Does anyone have any experience hiring interns?

searcher profile

July 29, 2025

by a searcher in Los Angeles, CA, USA

1). Where did you source candidates? 2). Paid or unpaid? 3). Employment laws to consider (even if unpaid), e.g. in California? 4). How was the experience - i.e. good return on investment -> time spent coaching vs. outcomes achieved? 5). Key "get rights" for a mutually beneficial engagement?
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commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
in Charlotte, NC, USA
Tons of students on Searchfunder and on my platform Search Fund Fellows and both are free to post and will give you 500+ applicants. Handshake is also good if you want to target certain schools, but you need to have an entity already formed and some schools will block unpaid posts. Finding candidates is easy its not wasting time that is the most important part. Lot of searchers do some sort of initial assessment like case study at first. You'll find that only half of the people who applied actually submit a case study. I personally love video interviews because you can watch them quickly at any time. We build an inhouse tool so if you're interested just reach out. Unpaid internships need to check certain boxes. Most important of them is 1) they can't be replacing a job of a paid employee and 2) the experience needs to be more beneficial for the intern than the employer. Spend time with them every week for an educational session outside daily tasks and walk them through how the search fund ecosystem works. DM me you want to chat more
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Reply by a searcher
from University of California, Los Angeles in Los Angeles, CA, USA
I'd say you get what you put into it. Paid or unpaid, you have to establish a program that's worthwhile for the interns and put incentives in place if possible.
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