With a limited budget for our start up we contemplating hiring interns. This would allow us to have free labor while also providing real world experience to perspective students. What is appropriate for the kind of work to let them do? What is appropriate where it benefits both parties and doesn't take advantage?
I don't believe it's legal for a for-profit organization to hire interns in the US without paying them[1]. Obviously that might not apply in other countries.<p>Anyway, the work you give an intern would depend on the skills and maturity of the person in question. Some interns are going to be unreliable in some way.<p>When I was an intern I did everything a regular employee would have done, except front-line customer contact (my employer didn't want clients realizing the developer working their project was part-time).<p>[1] <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03intern.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/business/03intern.html</a>
We are in the same situation. Though illegal I see many for-profit businesses advertising unpaid intern positions, and I am sure they get hundreds of replies, especially University students.<p>Between the difficulty in finding a job, and the fact that many students are completely supported by their parents - they can afford, and are eager to work for free in exchange for valuable experience/foot in the door/recommendations.