Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1510765
62 SMT007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2023 It typically takes about a month from application to final decision. H e m i n g w a y : T h e m e n t o r s h i p involvement starts as early as the stu- dent's application. Even if we don't offer an internship to a student, a recruiter calls with feedback on their resume and how the interview went. ey can use that infor- mation to make improve- ments. Johnson: Do you hire interns on a rolling schedule, or is this just once a year? Hemingway: We are always hiring. Many of our interns are paying for their own education, and we always say that school comes first, so they may just work for 15–20 hours a week to help cover their costs. We think that once they get a taste for working at SEL and within a team, they'll want to keep working. us, we have interns who will stay for a whole year. Johnson: Do you first identify your project and then select an intern, or the other way around—choosing the interns and then finding a project for them? Freiburger: When we're looking at an intern position, a team already has work in mind. For the intern, the projects will be based on the internship assignment they accept, and those typically come from our initial conver- sations with the hiring team. What does the intern want to learn more about? What do we have that can help them learn more about that subject? Now, of course, there are some projects more determined by customer needs. To Marisa's point, we promise our interns valuable, real-world experience, so they might get projects working with customer demands, both internal and external. Matties: When an intern connects with a direct mentor, do they stick with that mentor exclusively? Freiburger: Interns receive direct m e n t o r s h i p a n d s u p e r v i s i o n through their supervisor as they work on setting objectives and goals. In addition, they can seek out any other mentor opportunity as well. ey're plugged into a commu- nity of peer interns, and we have employees who have expressed interest in coaching, so we sched- ule programming events with those folks. Matties: Do you train your mentor volunteers on how to be good mentors? Hemingway: When we open an intern posi- tion, we work with that supervisor to develop a plan. We talk about the principles of our internship program, finding the right type of challenging work, providing mentorship, and being available for questions. As EMa mentioned, we have some pro- gramming throughout the summer primarily intended for interns, but we invite our mentors, so that they can learn from their peers about mentorship. Our intern program has been around long enough that we have multiple gen- erations of intern supervisors, and they know it's part of our culture to mentor. So, the new supervisors are learning from their supervisors. Matties: What is the most important skill or attribute a mentor needs to bring to the relationship? Hemingway: Honestly, it's caring about their intern as a person. At the end of the day, that is by far the most important attribute we're look- ing for. New intern mentors are learning, just like our interns. If they care about their intern as a person, everything else can be navigated, and they'll find their way. EMa Freiburger