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To start with, you need to be VERY clear about the following: What problem are you solving, and for whom? What value are you providing, what promise are you making, and how will you deliver on that promise?
By Dr. Pauline Assenza, Professor, Management - Small Business Entrepreneurship, Ancell School of Business, WCSU
1. A target market
2. ...With the ability to pay
3. ......The desire to sustain this relationship over time
4. .........And YOUR ability to understand your industry, the competition, and fully assess your operational, financial, and human resource management capabilities.
Dr. Pauline Assenza has the following to say about how to proceed: Success is a process, and requires a certain set of skills. It also requires research, and something called “Situational Awareness”©, the ability to see what’s going on around you, figure out what’s important about what you see, and decide what might happen in the future, so you can best prepare.
Although originally developed for fighter pilots, soldiers and spies, it helps ANYONE figure out what to pay attention to. In business, as in life, success is dependent on our ability to perceive, comprehend, and predict elements in the marketplace…
This is a process.
And there are a LOT of processes out there. What can we do to maximize our chances for success? Here are some suggestions:
This means starting with a “customer” in mind. I believe the most important thing is to find out what the customer values. Not what the customer wants because they often don't know, but what problem are they trying to solve, and how can you provide a solution that will be valuable to them?
We're always looking for gaps between where something/someone IS and where they want to be.
The customer can't always articulate this, so we'll have to ask questions about the current state of affairs, and how happy they are about this, then ask what they would like to see, how they would like things to be different.
SO, best to begin with “design thinking”: Made popular as a tool for business innovation by David Kelley, founder of IDEO and the Stanford d.school, “design thinking” is all about discovering innovative solutions by first figuring out what the problem really is.
If you are interested in diving in deeper to the world of "Design Thinking" check out our page on "Designing your Life".
What good is it to spend time (and money) delivering something that doesn’t really solve anything? Best to truly understand the problem first.
The design thinking process as practiced at the d.school begins with a question – what might we need to know more about?
To find out, we need to understand the context and the people involved. This requires empathy.
This is an effort to understand why people do what they do, and what is meaningful about these actions.
It requires observation and engagement, and sometimes results in a “journey map” that includes artifacts of the user or customer experience. This is an essential place to start because it requires us to challenge those assumptions that can blind us to what’s really going on. The idea of empathy, and the exploration of what the customer experiences, leads to new thinking about what people really need.
Based on our new point of view. This is a synthesis of the empathy step, and should lead to the discovery of patterns that connect people to the larger context, giving us insight into the true nature of the problem – what do people REALLY NEED?
Now we can begin to “ideate” or generate ideas that might lead to innovative solutions. This can involve brainstorming in a group, building on other people’s ideas, or mindmapping to help visualize possibilities. (Software is available to do this as well.)
The purpose is to use a free-flowing process to uncover all ideas, and then select those that have the most potential for addressing the problem we’ve identified.
See this example of a diagram of all the things that can affect and therefore improve a tennis game.
The next step is to prototype something we can interact with, to communicate our idea, start a conversation and be able to test the possible solution. This doesn’t have to be fancy. It’s just something tangible, a model or mockup of our product or service offering. It’s an experiment that helps us know if we’re on the right track. A lot can be learned from building a prototype.
The test mode is when we get feedback from our customer. This helps validate our initial assumptions, lets us know if we truly understood the problem, if we’re able to figure out what people need, and if we can possibly deliver something that will help answer our initial question.
If we’re even somewhat successful, we should share our story and inspire others to act as well, enriching the process.
One of the best applications of design thinking is when we use it to address “wicked problems”, those that are hard to define, that may not have a definitive context or any one “right” or optimal solution.
For an idea to be successful, it needs to simultaneously address three types of risks: customer risk, technical risk, and market risk: the end result of design thinking should lead us to something that begins to fulfill the following criteria: desirability, feasibility, viability, and begins to address the issue of sustainability.
These criteria are most useful when building a business, and can be combined with the “lean” startup processes to provide a final test of the concept:
It is desirable for the customer and the market? Is it a solution the customer really needs and wants to use? Does it have a unique value? Does it make sense for them? Can we easily market this?
Is it technically feasible for us to do? Can we produce it given the resources, strengths and capabilities we possess? Is it functionally possible? Does it work??
Will it create a viable business in its market? What are the costs and how will we pay for it? What has to be true in order for this business to work? Can this solution lead to a sustainable business?
We’ve begun to develop a vision of a future where our customer would like to "live". We have some idea what it would look like, what it would sound like, what it would feel like.
But that’s in the future, where things are always uncertain, so we need a strategy, or guidance about how to make decisions in pursuit of that vision.
Strategy answers the question "Where are we going, and why? How should we proceed? What's our purpose in going, and what will it look like when we get there?"
Strategies also help determine what one WON'T do in pursuit of an outcome. This is where beliefs or values come in... so sometimes it's important to investigate what the client believes, AND what WE believe, what assumptions we've made about the way the world works. (i.e. If someone believes people always lie, then the strategy is usually always defensive...!)
We have to have a plan.
Suggestion is to start “lean”: especially for those who want to build a viable and therefore sustainable business, there’s no need for a full “business plan”. Best to start by asking who the customer is, what problems this customer may have, and how any proposed solution to those problems may have “product-market fit”. Does the proposed product or service actually “fit” the needs of the target market, and can it perform in the industry? This also requires information about the competition!
To do this, to maximize the success of any new product or service, it’s best to “get out of the building” and ask the customer what he or she thinks. This is an extension of the test step in design thinking but goes beyond this to build out the operational requirements of the business.
This is what Steve Blank, considered the father of the “lean startup” model, says. He recommends first learning about customer problems, then designing solutions and testing those solutions through a prototype, or “minimum viable product – MVP”, a prototype that allows you to investigate the operational issues around actual delivery. The purpose of the MVP test is to do real customer development, by getting out of the building, with real data you can use to further “iterate” or “pivot” to another variation of the solution.
Use this test to uncover the assumptions you might have made about the problem, and about how you’ll deliver the solution, those assumptions that may make the solution ineffective.
Keep designing and testing until it’s clear “product-market fit” has been achieved – when you have proof that your product or service adequately addresses the needs or demands of the target market, and you know how best to deliver it to that market in a way that makes the competition irrelevant.
Then, and only then, are you ready to implement this solution, build a company and go to market!
These are both single page “plans” that focus attention on the proposed business model by investigating assumptions about things like the customer segments, the value proposition, the delivery channels and quality of customer relationships, the revenue streams, cost structures, key partnerships, and the resources or key activities or measurement metrics that need to be present in order to improve chances for success. The “canvas” can then be used to craft a story to share with potential investors.
The lean startup model looks very similar to other processes that are “iterative” or cyclical in nature: Plan-Do-Test-Act – PDCA or Plan-Do-Study-Act – PDSA – from W. Edwards Deming is used for continuous process improvement. It stresses the need to test or “study” the results of any action before putting that action into a production process. Deming also exhorts managers to pay attention to the data and use that data to uncover the root cause of any variation in the process that’s outside of acceptable limits.
Deming’s philosophy has inspired other approaches such as “lean” manufacturing, where decisions about production revolve around customer needs and require organizations to identify the value being delivered, map the “value stream” of a process, create a continuous work flow that “pulls” the work process based on demand, and requires a mindset of continuous improvement.
Plan-Organize-Lead (Command and Coordinate)-Control (Verify) is a model of management functions, including management principles and a suggestion for process, adapted from Henri Fayol’s study of professional managers in the early 20th century. The last management function, control, means the manager checks to make sure creative problem solving has occurred.
This requires that the “plan” includes performance standards based on organizational objectives, that the relevant resources have been “organized” to support the plan, that some leadership entity has asked (commanded) the organization to start “coordinating” action, and that a mechanism for controlling or” verifying” actual performance has been designed and implemented.
This includes adopting “Fayolism” or a set of management principles that guide management action.
The final step is to compare results with performance standards to see if any correction is required. This will probably lead to a revision to the “plan” and so the cycle continues.
Originally part of an adaptive software development framework, the “agile manifesto” stresses the importance of satisfying customer needs through early delivery of products that have been tested through collaboration with the customer. It anticipates and welcomes cross-functional team involvement, internal feedback from all stakeholders that may be affected by the new process.
The results of customer feedback are incorporated in “sprints” where prioritized tasks are discussed and incremental progress is tracked through daily “scrum” meetings in an iterative process – design-test-develop-test-integrate-test-deliver-review. The goal is to deliver something useful in increments, assuming that feedback will occur, and changes will need to be made in order to deliver a fully functional final product.
One thing all these processes have in common is the requirement that EVERY stakeholder is involved in some way. This includes not only the customer, but employees and management as well. Someone has to provide direction, but listening to the voice of key stakeholders is essential for ultimate success.
Combining processes: It should be obvious that all the above are useful in some way for lots of things.
The overall process for sustainable success involves the following
1. Generate a feasible idea by defining the problem (using design thinking);
2. Develop a solution (using lean startup methodology);
3. Implement that solution and transfer to the customer (using agile product management).
But you also have to MARKET this solution. It’s all about telling a story that gets to the heart of your offering, told in a voice that resonates with your targeted customers. And you have to MANAGE the ongoing operations so you can deliver on your promise, adapting as necessary to changing market/industry conditions.
There are a few concepts that underpin successful endeavors, things that people have been talking about for decades. Especially since we’ll have to include other people in our pursuit of success, these deserve notice.
Why do we do what we do? Deci and Ryan, researchers at University of Rochester, point out that human beings have reasons for doing things, have intrinsic or internal motivations, a need to be “self-determining” creatures.
We have a basic desire to have autonomy, to be in control of our choices, to have personal agency in deciding what we will do, for how long, in pursuit of a goal. We also have a need for mastery, or an opportunity to demonstrate our competence, to have our work be acknowledged as something well done. Also, because we are essentially social creatures, we have a need for relatedness, or an opportunity to perform with purpose, making a difference to others with our actions.
If we see an opportunity to fulfill these needs, we’ll be engaged and inspired to do our best to achieve both our goals and the goals of any external entity that can help us do this. But organizations must provide a supportive environment for employees and key partners, creating an empowering culture where resource needs can be met, where we feel we belong, in order to encourage productive behavior.
As we strategize for success, we also need to develop an approach to human resource management that supports the culture of empowerment we desire. This can be communicated to customers as well.
Dan Pink and others have commented on what drives us. A lot of this is based on Deci and Ryan’s concept of self-determination.
Recently there’s been discussion about something called the “entrepreneurial mindset”, which doesn’t necessarily refer to building a startup business. Everyone can benefit from the ability to do the following:
Recent research points to the following characteristics of successful innovators, who tend to be:
Her work studying successful entrepreneurs uncovered the following: they didn’t create a business plan. Instead, they just started with what they had, and were willing to risk this in pursuit of opportunities.
They also recognized the value of partnerships, understood how to leverage surprises and make them into opportunities, that they were the ones ultimately in control, making decisions to shape the future, transforming their environment into something that mattered to both them and their stakeholders.
HOWEVER, their successful actions required that they ask three very important questions:
He also said that a focus solely on profitability would become “a limiting factor”. He believed organizational success was based on a foundation of quality – but that’s not enough. Customers must know about the product or service, which is the role of marketing, and successful businesses understand they need to continually adapt to changing customer needs, which requires innovation.
Success ultimately involves the following: discovering an opportunity to solve a problem for someone who’s willing to pay you for the solution. That’s the start, BUT, they must know who you are, trust you and perceive YOUR solution as better than any other, and be ABLE to pay you enough to cover the cost of your delivery, being delighted enough to buy from you over and over, and that takes a lot of study, and the ability to continually innovate, to figure out... But it IS sustainable.
Ask yourself – do I understand the processes that might be necessary in order to build success? Do I have the right mindset and do I have confidence in my ability to sustain needed action even in the face of adversity? Can I find people willing to work with me on this journey? I need to be prepared.
Sometimes opportunity appears, and I need to start somewhere… But I need to keep monitoring my results, because at some point I’ll have to adapt to changing conditions…. Nothing lasts forever…
The Danbury Hackerspace is a non-profit corporation founded by Jon Gatrell and Mike Kaltschnee in 2012. We were granted 501c3 status by the IRS in 2014.
The City of Danbury has generously provided the Danbury Innovation Center at 158 Main Street (attached to the Danbury Library) for the Danbury Hackerspace.
The Danbury Hackerspace is a makerspace with 3D printers, prototyping tools, a mockup studio, a common work area, program space, & coworking space.
The mission of the Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC) is to support economic prosperity for women and strengthen communities through entrepreneurial and financial education services that create and grow sustainable jobs and businesses across Connecticut. From starting or growing a business to increasing income, the Women’s Business Development Council drives business success in a tangible and accessible way.
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Become Involved in the WestConn Entrepreneurial Society
A club for students throughout the university.
Getting involved in the society is a great way to develop a variety of critical thinking skills and real world experience while also having an impact on your area. Most groups are focused on specific issues or topics in the community so the opportunities to take part and even lead one of their initiatives are numerous.
If you are interested in getting involved check them out Westconn Entrepreneurial Society.
E.R.I.C. is the center for Entrepreneurship, Research, Innovation, and Creativity, and The Garage, its physical location for the center on the ground floor of the classroom building at the Westside Campus of Western Connecticut State University, was created to foster entrepreneurship and innovation both on campus and in the surrounding greater Danbury community. The vision is for E.R.I.C. to serve as a catalyst and incubator for new business ventures, with WCSU as a regional hub for entrepreneurial innovation. This vision is a collaborative one, providing opportunities for partners and mentors from the area to link with students and faculty from all academic disciplines at the university.
To start with, you need to be VERY clear about the following: What problem are you solving, and for whom? What value are you providing, what promise are you making, and how will you deliver on that promise? I have a 7-step formula for success:
SO…FIRST of all, you need an IDEA – what product or service do you want to create?
Then you need to find out if this idea is feasible –
Is there a need for this product or service? Who might need it (or want it)? Does anyone else currently provide it? Will my product or service ultimately satisfy the need of my target consumer?
RESEARCH your target market and your competition!
Here’s where understanding your industry’s product life cycle can be useful – at what point might the market or industry be saturated, signaling time for product innovation? Can YOU provide that innovation?
SECOND, based on this research, figure out what RESOURCES you need in order to deliver this product or service:
Money? People (labor or business partners)? Physical place (or Internet location)? Systems (financial, communication, operational tracking systems, etc)? Access to ideas (intellectual property), permissions, regulations?
THIRD, if it looks like you have a good idea, and can get access to needed resources, then create a formal set of PLANS. You’ll need at least three plans if you’re going to ask for outside funding (these will become part of a formal Business Plan you can share with potential investors):
Marketing plan (who are your customers, where are they located, how much will they pay, how will you deliver the product/service to them, how will you let them know you exist and that you can fulfill their needs?)
First you need a product (based on the idea, research and resources identified above).
Then you need to figure out how much your target customers will pay for this product – what price is right?
Part of the price calculation is based on the place, or how you’ll be delivering the product or service to your customers – your distribution channel. You need to make sure you’ve priced the product high enough to cover not only your variable costs (or how much it will cost you in materials to create the product), but also your fixed costs (how much you’ll be paying for things like rent, utilities, insurance, property taxes). This requires doing a break-even analysis – at what point do your monthly sales cover not only your variable costs, but also your monthly fixed costs?
The formula is Break Even Point = fixed costs/(selling price - variable costs)
Only after you’ve done all the above are you finally ready to create promotions – ways to let your customers know about your product.
Financial plan (how much will this cost, how much revenue can you generate, what kind of monthly cash flow will result, where are you going to get needed funds?)
Management/Operational plan (who’s going to run this business, how many employees will you need, what will the business structure be – legal and otherwise? Where will you be located, how much space will you need, how will you get your raw materials, how will you monitor your performance?)
FOURTH, set short-term goals based on the expectations you generated with your plans, put your resources in place, and START DOING IT!
FIFTH, MONITOR your progress – how are you doing?? Continue to keep track of what’s happened so you can keep LEARNING from your mistakes.
FINALLY, REPEAT all the above until you get it right!!!
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Dr, Pauline Assenza, Professor, Management - Small Business Entrepreneurship, Ancell School of Business, WCSU. Contact me at assenzap@wcsu.edu if you want help with any of this.
Specific target market defined & qualified? How do you know they actually need and will pay for your product or service?
– Competition identified? What can you do to differentiate yourself?
– Value proposition clearly articulated: what is the benefit your market will gain, and how can you best communicate this?
– Financial requirements specified & tested?
• Sales forecasts?
• Pricing, variable vs fixed costs, break-even analysis?
• Startup & working capital needs, monthly run rate, time to profitability?
• Cost of acquisition of customers, lifetime customer value? Sales cycle – how long does it take you to close the sale?
• Anticipated cash flow by month for at least the first year, identifying possible seasonality shifts?
– Management team qualified and well-balanced? Other HR assets full or part-time or contracted?
– Operational requirements identified & easily procured? Including the choice of distribution model, i.e. physical or e-commerce?
• If feasible, go for it, if not feasible, PIVOT until it is!
Decide if you’ll have partners or mentors involved in the beginning.
– If so, create an “operating agreement” or initial partnership agreement, with a buy-sell clause for the exit strategy:
• What role will people play?
• How they will be compensated?
• What are the “equity” understandings?
• How will you transfer ownership/interest when one of you exits?
• Establish the legal entity – LLC, C-Corp (S or Benefit designation available, OR not-for-profit), formalize the operating agreement.
• Create a non-disclosure or non-compete agreement depending on the nature of the business.
• Create independent contractor/agent agreements.
– You will have to pay a domain name registration fee yearly to maintain this domain, and pay a monthly hosting fee to whatever service you use to host or manage your website.
– Check Secretary of State to see if the name is available Secretary of State Business Services. • File with state to register the legal entity - See steps in CT at Business Services Hub • Get the Federal Employer ID (EIN) – see https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/employer-id-numbers-eins
• Get Sales Tax certificate - see Department of Revenue Services, how to register in CT at Department of Revenue Services. Once you do this you will have to file sales tax reports either quarterly or yearly and pay any sales tax due.
• File Doing-Business-As (DBA) designation with local city/town. Once you do this you will have to file a business property tax form yearly with the town clerk, and pay taxes on your assets.
• Double check the above by going to another service website such as How to Start an LLC.com (This is NOT an endorsement of this service, just one example of the steps you need to take. You do NOT have to hire someone to set up your business for you!)
• The State of CT only requires the business entity filing form and a $120 one-time fee to create an LLC. After that you will have to pay the SOTS (Secretary Of The State) an annual report fee of $80. You will also have to file tax form CT-1065/CT-1120SI with the State and 1065/1120 with the IRS yearly, and pay any business tax due.
Check to see if licenses or other regulations are necessary – SEE License-Permit--Registration-Forms
• Get business insurance: ”errors and omissions”, liability coverage, “key man” insurance, premises & inventory loss coverage. You will need a “certificate of insurance” at some point.
• Get guidance from the State if you plan to hire employees, register with Department of Labor – SEE State Employer Docs
– Worker’s compensation insurance, disability, hiring laws.
– Tax & compensation paperwork requirements.
• Review IRS and State Revenue Services requirements for filing deadlines, record-keeping systems and forms – SEE small-businesses-self-employed and Department of Revenue Services If you will also be operating in another state, get advice!
Set up a specific phone number for business communication; get an email address that signals the company business is professional.
• Create a bank account in your company’s name, get a debit card to track business expenses.
• Branding!
– Create logo, tag line, promotional materials – business cards, print brochures, etc.
– Create a website, make decisions about type & scope of social media presence.
– Get intellection property protection if necessary.
• Be prepared for challenges - idea, branding, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret. • See United States Patent & Trademark Office and Copyright.gov
• Market segment outreach – do a sales forecast, estimate your initial Share Of Market (SOM).
• Choose channel/distribution network.
• Create & test your Minimum Viable Product.
Simplest example of what you’re providing.
– Minimum set of features/benefits someone is willing to pay for.
• Show it to your prospective customer. Get FEEDBACK! Does it work?
• If it does work, how can you improve it? If it doesn’t work, you’ve just saved a lot of money!
Startup Capital – what do you need to spend just to START doing business? These are one-time costs.
– Prices – what will you charge?
• Based on what it costs you to make & deliver, what customers are willing to pay.
– FIXED costs – what does it cost just to keep the doors open, even if you produce nothing? Rent, utilities, insurance, business reporting fees, loans, your living wage…?
– VARIABLE costs – what does it cost you to produce one unit of what you’re selling?
– Working capital – what kind of cushion do you need monthly to cover your costs until you break even?
• Prepare a monthly Cash Flow Analysis to double check this!
• DOUBLE CHECK YOUR NUMBERS
– Remember the “Bottom Line”:
Revenue or Sales What’s your price? What’s your anticipated sales volume?
(Minus) -- Expenses or Costs What are your fixed costs? Variable costs?
(Equals) Profit or Loss or 0 (Break Even)
– Break Even Point = monthly FIXED costs (Divided by)
(Unit Price – (minus) unit VARIABLE costs)
• What are the startup & working capital needs that you have, and where will you find this money?
• Select funding source:
– Bootstrap (yourself, family, friends, GoFundMe!)
– Loan (bank or personal)
– Investors/donations:
• Crowdfunding (Kickstarter, Indiegogo)
• Angel Network or Venture Capital or equity crowdfunding (Wefunder)
• Set up chart of accounts, bookkeeping system to monitor cash flow.
• Get ready to transact business!
To determine credibility with target market.
• To convince investors you’re worth funding, produce the following:
– Executive summary.
– Pitch deck/presentation, including market/customer analysis.
– MVP & growth plan, plus financials.
– Anticipate challenges for market acquisition.
• Competitor strategy – how will you identify and beat them?
• Identify critical unknowns.
– EXIT strategy!
– The Financial or Other Resources ASK!!
Dr. Saras Sarasvathy says to remember to start with what you’ve got, and ask yourself three questions:
• Who am I? What do I believe about the world, what values do I hold that guide my behavior, values on which I am unwilling to compromise?
• What do I know? What knowledge and experience do I have that can guide my actions? What am I good at, and, conversely, what am I NOT so good at?
• WHO do I know? This is the most important question, because we can’t do it alone. The best outcome is possible when we develop a network of people who share our values and have skills that complement our own. Then we can leverage those beliefs and skills to co-create something extraordinary.
• Keep going, be humble, keep learning. ALWAYS be open to opportunities!
It's sometimes sobering to find out that what YOU think is the best, most exciting idea actually doesn't truly excite your prospective customers!
The first thing to do is to scope out the potential market - who ARE your customers, what problems do they have that you, and ONLY you(!), can solve, and how much are they willing to pay for this solution? This may require you asking lots of people what they think... AND also finding out who else is providing a solution - who are your competitors?
I can hear you say, but I already know what my customers want... I'd STILL recommend you ask. For instance, if I were considering investing in your business I'd want to know the following:
· The size of your market - how many people already have something similar to what you plan to provide?
· What are the demographics - age, gender, geographic location, income & education levels – that let you figure out how to target them and get a sense of their financial viability – how much discretionary income are they willing to spend on what you might offer them?
· What is the cost to acquire a customer (the marketing cost to reach the customer plus the time it takes to convert a browser to a buyer).
· What is the sales growth rate (how many new customers can you add in what time frame)?
· What is the lifetime value of a customer (how many re-orders will a customer do over time, at what average price point?) You need a realistic sales forecast, by month, for at least the first year...
· Also what do you need to do to ramp up, or "scale" your business?
· How much of this product or service can YOU produce in what time frame?
· At what point do you need to increase capacity, either machines or manpower?
· Have you considered any product expansion possibilities for future customer acquisition?
· Do you have a good sense of the trends in your industry so you can anticipate any disruption to your business?
Thoughtful answers to all the above are necessary in order to convince an investor that you're worth investing in...
First I think you need to do your customer research: identify the most obvious customers, then ask them what they care about the most, what products or services they wish they had access to, how much time they have to spend using these products or services and how often they do so? You need to find out how often repeat purchases may happen! (It does you no good to sell what you offer to everyone and then find out they don't need any more... Unless there are significant NEW customers entering this space all the time...)
THEN you can give these people a price range - starting much higher than you think - and find out at what point most people say yes. Obviously these prices are based on what your competitors charge AND on what your costs are. I'm assuming you know your fixed and variable costs, and what your break even point might be. AND this break even point will now have to include a salary for you that allows you to live!
One issue will be your distribution method - if you sell direct via the web, you'll get full price, but if you sell via retail distribution you'll have to at least cut your price in half to get to a reasonable wholesale margin, and that affects your profit picture. Best to scope out the retail scene carefully – it’s hard to decide on reputable retailers...
BEST thing to remember? Start with what you’ve got and be ready to pivot…
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Students work very hard at completing their work and are generally proud of their accomplishments. Setting up a venue for them to do presentations (formal presentations or in a fair-type setting such as an expo) not only allows them to demonstrate their achievements, but also showcases the internship program to all employees.
Conducting focus groups and feedback surveys with these representatives of your target group is a great way to see your organization as the students see it. Focus groups in particular can yield information about what your competitors are doing that students find appealing.
Providing students with access to in-house training—both in work-skills-related areas, such as a computer language, and in general skills areas, such as time management—is a tangible way to show students you are interested in their development.
You may also want to consider providing interns with information about nearby community colleges: Many students will be interested in attending during their work term to take care of some electives and/or get a little ahead with the hours they need to graduate. If you have the budget, you may also want to consider paying the tuition for courses they take while working for you, but, as is the case with housing, any assistance you can provide—even if it’s just providing them with information about local schools—will earn you points with students.
One of the greatest advantages to students in having internships is the access they get to accomplished professionals in their field. Consequently, speakers from the executive ranks are very popular with students—it’s a great career development and role modeling experience for interns. Having a CEO speak is especially impressive. Best scenario: Your CEO speaker is personable, willing to answer questions, and willing and able to spend a little informal time with the students after speaking—your interns will be quite impressed.
For you, having your executives speak to interns is another way to “sell” your organization to the interns, and get your executives invested in (and supporting) your program.
New-hire panels are one of the best ways to showcase an organization to interns as a great place to work. These are panels of five or six people who were hired as new grads within the last three years. They act as panelists in a meeting of interns, giving a brief summary of their background and then answering questions from the intern audience. Your interns get insight about your organization from your new hires—people who they perceive are like themselves and who they consequently view as credible sources of information.
In these meetings, I’ve found that the interns consistently bring up the same topics: Why did you choose this employer over others? What was your first year like? How is being a full-time employee here different from being an intern? Do you recommend getting a graduate degree? In the same field, or an M.B.A.? Is it better to go straight to graduate school after the bachelor’s or better to work a while?
It’s also fairly consistent that the new hires will offer other types of advice to your interns, such as how to handle finances those first couple of years out of school. (Their typical advice: Don’t run right out and buy a new car, and, Start contributing the maximum to your savings plan as soon as you are allowed.)
College relations staff should attend these sessions, but should remain unobtrusive, staying in the back of the room so as not to stifle the conversation. By being there, you stay aware of what is on the minds of your target group, and you can answer any detailed questions that may come up, such as those related to benefits.
Although some programs—especially those that are very structured on the university side—make visits by career center staff and faculty a regular practice, most do not. In general, career center staff and faculty members have relatively few opportunities to visit employer work sites to see firsthand the types of experiences that their students are getting. By inviting them to your site, you will build a better working relationship with these groups, which can lead to more student referrals, enhanced campus visibility, and increased flexibility on their parts when your business needs dictate it.
Having a dedicated manager for your intern program is the best way to ensure that it runs smoothly and stays focused on your criteria for success. Unfortunately, the size and resources available to most internship programs mean that this isn’t always possible. If your program isn’t big enough to warrant a dedicated full-time staff member, an excellent short-term solution is to hire a graduate student (look for a student working toward an advanced HR degree) to be your intern, and put this college relations intern in charge of the daily operation of the internship program. This gives the interns a “go-to” person, and gives you and your staff a break from the many daily tasks involved in running a program of any size. For this to work, you have to plan the program structure in advance (don’t expect your intern to do it), and be very accessible to your college relations intern
Students mention flex-time as one of their most-desired features in a job. (A flexible time schedule during their internship eases their transition to the workplace.)
If you think about how students spend the day on campus (varied schedule each day, with varied activities such as work, class, social time), you can understand that 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday is a bit of an adjustment for them. A flexible schedule can make them feel less chained in by an unchanging routine.
Other work arrangements that have been found successful with students include keeping them on as part-time, remote employees after they go back to school (depending on the type of work they do for you and whether they have a willing manager), and having them come back and work over school breaks for a couple of weeks. These are excellent ways to keep communications open and build a stronger bond.
Pairing a scholarship with your internship is a great way to recruit for your internship program—and this is especially true if you are having difficulty attracting a particular type of student or student with a specific skill set to your program. Attaching a scholarship can increase your pool of candidates with the desired qualifications.
Few employers can afford to provide fully paid housing for interns, but you’ll find that you get a lot of appreciation if you offer any kind of assistance toward housing expenses. If that’s not possible, provide assistance in locating affordable housing: For those relocating to the job site, the prospect of finding affordable, short-term housing can be daunting. Easy availability of affordable housing will make your opportunity more attractive to students, broadening your pool of candidates.
If you can pay for all or some of your interns’ housing, be sure to design (and stick to) a clear policy detailing who is eligible. This will eliminate any perceptions of unequal treatment. In addition, be aware that employer-paid or employer-subsidized housing is considered a taxable benefit. Check with your internal tax department on exceptions to this.
You will also want to consider the issue of relocation, which is separate although related to housing. Many organizations pay some or all of their interns’ relocation expenses to and/or from the job site.
Whether in paper booklet format, or presented as a special section on your website, a handbook serves as a guide for students, answering frequently asked questions and communicating the “rules” in a warm and welcoming way.
A separate intern website serves many of the purposes of the handbook, but has the advantage of being easy to change. You can use your website as a communication tool, with announcements from the college relations staff or even articles of interest written by the interns themselves.
It’s important that everyone “be on the same page,” so to speak. Make this happen by holding an orientation session for managers and mentors as well as a session for students. Orientations ensure that everyone starts with the same expectations and role definitions. This is time well spent—the effort you put into these sessions will pay off throughout the program.
Providing interns with real work is number one to ensuring your program’s success. Interns should be doing work related to their major, that is challenging, that is recognized by the organization as valuable, and that fills the entire work term.
You can guarantee that hiring managers provide real work assignments by checking job descriptions, emphasizing the importance of real work assignments during a manager/mentor orientation sessions, and communicating with interns frequently throughout the work term to determine who they perceive what they are doing.
Share with us how the Career Success Center has helped you on your career path at careersuccess@wcsu.edu or in person in our office.
- Change your thought process
- Force yourself to take risks
- Encourage others to be open minded
- Embrace learning
Keep moving forwarding and just do stuff. Turn your ideas into action. The Career Success Center has lots of custom ideas for you.
You live, eat, work, study with others, so they all are a part of your life. They have lots of ideas, experience, and contacts, and should be a part of your life design
Life and the career process is not just one or two things-it is a process.
Turn bumps in the road into learning opportunities.
Ask lots of questions, research your options, be active in class, follow interesting organizations and people
Learn different ways to look at things to get unstuck
Get into some real work, try stuff, reflect on what works for you and refine your next steps to designing a better life
Narrow your testing options, build some ideas, select some ideas, and plan the quick/cheap/easy prototype
Ask a lot of questions
Create some future Life Sketches; do real brainstorming and think up lots and lots and lots of ideas
More = Better
Consider your views on the world
Reflect on what work is and what it means to you
What dysfunctional thoughts can be reframed?
What's the life challenge/opportunity we want to solve and/or learn more about?
Don't try to change what can't be changed...you can REFRAME!
(HINT, you have to work with, not change, gravity)
Take some personal assessments
Evaluate your current work/play/love/health
Open up meaningful discussions with your family and friends
