This Wall Street Journal article is directed towards small entrepreneurial firms, and provides guidance on how to make effective use of interns, and in return, give them a great experience. But its guidance would be worth a read for businesses of all sizes.

To put it simply, today’s interns are tomorrow’s new hires, and the eventual leaders of our industry. Take the time to teach them, and guide them (in between their stints filing, researching and copying), and you will have your pick of top talent when the unemployment pendulum swings the other way. Treat them poorly, and those intern tales will reach Paul Bunyan proportions as your former interns build their careers elsewhere, and tell everyone around them all of the reasons not to work at your company.

Like many in our industry (or any industry for that matter), I started my career with an internship. Or more appropriately, you might say I test drove and ultimately chose my career, based on a great internship back in 1989. Yes, I spent countless hours pasting up envelope after envelope of Burelle’s clips, and faxing news releases (remember when we used to do that?). But I also got my first hit in the New York Times, and I was hooked.

I try to remember that every time I welcome a new intern.

Carreen Winters can be reached at cwinters@mww.com.

cwinters General Corporate Interns