Develop Your Interns or You Will Lose Them

A past effort at orienting interns to government work provides a useful example for the future.

Every fiscal year, federal agencies spend a substantial amount of money on their intern and graduate recruitment efforts to backfill mission-critical competencies. However, the absence of successful onboarding and well-designed development programs in some agencies will cause many Millennial employees to leave within three years. The cost of replacing an employee can run anywhere from 20 to 50 percent of their salary. So the question becomes, Why do federal agencies give so much attention to recruitment efforts, but such little attention to their onboarding and development programs?

Let's consider the intern development program designed and delivered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1967 as its first intern program. The program was designed and managed by the national office in Washington, D.C., but implemented by regional coordinators throughout the agency's 10 regions. The objectives of the program were to orient these new employees to the mission and culture of the department, expose them to the multiple functional bureaus of the department, engage interns in meaningful assignments, and evaluate their performance on a monthly basis.

Although each intern held a paid slot from one of the operating bureaus and sub-administrations, they were essentially managed by the national office through its yearlong intern program. All interns were assigned a mentor at their host organization and expected to provide a monthly report of their activities to their mentor. The mentors, in turn, provided the regional coordinator with a monthly evaluation of their mentee's performance.

To imprint the critical mission of the department and its operating sub-administrations on these new employees, the intern program contained the following components:

• All interns rotated through various operating components so they would have a fuller understanding of the critical nature of their respective missions.

• Regional coordinators scheduled guest speakers for the benefit of their intern program. Each of the host organizations that sponsored an intern were responsible for providing guest speakers unique to their function. These meetings increased interns' understanding of the various functions and solidified the bonding among interns.

• All interns were given an engaging assignment to complete under the supervision of their mentor.

• Regional coordinators planned and scheduled local field trips for their interns. These trips included visits to urban renewal areas, housing projects, and model city proposed sites.

• All interns across the 10 regions participated in a national field trip. During this trip, the interns visited the new HUD building in Washington, D.C.; saw a new model city location in Reston, Virginia; met with their national office counterparts; and met the HUD Secretary Robert C. Weaver.

The design and management of this national intern program made it a success. Not only did it imprint a sense of mission on each of the interns, but it also exposed them to the culture and work ethic of this new department founded in 1965. Reunions of the interns at the five- and 10-year intervals verified their retention and the bonding of these HUD employees to their professions.

So as you plan your intern programs, give some thought to how you can make your program exciting and informative for your new interns. This will engage them and integrate them into the fabric of your organization.