LogicMonitor has been hiring interns since 2017, and last year was the first year that we introduced a formal remote internship program. We debuted with three Austin-based interns in our Marketing, Finance, and Professional Services departments and they were with us virtually for 10 weeks.
In our pursuits to be #bettereveryday, the LogicMonitor internship committee took a look at our Internship Survey results from 2020 to see if there was anything we should do differently this year. With only three participants, it was a pretty quick read. There were a lot of things we did right: professional development workshops, the LM Lounge series, meaningful projects for each intern that were assigned and supported by their managers. As far as the curriculum goes, it was a simple copy and paste.
However, this year we were anticipating scaling the program from three interns with similar levels of education and work experience to 14 interns with a wide variety of knowledge coming in (think Juniors in undergrad to Masters students). Much like last year our interns were all remote, but this year we had interns located in three out of four US time zones. We also expanded the program to include more departments within LogicMonitor, such as our research and development (R&D) team.
A lot of questions needed to be asked: How do we make a virtual workshop fruitful for so many people? How do we know which workshops are valuable to which students? Are we going to take attendance? How do we keep them engaged and help them foster relationships with one another while all fully remote and spread across the country?
The answers didn’t come right away, or easily. Deciding to take a fail-fast approach, we remained flexible for a full ten weeks. We emphasized that the professional workshops were optional but strongly encouraged and that any internship program is what you make of it. In order to keep communication open, we created slack channels, confluence pages, and office hours for anyone unable to make it to workshops and for those who preferred 1:1 time. We communicated often and through multiple channels to make sure we met every single intern where they were. We introduced a weekly Pictionary-themed Oasis, or meaningful break, to add some spontaneity and fun to the internship. Most importantly, we asked for feedback after each workshop to make sure we were remaining relevant and valuable to our interns.
Attendance was not 100%, and engagement wasn’t always consistent during our workshops, but we learned a lot about meeting people where they are and adjusting to different learning styles week to week. On average, our workshops and LM Lounge sessions were rated a
4.3 out of 5 for how valuable and informative each session was. As we continue to grow our internship program, we will continue to iterate and improve upon the things we’ve done so that the program continues to thrive as our audience grows and changes.
While learning how to network and write a proper resume are valuable skills we highlight during our workshops, what’s most important is for us to provide support to those starting off in their careers. We want to create an environment where our interns felt like a peer to those on their teams, which gives them the confidence to speak their mind, sets them up for success, and allows them to shine. This year we converted four interns to employees! While their talents and initiative are what landed them a full-time spot on their teams, the supportive mentorship of the internship program gave them a safe space to feel at home and accept their employment offers.
In order to keep improving every year, some goals for the internship committee next year will include focusing on fostering the relationship between the interns by creating more opportunities for them to work together, in case we have yet another remote summer.
To learn more about what our interns learned this summer, check out a blog post written by one of our interns that explains three myths he debunked during his time at LogicMonitor. If you think LM sounds like an awesome learning opportunity, check out our career pages later this year for internship openings for 2022.
“LogicMonitor’s internship has the best onboarding process in terms of clarity, communication, etc. Out of all of the companies (9) I have worked for, this is by far the most intuitive and clear onboarding process I’ve experienced!”
-2021 LM Intern
