The ‘not-boring-at-all’ internship

Internships should not be boring. All of us at Three Mountains think using interns to make photocopies, or to serve coffee, is a real waste of talent. As we see it, working in an internship should be challenging, but interns should also get all the support they need to complete their tasks.

We recruit interns when we need extra hands for new or ongoing projects, or whenever we need help with the company’s day-to-day activities. Interns are really important for Three Mountains which is why we put a lot of effort into hiring the best interns we can find.

Whenever we advertise a new intern post, we ask everyone applying to first take an e-course on our website, and give feedback on it. Why do we do that? Firstly, we want them to understand what an e-course is, and to learn something from it. Secondly, we want them to understand the kind of work we do, and what they will be doing when they join us.  Last but not least, their feedback helps us to make our courses even better, so it is a ‘win-win’ situation for us.

For every new intern, we prepare a two-week induction programme. The programme helps the intern to explore every corner of the company, get to know their work colleagues, and integrate themselves into the company.

How do we prepare the induction programme?

Within Three Mountains, you will find some staff who have stronger skills for some tasks or IT programs than others. We know who is the expert in each area, and everyone takes time to share that specific knowledge to the new intern. After that, the intern is given an assignment with a flexible and realistic deadline to complete the task. These first assignments are used in our ongoing projects.

For example, when our most recent intern, AbdulKalim, joined us in September, I introduced him to Piktochart. Piktochart is a web-based graphic design tool and infographic maker which allows those with less experience in graphic design to create visuals. After explaining Piktochart, I asked Abdul to create an infographic for us to show absolute and relative poverty in Rwanda. We needed this for a project training manual we were working on.

Our interns do not have to make a perfect product! It’s the practical experience that counts. The whole team discusses the draft versions so we all learn and help to get the final product that we want. In this way, interns feel they are taken seriously, and that their contributions add value to the company.  

In addition to a monthly stipend and having healthy group lunches, Three Mountains interns also enjoy a positive working atmosphere with personal attention, professional coaching and other opportunities to help them grow professionally.

Would you like to join us as an intern? For sure there will be new openings this year.

Follow us on our social media so that you are the first to know when we have a new opening for an intern!

Gretta Ishyaka