The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a seismic shift in how we work. Since the global pandemic, remote working has risen in popularity across the UK. As remote working becomes the new normal, organisations have had to rethink how they onboard new employees and interns. As a result, an increasing number of HR teams are defining the best way to run virtual intern onboarding.
Onboarding interns remotely presents some challenges; interns can have a slower learning curve or feel isolated. That said, with the right setup, it can be an engaging and enjoyable experience. In fact, it may even rival your organisation’s traditional on-site intern onboarding.
In this article, we cover 5 strategies to successfully run virtual onboarding for interns.
Virtual Intern Onboarding: 5 Tips For Success
After making the switch to remote or hybrid working, many organisations need time to adapt their onboarding process. To help your business with this, we have put together 5 strategies on how to onboard interns remotely.
1. Make Virtual Intern Onboarding a Team Effort
One of the biggest downsides of remote working is losing out on social interactions with colleagues. Not only do new interns not have the security of being in the same room as their manager or supervisor, but they miss out on water cooler chats too. As such, it’s important to include as many team members as possible in the remote onboarding program. This will make new interns feel more confident and welcome in the company during their work experience.
A simple way to do this is to introduce new interns via communication tools, such as Slack. By doing so, they can interact with colleagues across the company. Another way to recreate the social element of an office environment is to create virtual water cooler meetings. This is essentially a quick meeting where employees can chat with new interns to get to know them.
2. Set Up a Buddy System
One of the best ways to onboard remote interns is to set up a buddy system. The first few weeks as a remote intern can be overwhelming. Even with a supportive team and manager around them, many new interns don’t know who to turn to. Plus, sometimes interns have questions they would rather ask their peers, rather than a manager. As a result, assigning new interns a virtual buddy can help them settle in quickly.
The buddy will be the remote intern’s point of contact during their first month in the organisation. Not only will they help them with any questions or issues, but they will also show them the company culture and help them make friends.
Many remote companies now use the buddy system as part of their virtual intern onboarding, to make sure they don’t feel isolated.
3. Make Sure Your Onboarding is Engaging and Fun
If your organisation is used to running on-site intern onboarding programmes, you may need to upgrade your materials. Onboarding is the first impression your business makes on new interns. As such, you want to make sure it is as engaging and enjoyable as possible. Furthermore, it sets the tone of your company’s culture so it’s important to get it right.
When moving intern onboarding online, you will need to make an extra effort to build an interactive onboarding experience. For instance, using videos and interactive activities to engage new interns and setting up virtual ice breaker sessions. Employee resource groups for new interns are another way to build an immersive onboarding experience for remote interns. It creates a space for interns to get to know each other and voice any queries or concerns.
4. Factor in More 1-on-1 Time During Remote Onboarding
There are some things to expect when onboarding an intern remotely. For example, virtual interns often need more support and a longer learning curve. This is only natural since they won’t have a manager at their side at the beginning of their internship. However, your business can offset this by organising more one-to-one meetings between interns and their direct manager. That way, the intern feels supported and gets plenty of feedback from the beginning of their experience.
Additionally, managers should invest time in teaching interns how to use corporate tools to boost their productivity and manage their time. For example, using a project management tool to keep track of interns’ tasks and their progress. By investing more time in interns during the onboarding phase, interns will feel much more comfortable in your business. What’s more, they will become more productive employees with a deeper sense of accountability.
5. Ask for Feedback During the Intern Onboarding Process
It will take time and feedback to perfect your virtual intern onboarding programme. So, we recommend asking interns for continuous feedback throughout their internship. In particular, get to know what is missing from your remote onboarding process and what works well. Plus, the feedback could give you ideas on how to improve your general onboarding programme too.
Not only will you garner valuable insights from the interns, but you will establish a feedback culture. This will benefit your business in the long run and build valuable skills for interns. A word of warning, though. Interns need to feel comfortable enough to give honest feedback. Therefore, sending out anonymous feedback questionnaires or organising informal feedback chats will help you get more honest answers.
Final Thoughts
Virtual intern onboarding can be tough for both employers and interns. However, when done properly, it can be even more effective and engaging than in-person onboarding. By adapting your original approach to give interns the extra support and collaboration opportunities they need, you can make interns feel right at home from day one.
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