At one point or another, you’ve probably thought about what it would be like to go into business for yourself. Maybe it came at the end of a rough day in the cube, or maybe it crossed your mind as you sat in rush hour traffic with no end in sight. Regardless of the situation, it probably went something like this: “Man, this is ridiculous. I wish I was my own boss. Then I wouldn’t have to put up with this crap!”. It’s definitely a tempting proposition, but have you really ever thought the whole process out?

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I came across this interesting article from EzineArticles today about how to retain Generation X employees for longer periods of time. His analysis is pretty good, I especially agree with his thoughts on Generation X’s need for constant job movement as a form of career security. He also makes some excellent suggestions as to how you can go about preventing this exodus from happening. They aren’t anything new, but more companies would be wise to implement them.

I’m really interested to see what other people think of this situation, drop me a line in the comments if you would like to discuss.

Without further ado, here’s the article:

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It’s that time of year again, when all of those eager, wide-eyed college students storm offices across the globe. I’ve dubbed it the “Intern Rush”. Being new to an office setting, they really don’t know what to expect coming in. With this in mind, try to treat them as a regular new employee.

What does this mean? For one, they shouldn’t have to list on their resume that they fetched your coffee all summer. They’ve come to learn, try to teach them something. If all they do is meaningless tasks, they won’t get anything out of it and next year you could be facing a drought of interns. Also, try to be nice to them. It’s ok to rib them a bit, like you would do with any of your other co-workers, but be mindful of how far you go. They are probably pretty nervous, and it’s easy for someone in that state to take something said in jest the wrong way.

To sum up: Help them to get something out of their internship, and you will get a lot of value out of them.