Kevin Price, Host of the Price of Business on Business Talk 1110 AM KTEK (on Bloomberg’s home in Houston) recently interviewed Julie Braun.
About the interviewee
Super Julie Braun is the Co-founder of SuperInterns.com, a company that has worked with hundreds of companies on their internship programs and thousands of virtual interns all across the country. She is the thought leader on virtual internships and the power of growing businesses with interns.
Tell me about your firm (number of employees, location, type of companies you work with, etc.).
Number of employees- 23
Location- We work virtually so we are located all across the United States and overseas. Our Headquarters are located in Seattle WA.
Type of companies- We specialize in virtual internships and our clients are businesses and non-profits, interns, and job seekers. We create, manage, and improve existing and new internship programs; we also recruit, train, and place interns. We provide career coaching services. All of this is done in a virtual setting. We also train human resources professionals, including both corporate managers and independent consultants, to expertly utilize The Super Interns System™.
Tell us how you show your employees that you care?
We share with our employees the big picture; they know that their contribution is essential and how it impacts our company. Additionally, we show them appreciation by thanking them in a public forum like our social media. Listening to what they say and acting on their advice whenever possible is key. We trust our team mates by giving them bigger opportunities when they prove themselves and we give them autonomy and independence to do both great things and to make mistakes. Finally, we give them unique opportunities to shine, attend workshops, be in charge, or present ideas.
What mistake do businesses make when it comes to cultivating a strong relationship with their employees?
Often, businesses do not listen to their employees or worse, they don’t encourage their employees to voice and contribute their problem solving ideas. If a company has a concern, ask your employees first how to solve it! Your employees will usually have an intimate understanding of the issues and know the easiest, fastest way to fix whatever is broken.
Why is it important for your firm to make employees feel valued?
If it weren’t for our team, we would not exist. Many of us have worked for companies and have felt under utilized, unappreciated and unfulfilled. Our team are happy passionate people who truly care about our mission, which is to create more high-quality internships that ultimately lead to better jobs and a highly-skilled workforce.
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