Regular interns aren't enough; now you need virtual interns. But having an intern that isn't actually in the office — hence, virtual — is preferred among many small businesses that may be cramped for space, say Cari Sommer and Lauren Porat at Small Business CEO. But how to weigh whether a candidate will be a good worker on his or her own?
Your first step may be to test it out on a local employee — say, someone in town. Have them work at home for a few days and see how that goes. You may even end up interviewing your candidates completely over the wires — be it via email, Skype or over Facebook. Evaluate how professional they seem even over these technological vehicles. Make sure to measure their work output. Their performance should be the same as someone working in the office. You can also see if a virtual candidate will be a good fit by visiting their public online profiles.
Once you have a virtual intern, set up scheduling. It is really the only way to effectively weigh their productivity without pestering them. Set up weekly or morning meetings, whatever you wish, via phone, Skype or email. Give the intern tasks that fit a virtual worker such as online research, blogging, marketing and social media endeavors.
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