InternMasters.com: The Key Elements to a World Class Internship Program

Hi, I'm Ryan...

I’ve worked for 17 years in Packaging, Supplier Quality, Manufacturing, Global Distribution, New Product Development, Program Management and Procurement. It's taken me all over the United States, Europe, and parts of Asia.

For the past 5 years, I had been responsible for talent, recruiting, learning management systems, diversity & inclusion,  employee engagement, and most aspects of the human resources agenda within the Procurement function of a global Life Sciences giant.  My additional responsibilities included acting as Chief-of-Staff, communications, change management, and enhancing organizational capabilities to deliver our long-term business strategy.

Now I find myself at the University of Pennsylvania for my graduate studies in Organizational Dynamics, an entrepreneur, and a bit of an expert when it comes to attracting and developing MBA candidates who have the potential to transform an organization.

I stumbled into creating an employee resource group that was open to all employees. It was the first “Shadow Leadership Development” organization at my former employer and it exploded. The group flourished and quickly grew to amass over 6,000 registered members across seven sites.

The success of this group helped me realize that people where hungry for experiences that were

It also afforded me a unique opportunity; to create a Talent Management, Learning and Development position within a function that was completely independent from Human Resources.

This position allowed me to focus solely on our people, our talent pipeline, and the surrounding culture that supported them.

Your talent pipeline starts at the university level. And how do you recruit amazing, unbelievable people who will completely transform your organization? With a program that plays to their strengths and interests, that gives them the opportunity to build an extensive network, and one that gives them a say in the projects and activities that they take part in. In short, you give them a truck full of materials, and let them build a skyscraper

Over a five-year period, we built what is considered one of the premier internship programs in the world, regardless of industry.  After starting with undergraduates, we shifted the program to focus on MBAs, structured it for a modern workforce, and spoke with countless emerging leaders to find out exactly what would attract them to a company:

1. Proper Target Candidate Profiles

2. Pre-start Surveys

3. An Intern Program IT Platform similar to LinkedIn where you can manage projects and networking assignments

4. Projects based on THEIR strengths and interests.

5. Networking Assignments of up to 50 people

6. Project Mining and Proposal Delivery to Stakeholders

7. Projects with International Explosure

8. Weekly Status Reports

9. An Intern Slide Library (Like McKinsey)

10. External and Internal Blog Publications

11. Weekly Video Blogs (They become celebrities with MBA students)

12. Access to C-Suite and Country Leadership Teams

13. Employee Resource Group Program Management

14. Speed Networking

15. Mentoring

16. Volunteering

17. Reverse Mentoring

18. Manufacturing Site & Supplier Visits

19. Self-Development through MBTI, HBDI, Strengths Finder 2.0

20. Two unique Self-Assessments developed in-house (The Core and Work Maps)

21. Safe and appropriate housing accommodations (I was placed in a roadside motel on my second internship).

All of this was created to allow us the ability to attract and develop our next generation of leaders. And you know what? It did.

I’m offering that same type of transformation to you. Let me help create a similar program that will fundamentally shift the way top MBA talent looks at your company. Let’s put this in place, bring them in, and help prepare you for tomorrow.

Get in touch with us at client.services@internmasters.com