6 reasons why you should not hire an intern

Your company is suffering from manpower shortage. There is a huge amount of work piling up every day. Your employees are on the verge of burn out, and your HR executive is pleading to hire new recruits. She puts forward a preposterous idea of hiring some interns, and you, after giving some horrific expressions at first, finally accept the idea. But, before you commit that mistake, we have compiled 6 reasons explaining why you, as an employer, shouldn’t hire interns.

1. You are allergic to changes:
Interns bring with them fresh ideas and novel perspectives. They don’t feel shy to question how and why a process is done in that specific way. Nevertheless, you can’t fathom how these rookies dare to propose a fresh idea even if it’s better than the age-old routines! Your mantra for work is- “Mujhe parivartan se sakht nafrat hai”.

2. You despise being a mentor:
Interns are genuinely interested in the companies or industry they apply in, and are always eager to learn and get trained. So what, if they treat you with the utmost respect and try hard to learn from you; you would rather have your privacy with your know-it-all employees loitering around the cafeteria. Why should you be bothered about guiding someone- you have better things to do.

3. You are content with your company’s growth:
Interns work with a clear start and end date, and thus, are more inclined to go the extra mile to prove their mettle and to impress you. However, it doesn’t matter to you if they tend to be more productive. After all, you don’t think your business needs any expansion plan. People will automatically line up to work for you. You just sit back and relax.

4. You have too much money to spend on hiring and HR branding:
It is much cheaper to hire interns than full-time employees. Hiring interns can solve the problem of manpower shortage at a very low cost. Once back to college, these interns can also serve as your free brand evangelists. If they are impressed, they will spread the good word among their peers. But of course, you don’t need any free brand ambassadors. After all, you are no less than an Ambani or a Zuckerberg!

5. You don’t believe in the power of social media:
Interns tend to be more tech-savvy than employees. They understand social media in a way many business owners and bosses can’t simply because networking on social media is not another time-consuming task for them, but rather a part of their daily routine. You, however, don’t believe in social media marketing and strategy and stick to the traditional (and less rewarding) ways.

6. You are perfect in assessing candidates. You don’t need to test-drive the talent:
Hiring someone as an intern is the most effective way to evaluate his/her potential as a full-time employee. They can don multiple hats and readily volunteer for tasks, and so the employer can assess which role suits them the best. You, on the other hand, don’t believe in the multitasking. You don’t get frustrated if a new employee doesn’t gel with the team or doesn’t volunteer for the tasks; you simply fire him and start the hiring process all over again. After all, you have all the time in the world for recruitment; everything else is secondary.

Hope these tips are helpful and you are having second thoughts on the ridiculous decision of hiring interns. 🙂

If you have anything to add to it, I would love to hear you @Internshala

Image source: Google, giphy.com and Tumblr

This article was originally published here.