Most startups, at least in their really early stages, do not have the infrastructure or even an office in which to build a team. It is often too early to go out and hire staff because much of the required work is research related and there is no money to pay employees. Research, social media postings and data entry generally don’t require much experience and can easily be outsourced on sites like Odesk.com or with services like NoonDalton. However we are seeing more and more people look for interns for their startup, specifically for social media.

One of the key reasons for this is that many students can’t find jobs and are desperate to do anything that gives them experience and may lead to a job. Another key reason is that there is such a push towards entrepreneurship that everyone wants to be part of the next Facebook. With this mindset, there is tremendous opportunity for companies and interns if done correctly.

Finding an intern is easier than it has ever been. There are incredible internship website such as Urban Interns that not only make it easy to find interns, but they allow you to get a feel for the interns’ schedule and talents and communicate with them in a formal yet informal nature. Additionally with the abundance of students looking for a job, a quick call to your alma matter or any local college campus will usually result in a lot of resumes being sent your way. The truth is, the hardest part of the intern process is being able to find the right one for your company. As many start-up don’t have a brick-and-mortar site, many interns work remotely; being able to keep them engaged is key since compensation, if any, is minimal.

Remembering back to my college days, everyone talked to friends or their parents friends about finding a job for a few hours a week just to have something to put on a resume. The description of the job and the tasks are taken by the career development office and beefed up to what “employers want to see.” Students are coached on how to interview and are told exactly what to do in response to each part of the interview from the handshake to the follow up letter.

So when I find an intern and want to “interview” them, I don’t ask for a resume or cover letter, I don’t do a formal meeting and don’t have a specific set of questions. College students have no idea what they want but they have an idea of what path they want their career to start on. I find the best way to interview and hire is by having a casual conversation, finding out what they like and don’t like doing. The most important thing is to make sure that they can be taught and are willing and able to learn and grow. Your job as an employer is to teach and guide the intern to help them with their future employment by you or elsewhere. The intern’s job is to find an employer that can teach them. Make the interview a conversation and make sure it works for everyone. Once you find someone you like, make sure to get him or her on board quickly and integrate them into your team.

It is fairly simple to offer an intern a job if it is a salaried position and the hours and pay are set. However, in many cases, if the internship is for credit or just for experience (no pay) there are certain steps that should be taken to protect both employers and intern from wasting each other’s time. Some of these issues that I have seen employers face include how to compensate your intern, delegating work, learning how to manage an intern remotely, and how to handle the end of the internship.

Most of the challenges that people have with interns is working with them remotely and around their college schedule. Employers often forget that the purpose of an intern is not just cheap labor, but for the student to learn and gain experience that will help them with their career. It is an easy trap to fall into to just send over research tasks that require minimum supervision, but if that is all the intern will do, be upfront about it. Key things that should be discussed upfront to ensure that the internship is effective are what is the schedule of the intern, how much time can they devote to work, a set day and time for a weekly call or Skype to discuss the work done and new tasks, a preferred method of communication (email or phone) and the best way to share the documents (Dropbox is an excellent way for all teams to collaborate). This will set the parameters to make the workflow effective.

Sites like Dropbox, basecamp or even just google docs, make it super simple for teams to work together, no matter where the team members are located. By creating a way to have interns work remotely, it not only gives you a wider net in which you can find a great intern but it allows you to potentially expand the reach of the company by leveraging your intern, their school and their friends/social media. But in order for it to work, both employer and intern must be serious about making it work. Keep the intern in the loop with other employees, company news and all updates and news via email to ensure that no matter where they are working from, they feel like part of the team. Using some of the steps mentioned above will allow you to make it work effectively.

The hardest part of the process of hiring an intern is how you will compensate them. There are many schools that allow students to obtain credit for their internship with no out-of-pocket expense for the employer. This is an ideal situation as everyone is receiving some benefit and the student is gaining not only experience, but college credit as well. However in cases where there is no credit involved, most startups have no money to offer the intern. What I have found is that in today’s economic climate, when there are no paying internships available, most students understand this and are willing to work for experience. In some cases they want to get paid but this can often be negotiated as a one-time stipend, off the books payment or through some other means. It is important to remember that despite the internship being beneficial to them, no one wants to work for free. If you can’t pay them, be upfront and discuss it with them so that you are all on the same page and no one has unrealistic expectations. Treat your intern as you would want an employee to treat you and most often everyone will be happy. And in the case that you can’t afford to pay them, make sure to do something special for them or get them a gift as a thank you. Something like a gift card or iPad goes a long way as a thank you for 4 months of hard work. They will appreciate it more than any paycheck because it is unexpected.

Once an internship period is completed, it is essential to have a meeting or call with the intern just like an exit interview for any employee. This exit interview serves a few purposes such as giving the intern feedback on their work and internship, giving them things to work on to help them to succeed in their next job, learning how they perceived you as a boss and what you can do better, and if they did a good job, gauging their interest in potentially working for you and your startup in the future. The first two items really focus on the intern and it is appropriate to give critical feedback. Many people try to sugar coat it since it is just an internship, but that is not helping them grow professionally and it ultimately is a disservice to the intern. The latter two points are essential for your professional growth. Just because you are the founder of a company, it does not qualify you to be a CEO and doesn’t make you a good leader. Taking feedback, even from your intern, will let you know the skills you need to be a better manager of your employees. Asking the intern if they would work for your company when they graduate allows you to get feedback on not only would they work for you and your team, but gives you an outsider’s perspective on where they think the company is headed. This should open a discussion about ideas, your business, etc… You will be amazed at what you can learn from an intern. Also make sure to provide a letter of recommendation or evaluation of the interns work so that they can use it in the future when looking for a job.

While much of the information in this post may seem to be common sense, many startups view interns as free labor and often confuse that term with “slave labor” as well. At the early stages of your company, treat an intern as you would any employee and not only will they work harder, they will become an essential part of your team that can grow with your company.