Internship Networking

Meet and Greets are where our interns can meet other members of the team and spend about 30 minutes with them. These meetings are created by the intern's direct manager. The purpose of these 30 minute meetings is to learn more about what others do within our company and also provide time for current team members to get to know our intern.  Meet and Greets should be scheduled throughout the Interns 9-week program. 

If you are wondering who the intern should meet with, perhaps reference the list below. 

• Culture Champions - people on your team who are very passionate about Fleet Feet, our values and our culture

• Store Leaders - Leaders within the store who can speak to the stores business strategy and model and what their role in supporting that is

• Internal Connection: Area of Interest - For example: If you know the Intern has expressed interest in Marketing, perhaps think about reaching out to someone at the Store Support Team within our Marketing Department and getting them connected for a meet and greet

• External Connection: Area of Interest - For example: If you know the Intern is has expressed interest in a specific type of analytics, perhaps think about reaching out to someone within our Vendor community, your own personal network, etc.

Interns will also be encourage to participate in regular meeting with all interns participating in the program, beginning the second week of internship. These meetings will be an opportunity for them to share their honest experiences with one another, seek guidance from their peers, and uplift each other. The Internship team will provide further guidance to the topic and layouts of these check-ins. Interns should expect to lead at least one meeting whether it is individually or collaboratively. 

Information Interviews will allow interns to gain knowledge about what others do both, inside of Fleet Feet, but also outside of Fleet Feet through our vendor partnerships and within our local communities. We can leverage our resources and get Interns connected and prepped to lead an informational interview. 

Informational Interviews are conversations Interns can have with someone working in an area of interest to them. It is an effective research tool and best done after some research on the area of interest. This is not a job interview, the objective is to to have our Interns gain a better understanding of someone's role, and what skills and abilities are needed in different careers. This can help Interns broaden their perspective to look at various career paths.

Managers should help Interns:

• Draft initial communication to the person of interest

• Coach Interns on how to set up a meeting (virtual meeting if applicable)

• Coach Interns on what questions may be best to ask

• Answer any questions the Intern has

Here is an example: Say you have an Intern that is in Operations but always wondered what Human Resources did. This Intern could reach out to a member of the Fleet Feet HR team and request an informational interview. The Interns manager is there to assist in the selection of who would be best to have an informational interview with, potentially make an introduction (likely via email), and coach the Intern through the rest of the process.

The Interns could ask questions like: 

• Why made you decide to join Human Resources? 

• What do you like about it? 

• What don't you like about it? 

• What does your day-to-day look like? 

• What are some projects you have accomplished in your role?

There will be other opportunities in the remaining available weeks for interns to interact and gain useful tools as they enter the professional sector.  Internship supervisors and mentors may also schedule meetings to assist and encourage the interns. 

Franchisees - The content on this document is for education and informational purposes only. Should a franchisee decide to act upon any information on this document, they do so at their own risk. Fleet Feet recommends all franchisees consult with an employment attorney when creating/modifying policies, pay practices or other items related to employment.