sop · People, Operations & Finance
Internship Program
Internship Program
Purpose
Run a structured internship program that develops early-career talent, provides practical experience, and gives Blinto evidence for future employment decisions.
This SOP owns only internship-specific rules and activities. It reuses the shared Hiring, Onboarding, Performance Review, and Offboarding processes rather than duplicating them.
When to Use
Use when a department has an approved requirement for an intern and for the duration of the intern's program.
Owner
People Operations administers the program. The department lead owns the internship requirement, learning outcomes, mentor assignment, work quality, and final performance recommendation. The assigned mentor provides day-to-day guidance and feedback.
Program Types
Blinto may offer both:
- Paid internships — compensation and terms are defined in the approved internship offer/agreement.
- Unpaid internships — used only when the arrangement is approved and appropriate for the specific program/candidate and complies with applicable requirements.
The internship type and any compensation must be clear before the candidate accepts the engagement. Do not imply that one program type automatically converts into another.
Duration & Intake Cadence
The standard internship duration is 3 months.
Blinto should generally plan internship recruitment in quarterly intake batches to make mentoring, onboarding, and evaluation easier to manage. Quarterly intake is a preferred planning cadence, not a mandatory restriction. A department may recruit outside the normal batch when there is a justified business/talent need and adequate mentoring capacity.
An internship may be extended, shortened, or otherwise varied when justified and appropriately approved.
Program Principles
- Internships should provide meaningful learning and supervised practical work, not merely temporary low-cost capacity.
- Each intern should have a defined role, mentor, learning path, and review rhythm.
- Real work may be assigned as capability grows, with appropriate supervision and access.
- Employment conversion is an outcome to evaluate, not a promise made by participation in the program.
Procedure
1. Confirm the internship requirement
The department lead defines why an intern is needed, intended role/discipline, learning and contribution outcomes, mentor, expected timing, program type, and capacity to supervise the intern.
Use the standard hiring approval chain before recruitment/offer commitment.
2. Recruit and select
Use Hiring for role definition, sourcing, screening, assessment, selection, approval, and offer/engagement documentation.
Internship-specific candidate criteria may emphasize learning potential, foundational skills, portfolio/projects, communication, attitude, and ability to commit to the program.
3. Onboard
Use Employee Onboarding. In addition, provide the mentor introduction, learning roadmap, initial assignment, required SOP/resources, and internship review rhythm.
4. Establish the learning plan
The mentor/department lead creates a practical role-specific learning plan. A useful three-phase model is:
Foundation — tools, SOPs, quality expectations, observation/shadowing.
Guided execution — relevant tasks/projects with review and coaching.
Increasing independence — appropriately scoped ownership, judgment, and improvement contributions.
The phases do not have to map exactly to calendar months when capability or program needs require a different pace.
5. Run regular mentor check-ins
The mentor provides regular feedback on learning progress, assigned work, quality, blockers, communication/professional habits, and next priorities. Weekly mentor check-ins are the normal default unless the department establishes a more suitable rhythm.
6. Conduct structured reviews
Use Performance Review for structured evaluation principles and documentation. Relevant evidence may include task completion, quality, learning progress, communication, teamwork/professionalism, attendance/punctuality, and ownership.
Do not create a separate permanent KPI framework inside this SOP when a canonical Blinto performance framework exists.
7. Complete the final evaluation
At program end, the mentor/department lead and People Operations evaluate capability/growth, quality/reliability, learning, communication/collaboration, professionalism/ownership, mentor feedback, and current business/role requirements.
Possible outcomes include completion, approved extension/transition, consideration for full-time employment, or another approved program outcome. A full-time offer is not automatic and must follow Hiring, including Team/Department Lead → People Operations/HR → CEO final approval.
8. Complete or transition
If the intern leaves, use Employee Offboarding. If the intern transitions into employment, complete approved employment documentation and applicable role-transition/onboarding steps without unnecessarily repeating valid setup.
Program Records
People Operations retains required program records in the approved controlled location, which may include the approved requirement, candidate assessment, offer/agreement, learning plan, review/evaluation records, final outcome, and completion/certificate records.
Templates should be separate canonical resources only when their current requirements are confirmed.
Success Measures
Useful program measures include completion rate, quality of intern performance, conversion to longer-term opportunities, mentor/manager feedback, intern feedback, retention after conversion, and effectiveness as a talent pipeline.
Avoid optimizing for number of interns recruited when the organization lacks mentoring capacity or meaningful work.
Exceptions / Escalation
Escalate when internship classification/terms are unclear, supervision capacity is inadequate, performance/conduct may require early termination, access requested is inappropriate, a full-time/extended offer lacks approval, or legal/academic/contractual requirements apply.