Interns at a pan-European volunteer movement of 38,000+ members were leaving before their engagements ended. Nobody owned them. The fix was one shared intern onboarding process, from recruitment to offboarding, with two named people for every intern: a hiring manager inside their own team, and an HR contact for anything the team could not solve. Interns stopped leaving early, and 4 of 6 in the most recent round stayed on in other positions.
About the Project:
When I took over as HR lead, Volt Europa's internship setup was already under strain. Interns were leaving before the end of their engagement, supervisors had never been trained to coach, and fewer new applicants were coming in. For six months I worked directly with the interns already in the system, alongside the Brave and Regenerative Culture team lead who supported them pro bono through a burnout spiral. The process that followed was built from what those interns told us was missing: clearer expectations, trained supervisors, regular support, and a safer route to HR when things started to break down.
My Process:
Created a standard process from recruitment and onboarding to daily support and offboarding. Overlapped outgoing and incoming interns, trained supervisors, drafted templates, built feedback loops, and structured a volunteer team to maintain the process.
Deliverables:
A recruiting and coaching resource block for hiring managers, and an onboarding and mentoring resource block for interns. Plus check-in and expectation-setting templates, role clarity prompts, a defined route to HR support, and light AI tools that speed up onboarding for new staff.
Results:
Every intern got two named people: a hiring manager inside their own team, and an HR contact for anything the team could not solve. After the process went live, interns stopped leaving before the end of their contract, and most had their engagement extended. In the most recent round, 4 of 6 interns carried on at Volt Europa in other positions. The organisation gained continuity across recruitment, onboarding, daily operations and offboarding.
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