Recruiting talented and relevant college graduates has always been a real challenge for small & medium enterprises (SMEs). This challenge stems from the fact that most of the students are keen to join MNCs through campus recruitment. The other avenue: the job portals, provides a huge number of resumes and makes the job of identifying relevant students laborious & time-consuming.

India has one of the highest number of SMEs in the world, last counted at over 50 million units (Source: Zinnov 2012). With SMEs projected to contribute more than 1/3rd of India's GDP, access to talent for becomes critical to the success of the SMEs.

In this scenario, internships present a perfect solution to the hiring problems faced by SMEs.

Internships are 3-6 month projects offered by companies to students who are still studying at colleges. Students are motivated to contribute by the opportunity to gain practical exposure and a nominal stipend. Internships are preferred by SMEs for the following reasons :

Talent readily available: Unlike a job opportunity, internships are sought after only by motivated / talented college students. These students are scouting for opportunities to contribute and build their skills. Interns are open to the idea of working with SMEs and contributing to the company.

Assess before recruitment: Internships offer the opportunity to test the potential of the talent, before offering a full-time job. By having the intern work at the company for 3 months or more, the skill / attitude of the intern can be assessed in real time. A recruitment decision based on this actual experience can be seldom wrong.

Brand your organization: Internships present a unique opportunity to brand the SMEs amongst the student community. Since the students work closely with the experts at the company, the SME has an opportunity to the impress upon the student about the company. The positive branding can spread among the students in a viral manner.

Fresh perspectives
Interns are generally a young breed in their final year/pre-final years of college. The perspectives that they bring with them helps a lot of companies to think things differently. Talking your most difficult problem with your fresh intern might spark ideas that could be game-changing!

Check off your to-do list
Most SMEs always have a bucket list of projects that they would want to work on but are constrained by time and resources. Interns are a great option in these scenarios. Interns come into an organization with a will to learn and achieve something worthwhile to mention in their resume. You can rest assured that your projects would be dealt with utmost sincerity and driven to completion.

Now that you have hired the interns, here are a few things to keep in mind while working with them:

1. Help them fit-in
Most interns are fresh out of college and are new to the professional world. Going that extra mile to help them fit in the corporate world will give your company the best first impression

2. Students Talk
If there is good news, students talk. If there is bad news student talk even more. Make sure you give the interns you hire tasks that are worthwhile.  Engaging them with mundane tasks will result in them projecting your  company in bad light in their network

3. Groom your interns
Spend quality time with your interns to understand their expectations, plans etc. Point them to the right network, resources to help them grow within the organization. Schedule regular meetings with them and make it a point to give them constructive feedback for their work. Engaging with them sincerely will help them choose you as a potential employer when they look for a full-time job.

4. Create an inclusive environment
Make the interns feel included in the organization. Call them for meetings, include them in the guest list for office parties and if possible, include them in clients meetings. These efforts would make them feel valued within the organization and get your company great branding in their network.

A typical SME's growth is limited by the lack of access to talent. SME entrepreneur and the top management are usually short on time and as a result of hands-on execution. Internships, if used smartly, can greatly help an SME to attract top talent from colleges across India and free up SME Entrepreneur's time to focus on more strategic tasks.

May the SMEs always win!

*About the Author: Karthikeyan V is the Founder / CEO of  www.twenty19.com, a platform for companies to recruit interns from colleges across India. So far, over 2500 companies have benefited from Twenty19.com by recruiting quality interns from across the country. The author can be contacted at karthik@twenty19.com.

*The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of SME Times.