How interns can solve the startup hiring conundrum

“Every company should open its doors to fresh blood and young
talent like interns or trainees (interns that later become
full-timers), leaving behind the archaic thought that
‘experience is the most important thing’,” says InternsME founder
Jean-Michel Gauthier when asked why his startup matters. 

Hiring interns versus employees can be a smart financial
alternative for startups. In the UAE, Gauthier says, companies are
required to invest upfront, paying government tax, insurance, visa
fees if necessary that can add up to AED 10,000 (2,730 USD) per
employee. “This is a high risk for SMEs and startups; such a high
amount per employee can make or break a company,” the entrepreneur
says. Hiring interns bypasses these expenses.

For interns, doing temporary work at startups or companies can
provide great experience, whether they’re starting out in the
working world, or transitioning to a new field. But many are
insecure about devoting their free labor to a company when it’s far
from certain they’ll be given a paid position at the end of the
internship. InternsME hopes to change this by paying more attention
to the matching process between interns and companies, so more
interns are offered jobs when their internship periods are over.
“We don’t advocate for companies to only bring in interns or fresh
grads, but also to attract the right talent and profiles they are
seeking,” explains Gauthier.

“It is very important to us to prove that we actually
care”

InternsME is picky when it comes to accepting profiles on their
site. Now receiving between 50-100 new candidates every day the
team speaks directly to every candidate added to the site to make
sure they are a good fit, and to get to know their personality and
interests. “People think that once they registered they become just
another CV, but it is very important to us to prove that we
actually care. We know this is a massive time investment [for both
the InternsME team and the interns] but we know it works,” says
Gauthier.

The startup relies on career fairs, maintaining a strong
presence on university campuses, and organizing its own events to
attract quality interns. The Talent Hunt, one of the first events
the team organized, was an unexpected success. A hybrid model of a
career fair and a speed-dating event, the event allowed job
candidates to sit with decision makers at companies and pitch
themselves. The event gave employers, who usually recruit online,
the chance to meet potential hires face to face. More, similar,
events are in the works, says Gauthier.

The event was initially open to a select group of only 240
graduates, and 15 employers, and ended up having 400+. “Candidates
had the chance to sit with Sephora, intel, Elevision, Shopgo and
Wamda recruiters, which was what we usually do online and took to
an offline model,” says Gauthier, adding that they will definitely
organise more of this event, bigger and better organised.

Keeping in mind CSR parameters, the company has
decided not to require payment from the candidates because “we work
for them and to help them,” as Gauthier puts it. The companies
seeking job candidates are the ones who pay for the services.
Wanting to differentiate itself from other job sites, InternsME
operates on a partnership model; companies subscribe to become a
member of the network. Each company gets assigned an account
manager, and the team adds a personal touch to the
relationship.

What can employers do to attract – and retain – the
right talent?

If you’re not ready to employ InternsME, Gauthier offers
some steps you can take to attract better candidates.

1. Post a great job description. It’s not
just about the salary; you need to speak to the demographic you’re
trying to attract. You have to inspire and sell your vision to
attract young talent. Answer this question: Why should they come
work with you? Use motivations such as the fact that they can move
from interns to trainees to full time team members.

“We saw a Dubai based startup [post a great job description];
they had a phenomenal response, with 250 applicants for a business
development internship. A multinational, on the other hand, posted
a relatively poor description and got less than half the volume of
applicants,” says Gauthier. 

2. Draw career trajectories for existing team
members. A lot of companies are guilty of not
thinking of their employees and projects in the long run. Have a
plan of where each person will grow into in the next three, six, 12
months. Only by thinking about this early on can you push people to
grow and become happy about their current and future positions.

3. It’s OK to hire interns to do short term
assignments.  As long as you can represent an
opportunity as a win-win, it is perfectly acceptable to hire
someone for a short period of time, as long as you are open,
transparent, and make it worth their time. Summer internships, for
instance, can be a great way for university students to get work
experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BdmEPIUobY

The team is currently targeting primarily for-profit companies
of any size, and they’re also reviewing the pricing model to make
sure it suits a wide variety of companies. 

The immediate objective of InternsME is to get fresh UAE-based
talent into UAE-based companies, and broader MENA-based talent into
MENA companies. Once this is met, the team wants to begin
cross-pollinating the UAE and broader MENA talent pools. “Every
market is cultivating different talent, and right now there is no
easy system for cross border internship,” says Gauthier.

So far InternsME has over 250 partnerships with companies all
from the UAE, and 20,000 active internship candidates, of which 80%
are from the UAE.

Recently, the company partnered with STEP, a regional
entrepreneurial conference taking place in March. InternsME will
select and manage 50 interns to run the event. “We’ll also be
participating in the startup base camp, pitch competition,
presenting on the topic of talent in startups, and have an
InternsME ‘hang-out’ tent in the venue,” shares Gauthier.

The team also struck a similar agreement with DMCC for their
upcoming career fair on February 12th. InternsME will be sponsoring
the event alongside Bayt, and will promote it to its database of
students and fresh graduates. 

“January was an amazing month for us and we’re now about eight
weeks away from launching our new site. Fingers crossed.”