SME Recruitment Tips: Should You Hire a Full-Timer or an Intern?

Year in and year out, there will always be thousands of students looking for internship opportunities. Whether it's a part of their curricular requirement or they're just looking for experience, it's always a good idea to hire an intern. In a previous article, we explained the reasons why you should hire interns.

Let's say you have an open position, but you can't decide whether to hire an intern or a full-time employee. Here, we will discuss whether to hire a full-time employee or an intern.

1. The cost of hiring

It's not cheap to hire a full-time employee. You'll be spending thousands of ringgit on someone and hope that they will perform up to your expectations. That's a huge risk, especially if you're running a small business. 

An intern does not have the experience of a full-time employee, yet if they have a relevant academic background, all they need is a place to show their skills. However, you don't need to spend on them as much as a full-time employee. It's still a risk, but it's one worth taking especially if you're running a tight ship.

Did you know that you don't need to spend money on EPF and SOCSO on interns? This means that you can save more when you hire interns!

2. The skills

A full-time employee should have all the skills needed to perform their duties. It is expected of them to perform well on their first day. But you cannot see them perform until you hire them, other than giving them a test during the interview which is not enough especially if the position requires many responsibilities. 

An internship is a good playground to test the interns before hiring them. It's basically a showcase of their technical skills, time management skills, and team skills. An interview is not enough these days, however, an internship is an effective way to judge a potential hire.

3.  Training

You've heard the news about companies reskilling and upskilling their employees to keep up with their competition, especially in digital skills. The training costs are not cheap at all, and employees will need time to finish their training which will affect their work. You can't afford the time and resources to train your employees and run your business at the same time.

However, you don't need to spend time or money on training these interns, once they are hired. Of course, during the internship course, you will need to spend time training them, but it will also be on-the-job training which means they're contributing to their work and learning at the same time. Once the internship is finished, you got yourself a potential employee equipped with all the right skills.

4. Employment

Turnover, the nightmare of every employer. It's a tough economy when employees these days prefer to work 3-5 years and then leave. Some even quit as soon as they find better offers. A competitive salary is not enough, you need to offer better perks to make sure your employees stick around longer. 

It's even tougher if the employee does not perform up to your standards. You need to fire them, which will involve a long procedure and a lot of resources. If you don't find an intern up to your standards, the process of dismissing them is not as difficult.

This isn't the case with interns. Since internship pays are generally the same across industries, you don't need to worry if an intern would leave you. If you take care of your interns, they would love to continue working for you after their internship ends. 

Of course, you need a good balance between interns and full-time staff so that your business can stay afloat and move ahead at the same time. In order to bring your business higher, you will need new ideas, and that's what interns are for. 

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