How to Tame Summer Job ApplicationsPart 8

When regular, full-time employees started working at our firm, I conducted their "New Employee Orientation." To give these students a realistic view of working at our firm, I conducted a modified version of the new employee orientation with each one of them. It was also a chance for them to relax and breathe a little bit before their big first day. I brought them around the office to meet their new co-workers, told them what their first assignment would be, and who they would be taking direction from their first day and/or week. These managers were expecting the student and had already prepared work for them to do.

By doing this, I did not have to think up every little assignment for each student, every day of the week. The managers took care of the daily assignments, but if they ran out of work for them to do, they could send the student to me. To keep any one student from being over-used or over-looked, I meet with them once a week.

We met as a group, every Monday morning for about an hour. It accomplished several things, including getting their mind back into work after a weekend away and keeping them working together as a group. Each week, they had to say what they worked on last week and what they thought they would be working on in the coming week. When the staff would see our group meeting, it gave the interns more credibiltiy. It raised everyone's expectations.

In the early meetings, we reviewed things like where they park their vehicle, using the computers and telephones, and turning in timesheets. After a few weeks of working on real projects, I told them to record the list of projects they worked on, along with information about the project: principal in charge, project manager, client's name, square footage, approximate construction cost, and their role on the project. For professionals, this is the type of information to keep track of and I wanted to teach them early how to do it. Next time they apply for a job, they could attach this "Project List" with their resume and immediately earn respect.

I also taught them the importance of "billable" and "non-billable" time. At the beginning of the summer, they sort of knew the conceptual differences between the two, but probably couldn't explain why managers put so much emphasis on it, and how their work would be measured by the percentage of their billable and non-billable time. By the end of the summer, they not only knew the difference, they expressed concern during a week when their timesheet reflected more non-billable time than billable.

Each week, they turned in their timesheet to me. First, though, they had to go to each manager they worked for and get them to sign off on it. They had to learn to own up to the hours they spent on a project by showing the manager how many hours they were logging to their project. I had to keep the managers involved and accountable when it came to working with our summer interns. As part of their training to complete their timesheets, I had them fill out detailed journals for each day's work and attach it to their timesheet. No one else in the office had to submit such a detailed record; I was training them how to keep detailed records of their work - a skill that they will use for the rest of their professional life.


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