3 Tips When Reviewing Resumes For Future Interns

If you haven’t already, now is the time to cull thru the mountain of resumes on your desk for your upcoming semester of new interns.

FACT: most US-based wedding planners are 1-3 person small businesses.

So, it’s vital that when you hire your new interns, you pick the RIGHT people to interview.  TIP: we always recommend that you aim to hire 3 or 5 interns every semester…yes, even if you are a 1-person small business.

Trust us here.  So, in order to interview enough candidates to fit the final cut…

…we recommend interviewing 8-10 people every semester.

Here’s our 3 top tips when reviewing their resumes so you don’t waste your time in the interview process:

1. do they have any sort of hospitality and/or customer service experience?

Look for the following on their resume:

• waitressing or bartending (having held a job for at least 6 months; jumping from one to another to another = flaky)
• customer service rep (either in retail or inbound calls)
• executive assistant (have they ever managed someone’s calendar, projects and/or office?)
• bonus points if they ever were a successful telemarketer or fundraiser…Lord knows that’s NOT an easy job!

2. where have they previously volunteered at and why?

Anyone who has worked in a non-profit knows the work is never done.  It’s always ongoing, serving either the local community or a charitable arm in your city.  Ask them about their experience working at a non-profit and what was the most challenging part?  You’ll learn a lot about their tenacity and ability to see the bigger picture of what it takes to pull something off BIG with a limited budget.  (which basically is EVERY non-profit, in every city, everywhere.

3. what do their personal interests say about them as a human?

First, do they even have any personal interests listed on their resume?  Hopefully they do.  You’re looking for someone who’s got life experience beyond the classroom and beyond Facebook.  Someone who’s hiked across a volcano in Costa Rica or someone who’s trained for a triathlon.  Ask them about these personal interests and learn about the true person underneath all the makeup and the fancy cardstock paper they printed their resume on.  This is the dig deep stuff to see if their personal goals are aligned with you and your firm.

NEXT STEPS

Once you’ve narrowed down your candidates to the 8-10 people you are going to interview, call them to schedule the interview.  Keep the interviews to 30 minutes or less and book them back-to-back, all in one day, if at all possible.  That way, they see people before and after them coming in to interview for this spot on your intern team.  Adds a level of professionalism and competitiveness into the mix…and saves you time.

Now is the time to sort out your intern training tools for the Fall semester.  Apply today for a spot on The Apprentice Program and we will help you train your interns on:

• budgeting

• event design

• planning timelines

• how to be a superhero wedding assistant

• sales & marketing tips to book more brides

…and how your firm stacks up against the competition.  We help you teach them to think fast on their feet with weekly spark videos to watch together, intern homework missions and report cards.  All of this for only $75/intern for 6-week access to this onboarding curriculum.

Apply today and don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity, valued at $2000 of curriculum based on CSEP fundamentals from the International Special Events Society.

Let’s do this.