A Project Management Recipe for Internship Program Success

What is the Secret Sauce to having a successful (high impact, low stress) internship program?

Bringing a Hybrid Project Management approach from the very beginning!

With International Project Management Day and Thanksgiving both happening this month, I figured it was the perfect time of year to offer a special recipe for internship success.

As you know, it is a project in and of itself to launch a new program– whether it’s an internship program or any other initiative you determine to be a priority driving growth.

Once your internship program is up and running, it works much better to get interns involved in specific projects vs. ongoing operations.

Just as projects start and stop, so do interns come and go. The key is to develop programmatic infrastructure to mitigate the impact of inevitable turnover (most internships are only 10-12 weeks long).

So how can you use Project Management principles to set up and run a great internship program that meets your organization’s goals?

Let’s distinguish first between the two main Project Management methodologies and then how to utilize a hybrid approach to maximize your efforts.

Waterfall is the traditional linear "predictable" approach helpful when establishing your overall program structure, deliverables, timeframes, and evaluation tools.

Agile is the flexible iterative “adaptive” approach perfect for breaking intern projects into smaller tasks or sprints and getting and responding to frequent intern feedback.

When you create and implement a Hybrid Project Management approach to your internship program, everyone wins!

A hybrid approach– where you plan with Waterfall and execute with Agile– allows you to create a successful long-term internship program consisting of multiple value-add projects getting done by countless interns over time.

Finally, while it can be tempting to just go hire “one good intern” in the short-term, I strongly suggest you take the time to instead develop an internship program with long-term success in mind utilizing both Waterfall and Agile Project Management methodologies.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful you are part of the Visions Internships community.

To Your Success!

Amy

P.S. If you are or know a busy leader interested in getting help setting up and running a great internship program, please get it in touch to learn how our INTERNSHIP INSIDER™ Membership can help you meet your goals in 2025 and beyond.