A supportive supervisor/mentor for your intern is key to a mutually beneficial internship.
This role nurtures newcomers to the sector at the beginning of their career. They provide feedback, support, monitoring and evaluation.
Introduce intern to supervisor/mentor is during their induction. This should take place on the first day of the internship if possible.
You may choose to combine the roles of supervisor and mentor into a single role. Alternatively, you may choose to assign these roles to two distinct team members. In this case the supervisor takes responsibility for overseeing the intern’s workload. They also provide feedback on their work performance. The mentor role offers the intern help in achieving their learning and career goals as well as general pastoral support.
A separate mentor can be a useful third party with which to discuss any potential concerns with the internship. You may pre-select this person, or to give the intern a chance to meet team members before selecting a mentor who they feel to be the best fit.
Supervising, mentoring and supporting interns: Recommended reading list
Internships that work: A guide for employers (CIPD) A comprehensive guide produced by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD). It includes useful advice around supervising and mentoring interns.
Work Based Learning Mentoring Handbook (Cardiff Metropolitan University) While this handbook provides advice for those supporting learners in the workplace. It includes: questioning techniques, providing feedback, coaching and action planning.
Work placements in the arts and cultural sector: Diversity, equality and access (EQU) This is a piece of research by the Equality Challenge Unit into student work placements. It contains info on equality issues around supporting interns.
Tools for supervising, mentoring and supporting interns
These resources may be helpful for supervising and mentoring interns. Many help interns reflect on their experience. This will help them learn on the job. They provide a useful basis for regular meetings between interns and mentors/supervisors.
This resource provides a blank template for setting SMART goals. Work with your intern to define these. This can help them to make the most of the experience.
Learning Log (Durham University)
This learning log has been designed for use in student work placements. The process of keeping a learning log (or journal) will also be of benefit within internships. These logs help critically reflect upon experience and personal development.
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