened to learn – and then verify – that once again this year there will be scant internships for rising high school seniors and college summer helpers. While hesitance and widespread cancellation last year was understandable, the carryover at this critical juncture in our recovery is troublesome. Dissatisfied with the knee jerk “covid” reasoning, I have pressed my clients, collaborators, and friends on the logic behind foregoing a most critical phase of the global workforce.
To my surprise, reluctance stems more from a place of feeling ill-equipped and unmotivated to manage intern(s) from a distance, rather than the remote parameters alone. This points to a worsening condition I fear we are failing to acknowledge. At this point in the pandemic cycle, we have seemingly arrived at a place of comfort toeing the line between convincing ourselves we are more efficient working remotely and finally satiating our desire to regularly convene in a professional setting.
Gasp not, forever-maskers – this is not to say that the curve, the wave nor the herd’s immunity have been removed from the equation. Rather, we are now beginning to experience symptoms of the impairment to our strategic business planning this prolonged period of abnormal poses. Trick is to stave off further infection or spread.
I need not bore readers with statistics highlighting the impact of internships on organizational success and broader economic vibrance. I would wager a Pellegrino the majority of you reading can draw a distinct line from your current status to an internship you participated in.
Many clients attribute their low turnover and unique corporate culture to a robust commitment to develop future leaders, starting with their internship programs.
On-the-job experience ranks as the most valuable resume credential by recruiters globally, and it makes total sense. For interns who ultimately determine a company or industry is not for them, they too benefit from the experience – and are better off knowing sooner.
So what is to blame for this reluctance? The nefarious culprit: complacency. One trade off of re-capturing the time we used to spend commuting is the now-missing downtime with colleagues while still in a corporate environment. These abandoned instances were the breeding ground of true corporate culture. They provided a safe arena to work thru opposing perspectives and strategies. They were the impromptu classrooms for credentials of consequence to the newbies. Now, Zoom buffers give us time to go for a walk down the block, order some more crap online, or scan Reddit for our next IRA trade idea. We have become complacent in our personal element, neglecting the opportunity to connect with, educate and even learn from our successors.
Having experienced three flavors of internships, I attest – interns matter. And they need us to remember our roots.
Consider this – allocate 15 minutes of your next team huddle to discuss internships. Get creative on how to reimagine and roll out an appropriately-scaled internship program. Even with a few participants, remotely, and over just a couple of weeks, your return on investment will be multi-X. Commit this relatively cheap and available time upfront to outline the same projects you would have doled out to interns pre-covid. You will expose them to meaningful career preparation, far beyond the chores they are stuck doing for mom and dad, or worse – shoveling the proverbial stuff around town.
Il Punto: Your future self depends on the decisions you make today. The next and subsequent generations also depend on these decisions. If we collectively give up on these kinds of engagements to expose our future workforce to our knowledge and expertise, how are we to expect anything other than a globally incompetent and disloyal workforce in the future?
Since we are all indeed in this together, dedicate the time and invest in your future – by way of investing in their future. Give alms.
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