Organisations like Google, Infosys and Coca Cola are increasingly looking at internship as a key HR strategy that enables them to recruit A-grade performers based on how individuals fare in an actual workplace scenario, experts say.
A good internship programme helps an organisation build a solid talent pipeline, also known as 'bench strength'. They recruit people from the campuses for internship programmes and based on their performance and inclination, induct them for full-time roles in the company.
Leading executive search organisation, GlobalHunt, MD Sunil Goel said: "Any specific skills and the functional knowledge is restricted in total number and the only way to grow the skill sets and domain expertise is through internship programme."
Companies nowadays look at internship programme as a talent management and talent acquisition strategy and convert that talent pool to pipeline of growth. Internship programme plays a very active role in creating that pool for companies.
Commenting on the trend, a Google India spokesperson said: "It is undisputed that a good internship programme helps attract A-Grade talent, it also helps an employer evaluate how an individual would fare in the actual workplace scenario."
Google India has BOLD (Building Opportunities for Leadership Development) Engineering Internships for summer 2013.
These internship programmes are also designed to bridge the gap between academic study and the profession. It also doubles up as an important platform in corporate hiring and talent acquisition for us, Google India said.
"Investing in Googlers drives business outcomes that we care about: innovation, retention. And we know that happier employees are more productive, and more likely to stay at Google," the spokesperson said.
At Coca Cola, internships are designed to position the company as a future employer for the interns.
Sameer Wadhawan, Vice President human resource and services, India and South West Asia, Coca Cola said: "Our internship programmes at Coca Cola are designed in a way to position it as a future employer for the interns. Young management interns are hired from the top business schools in the country and a selected few are offered pre placement offers."
IT major Infosys has a Global Internship Programme InStep for undergraduate, graduate and PhD students from leading academic institutions around the world.
Interns across 35 different nationalities are given a chance to work on high impact assignments ranging from live technology projects and cutting-edge research to business solutions from Infosys offices in India.