Startups offer interns key projects to gain value through out-of-box ideas

CHENNAI: Million dollar worth projects and talent branding are no longer reserved for the experienced. This summer, interns -graduates and undergraduates -are being given more substantial roles in mobile-first startups.
These companies utilise the youngsters' diverse outlook to assign them in more important projects which add value to the company , as opposed to the not-so-important jobs usually given.
Mobile advertising platform Inmobi has interns from premier B schools employed in million-dollar worth projects and as analysts in projects from the start to finish. “While graduates are employed as analysts, undergraduates are used in talent branding and in social media campaigns. Considering the profile of our company , it is a huge responsibility,“ said Kevin Freitas, head of talent acquisition, Inmobi.
“There are paid and unpaid internships. For paid internships the financial package could be anything between Rs 20,000 to Rs 1 lakh a month, depending on the role,“ he added.
Freitas finds hiring interns a good bet as them being tech-savvy adds more value to the project. “The value-add is good, especially so in mobile-first companies such as ours where the target audience are youngsters,” he adds.
HR services company CIEL has observed that the interns are gaining more prominence in the work-flow and more interns are being recruited full-time post internship.
“The range of roles varies from market research and quick service roles in product companies. A 22-year-old would relate more to his role in mobile-centric companies since he operates them more frequently than an experienced employee. Also, the companies can cut down on cost and give them projects for fixed, shorter periods. Some are even given global internships,” says Aditya Narayan Mishra, CEO, of CIEL.
He adds that Fin-tech and Ed-tech startups also follow this temporary hiring. Paytm, a startup in mobile payments backed by Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, has hired interns from top Bschools as well as technical institutions.
While the interns have a limited window of two months to work, they are enrolled in projects that gauge the customers' profile and market.
“We make them interact with the target segment, which is significant to our product development and innovation. Being youngsters with an open mind, their view is not coloured by our opinion. They bring a fresh perspective to our market research, which is valuable,” said Amit Sinha, VP , business planning and people, Paytm.
Sinha feels that being youngsters, they are well-aware of the nuances in the mobile platform and their inputs are valuable. The interns are involved in introducing product variations and are instrumental in introducing new ways of preventing defects and improving the functionality of the existing products as well, added Sinha.