Hiring interns for link building

[Makaveli2007]

I read a post like this on here and on aonther forum..about people (successfully) hiring college students for an internship, turning them into link builders..usually they get it and its a success, and when they dont get it you wont see them again after those c ouple of months, so its not a big loss.

Is anyone on here doing this?

I've been doing this stuff for a while (though mostly worked on other sites and for free to gain experience) and will take the next semester off to work on my own site(s) full-time for like 9 months (I'll do pretty much nothing but link building during that time), and want to do my internship semester right afterwards.

And this got me wondering...Is there a chance i could use my experience (if I have a portfolio) to find an intern position like that where I'm getting paid good money (as in significantly more than the average intern who doesn't have any clue about link building, yet)?

(I'm not asking if someone can give me a job ;-), but wondering if my plan would work out if people are actually hiring interns to do link building who have no experience whatsoever, yet)

thanks

[potentialgeek]

Interesting idea. Personally I'd be uncomfortable risking interns on something as important as link building. Unless you have tight controls on exactly what type of links they get it could be a problem. For your own work, you could try a job site and see if they have any openings for link builders.

[BradleyT]

Interesting, we're hiring an Intern for web development this summer and I figured in downtime I'd put them on link building.

As far as paying him/her more if they had link building experience - I don't really think we would.

[Makaveli2007]

[webmasterworld.com...]

This is the post I was referring to - in case the guy said the truth, it seems to work well for him (I've read a post by someone else on this topic (on another forum), too.

@BradleyT: I hope this doesn't sound like I'm overly dissappointed or anything ;-)..but I find this interesting..and am now wondering if it has to do with the fact that you didn't plan on doing so from the getgo.

You're willing to put an intern on link building during the summer (I assume he doesn't have any experience link building, b/c you satate "if they had link building experience")...who has no previous experience and probably won't get overly much done (but probably more than the cost he presents as interns are dirt cheap).

However, if somebody who say had really decent link building experience (with some successful link building campaigns to showcase) was looking for an internship you wouldn't pay them more to get them on board to do link building for you (when they would still be significantly cheaper than other link builders of the same quality)?

Personally, if that intern had the right credentials and was looking for an internship, I would try to get them on board by paying them more than other companies he might land an internship with (I'm not saying a ton of money, just signifcantly more).

To be honest when I start looking for an internship and realize I can't get any more money for doing link building 100% of the time than I can get for another internship, I'll go for another internship to learn more about another area (I've been offered an internship in web analytics and one for an internet marketing agency where I would spend my time running tests to test the SE algorithms), as link building 100% of the time for someone else's e-commerce site would probably be dull in comparison.

Of course, I feel that it sucks a little because I was hoping that it might work and Id be able to work a little less during my last few semesters ;-), but mostly I find it very interesting, because it seems like a win-win situation lost.

I'm curious how other people feel about this.

[nealrodriguez]

i would put together a resume and cover letter that shows how the ranking that you have provided through link building for sites, on which you have worked, has produced revenue or helped save that company money. add the dollar figure of money made or saved next to the accomplishments, and start the job hunt. send targeted emails to agencies for which you would like to work with your cover letter and resume attached. further upload your resumes to job sites and connect with people in your vertical on social networks. linkedin is a good place to start; and you may want to consider uploading your resume to visualcv; let me know if you'd like some assistance on the job search.

[Makaveli2007]

Thanks emily and neal,

actually I'm not even sure where I'm allowed to do my internship (I probably wouldnt want to go abroad for the internship..that way the costs would probably be higher than the extra profit, because I'm living with my parents here and dont have to pay rent - which at my age is still normal in Europe,btw ;)...and Im not sure whether working without actually being in the company would be accepeted at my college - still have to find that out).

But good to know you seem to agree that it could be a win/win situation for the intern and the company (if I understand you correctly).

[nealrodriguez]

well the only reason your college should have a say in it is if you are doing it for college credit. that's not to say that you can't have your cake and eat it too - credit and money - but the experience you'll gain through trial and error, going either way, will do a lot for skill set.

[mridout196]

It's a cheap solution for an employer too.

If they know little about link building then they can be trained accordingly no?

[Makaveli2007]

Im not sure if it can be that profitable for an employer, if the person is only going to say for a few months and has to be trained, first, etc.. Ok then again what interns get paid normally isnt too much really ;).