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From Jan to June, MCA/MCS students in Pune colleges are expected to do an internship with a company for getting industry experience. I am hoping to get a couple of student interns for my company, and I'm sure many others are in the same situation. I would like to get a feel from people who have done this before as to what is an appropriate stipend to pay the students during this period. On the one hand, I would like to pay the student an amount that is commensurate with his education and efforts. There are some sad, sad companies that actually make the student pay for the privilege of doing an internship with them. That is descpicable. There are others who are upfront about saying that they'll not pay a stipend because the student is learning from them. I think that is fair in cases where the student is getting non-trivial training. And of course, there are companies that pay a handsome stipend. On the other hand, I don't want to waste money. For the first month or two, (and in many cases, 3 months) the student is unproductive, since he really doesn't know anything well enough to be useful, and spends most of his time just learning the ropes. Only after that does he start being an asset to the company. Also, it is quite common for students to disappear after a couple of months - so if you were hoping that the stipend that was wasted in the first few months will pay off in the last few months - well, it is possible that will not happen. And, finally, there's the issue that small startups cannot really afford to burn money. Even single-digit thousand rupees a month adds up, when it's for many months and many students. What is your experience? What are your suggestions? (Please note: this is not for B.E. students. This is specifically for MCA/MCS/MCM students who are still doing their degree, and are doing the internship in the last semester of their degree.) |
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Internship is a starting point for life in mainstream so it should reflect a true picture of real life. 1. Student should get stipend at least to cover expenses and sustainment to do the job. 2. They should pay a security deposit to guarantee work for stipulated time - to be forfeited in case they "disappear" in a month or two. 3. Guarantee of generous bonus at the end of tenure if they contribute well to the team. I think this would be a fair deal for both parties. 1
I have worked as unpaid intern after medical school. It was very de-meaning to ask money from parents every month at 23! pay MUST be given to interns in all disciplines.
(05 Jan '10, 05:32)
Dr. Bhooshan...
I like the idea of the bonus. Maybe, it can have two parts: 1 part that is guaranteed to be paid as long as the student sticks around for 6 months. And another part that is paid if he really performs very well.
(05 Jan '10, 06:17)
Navin Kabra ♦♦
To ask for security deposit from just graduated young ones is not a good idea. The good one may never join you and you may be left with those who are not getting any internship elsewhere. I would suggest to show them some good incentive to stay until the product/project is finished. One good incentive is to offer them permanent position if given performance is satisfactory.
(06 Jan '10, 09:53)
cuteaditi
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I believe that the stipend is an incentive for the intern. So, the number should be closer to the cost of travel + cost of food (while at work) + some decent pocket money ( 200/week). Depending on your office location, decide on the number. The quality of deliverable has nothing to do with the stipend, its to do with the quality of the intern, so make sure you select the right one, no matter what you pay. |
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Less than 3000 may not be encouraging, but depends a lot on nature of work and hours spend for task/work, 3000-4000 is ok and normal..5000 or above if students are very creative and adding value to work beside just doing it. |
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Just heard a new perspective from another startup founder (actually this company has been around for 5+ years, and now has 60+ employees). Either pay nothing at all, or pay a market salary. The reason is regulatory. If he's working for you full time, and you are paying less than market salary, then there are a number of regulatory hassles you run into. There are forms you have to fill and other things (to do with the Shop Act, or the employment act, or something like that), and if you don't do those (which obviously you will not), then the appropriate inspector can really cause problems for you. This entrepreneur ended up with 4-months of trouble with the inspector because of this issue, so he now either pays 10000+ for interns who seem to be worth it, or doesn't take them at all. Yes, this is for MCS students' last semester internship. And he has 4 really good employees today that resulted from one such batch of interns. |
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Well I believe that while they are learning during the internship period they should not be paid anything, simply because we are going to put our time on them, duration is usually 3 months. But once and if they become productive paying them the market salary is good idea. |
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I think it would need to take into account various aspects: 1) Does the intern have his own laptop/desktop? If Yes, you could pay him a fraction of the cost of arranging for hardware/deskspace as he saves you the effort and fixed cost. 2) Does he have to travel way to far (more than 10kms 1 way)? If Yes, such travel needs to be considered in the final payment. A bike gives an average of 60 kms per litre, so a calculation on that could be made. But most importantly, is S/HE good? If yes, then cost should not be a concern! My calculation (and I don't run a company but work in one) is that a deserving intern should be given 8-10k per month, with a formal agreement that s/he completes at least 3 month. If not, he forfeits all earnings. Also, full salary for those 3 months need not be given, but 5k per month could be given keeping the rest (balance) with company as insurance. A good employer may even choose to offer to help open a PPF for the intern and deposit the balance held back, at the end of 3 months, into the PPF along with any bonus in case the intern completes 6 months and does a good job! I'm sure the intern as well as the parents would appreciate the gesture. My uncle who runs his own business here always did that for everyone who worked for him, including housemaids + office boys. |
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The aspects given by hemanshu are very good, which include almost every thing Some other aspects could be : 1)if student is working from home then company should provide him atleast a good enough computer confg and internet connection (in case If stipend is not provided by company). 2) very Similar to Navneet Karnani's view. |
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Another enterpreneur uses this scheme: Generally across my company, we have very performance centric pay structures and almost 50% pays are based of 5 point performance metric collected. For interns, we hire them and gave them very minimal stipend for first 2 months. Take them through lot of classroom, story boarding sessions etc. And after 2 months, we look to hire some of them full time directly as full time team members with salary equivalent to what we pay for fresh grads. I don't believe much in putting interns directly on the war front. No matter how smart they are, kind of responsibilities we want them to take up, requires passion and commitment more than just talent. |
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The dilemma that I face while hiring interns - those who are willing to work for very less stipend (say below 3K pm), are most likely not worth hiring (even for free) as the time spent on training them is substantially high, there is lesser sincerity & likelihood of disappearing mid-way . On the other hand, if we have to pay market price (say above of 5K or 8K), we are likely to get people looking for permanent positions (0 to 6 months exp) in that cost. As a solution, I am thinking of having a well specked project (or a list of tangible deliverables) to be given to interns for a fixed stipend. And the stipend to be paid on successful completion of the project (at least on the evidence that they tried to finish the project). Of course, we will need to provide infrastructure, training & guidance... but might be worth it! |
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As a student, I think that I see internship as learning the practical work, and even I don't expect stipend from the company that doesn't mean I am not a good student/programmer but because we are learning from that company and we look for genuine training and for first few(1-3) months we do not give anything to company, but stipend should be considered on the basis of the points which are specified above by many people like distance, productivity of the student etc. Another important thing which I think is instead of giving 6000 stipend to only a single student you can take more interns by reducing the stipend amount and that can increase the chances of getting the right candidate that you are looking for. And if a candidate says that he agree to work/learn without stipend that does not mean that he is not a good candidate, it might be because that candidate might be looking for genuine training and he don't want to do some kind of dummy project!! There are so many good(I should say best) candidates who are looking for internship but due to some problems they don't get the internship. I really thankful to Navin Kabra sir and IMCC to organizing Internship Mela. If more such kind of event organized then companies will get the more and the right candidate for whom they are looking for. |
