Best place to find software development interns?


3

So you have decided to hire some interns... You don't have much time to go to a college/university and get the word out... where do you find the best interns for software development? I know of craigslist.org, are there any other places?

Hiring Interns

asked Oct 15 '09 at 08:55
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Ricardo
4,815 points

6 Answers


3

We've used four different approaches:

  • Traditional Job Board - not craiglist, but I think cleveland.com/jobs or something. We had a lot of non-interns apply, even though it was posed in the intern section. In the end, we couldn't find a single candidate.
  • Blog-based Job Board - we posted on Hidden Network and found one wonderful intern; but he was from Detroit (as opposed to our home town), which meant we paid extra for boarding
  • College Career Board - we are basically on campus, and figured posting at Baldwin Wallace's careerboard would work. We got nothing. Not a single resume. For a paid, flexible-hour internship with offices on campus. It was seriously embarassing
  • Ask College Professors / Students - baziiing! This was the goldmine. Once we made introduction to the professors, and told them about us and what we do, we had a steady stream of some of the best students.

So in the end, we realized that... students first go to their profs for help, and the profs do what they can to help.

answered Oct 15 '09 at 11:04
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Alex Papadimoulis
5,901 points

2

Most of the University of Waterloo's students are actually required to complete 5~6 internships before they graduate, so their recruitment system is quite well established. Bonus points for students with existing industry experience. As a student there, I'm noticing that recently there has been an influx of startup companies looking for interns.

http://www.jobmine.uwaterloo.ca/employers/

answered Oct 17 '09 at 11:36
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Tony
358 points

1

Here in Austin the University of Texas and St Edward's University make it pretty easy to find students interested in being interns.

We've also had surprisingly great results in obtaining interns from a local high school that caters to gifted and talented students.

answered Oct 16 '09 at 03:30
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Jim In Texas
228 points

1

Just crossed my mind -- since most college students have a Facebook account, why not just start there? Announce it on your profile, join related groups, create a page, etc.

answered Oct 15 '09 at 14:11
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Hristo Deshev
141 points

0

I think you might be overestimating the amount of time investment college recruiting can be. You can get by decently with little investment (obviously, if you put in more time you'll get better results though.) If you can write up a couple paragraphs about your company (make it sound good to a college kid), the college career center will generally have a way for them to submit resumes to you through their web portal. You don't have to throw an Info Session or attend a Career Fair (although it'd be a good idea) - and then take an afternoon to interview 5-10 kids for an internship.

answered Oct 15 '09 at 23:21
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Tom Ritter
191 points

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Personally I would never hire anyone from craigslist. The university is your best bet with out a doubt. Most universitys have a email list of students and you can send out a job opening through that, put the due date soon if you need a quick hire. Students are always looking for a good internship, you will be able to get someone eager to help.

answered Oct 15 '09 at 11:08
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Cory Mathews
326 points
  • I've thought the same thing, but I was surprised - we found two fantastic candidates on craigslist. It wasn't the only place we posted, but we these guys didn't look anywhere else I guess. To cut down on resumes, we put a "CAPTCHA" in the listing ("to prove you're actually reading this, write a sentence or two on your opinion on Shakespeare plays") and simply deleted the 90% that didn't talk even mention the bard. – Alex Papadimoulis 14 years ago
  • heh thats a pretty good way to get rid of em. – Cory Mathews 14 years ago

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