What mindsets do startup leaders and students need to bring to internships for them to be most productive? Our Innovate Carolina team spoke with two UNC in-house experts to find out why startup internships offer valuable learning and professional growth opportunities.
It’s that time of year where students are on the hunt for that perfect internship, one that will give them real-world experience, while helping confirm they are headed down the right career path… or not. Innovate Carolina supports student internships through a variety of opportunities, including Carolina Startup Connect, which allows UNC-Chapel Hill students to apply for awards to supplement unpaid or underfunded learning opportunities with startup companies.
Our Innovate Carolina team wanted to find out how startups and students can make the most of internship opportunities by speaking with Kimi Yingling, Innovate Carolina’s student engagement and events program manager, and Roderick Lewis, director of external relations, marketing and analytics with University Career Services.
What do students learn or experience at a startup internship that they might not in internships with larger organizations?
Yingling: You won’t be bored if you intern at a startup. There is a lot to do and on-the-spot learning, so students gain technical skills, as well as soft skills like teamwork, creativity and problem solving. The best way for students to learn what they want to do after graduation is to get real experience in various work settings. The plethora of experiential learning opportunities offered within most startup internships allow students to begin identifying the role, culture and workplace they do or don’t want after graduation.
What types of real-world experiences do students get through startup internships?
Lewis: Students develop key NACE Career Readiness Competencies, which employers expect to see in graduates seeking full-time employment. These crucial competencies are: 1) Career and Self-Development, 2) Communication, 3) Critical Thinking, 4) Equity and Inclusion, 5) Leadership, 6) Professionalism, 7) Teamwork and 8) Technology. A professional internship experience provided by employers should include opportunities for students to develop these skills through clearly-defined projects, performance evaluations and final project reflections. These types of internships allow students to connect the dots from their academic learning and co-curricular experiences and give them the confidence and skills to compete for full-time jobs, start their own venture or pursue further education.
What types of mindsets do you think startup leaders and students need to bring to internships for them to be most productive?
Yingling: To intern at a startup company, you need an open mind and an eagerness to learn. I knew the Carolina Startup Connect initiative would be a good fit because I see those qualities in Carolina students. They are passionate about novel ideas and want to make a difference—startups offer that kind of environment. Startups need to be prepared to have time for their interns. An onboarding session that introduces students to the team, the mission and the current goals of the company is imperative, especially with more workplaces allowing work-form-home options. Supervisors need to define the internship role and ensure that there is time for proper training and recurring check-ins. Even if the supervisor isn’t an expert in the area the student intern is hired to work in, established expectations and open communication help ensure the student and startup have the best experience.
Why is it valuable to both the startups and students when ventures hire interns with diverse personal backgrounds, perspectives and skillsets?
Lewis: For startups that seek to expand their businesses, it is critical to also expand their talent sourcing and acquisition philosophies to build a diverse talent pipeline. Students from historically marginalized groups (and any “othered” group) who intern at a startup not only develop professional and job functional skills during those internships, but also gain access to professional networks that facilitate economic mobility. A startup that not only hires those interns but also values and respects them as humans first, and for the talents they bring second, will improve its ability to expand its business as those interns potentially become full-time employees, or refer new talent to join the organization, or refer customers to patronize its business. The word “diversity” by itself can mean anything without context. So, ultimately, for startup ventures or any business, it comes down to being intentional about creating diverse, fair and inclusive workplace cultures and practices from the start. That not-so-secret sauce will allow ideas, innovation and high-performance to flourish from employees, regardless of their identity groups or work classifications.
From your experience, what are some benefits you have seen when students and startups work together?
Yingling: Students that intern at startups are often given the freedom and autonomy to tackle tasks that are imperative to the growth and future of the companies. It’s empowering as well as educational. There is a real opportunity to dabble in multiple areas or work on different types of projects since startups tend to be small. They welcome the talent that UNC students bring to the table.
Students, ready to find a summer internship?
Carolina Startup Connect funding is now available for UNC students to supplement underfunded or unpaid summer internships at startup companies or social enterprises that do not have revenue or venture capital funding in excess of $100,000. All details and the two-part application can be found here. The deadline is March 23. Need help finding a UNC intern? Post your opportunity to the 1789 Hub Internship Board by completing this form.
Additional questions? Contact Kimi Yingling at kimberly.yingling@unc.edu.
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