The short answer: It depends on the gig.

Let us explain. Imagine you’re an entrepreneur who’s creating the next big thing in, say, online baby food ordering. You want to use social media to grow your presence, because you know that’s where your audience is. But you’re too busy working on your product to be tweeting several hours per day, which is really what it takes to get strong social media engagement. So you decided to post a job on Urban Interns for a social media intern.

Here’s something what it looks like:

Please help me revolutionize the baby food ordering business! I need a social media intern to:

• Manage my Twitter and Facebook accounts

• Engage my audience on Twitter and Facebook

• Manage my own blog

• Comment on industry blogs

• Develop a social media voice that reflects my brand.

Qualifications:

• 1-3 years experience with managing an online brand’s social media following

• 1-3 years experience blogging or other writing

• 1-3 years experience in internet and/or baby food industry operations

It’s great to search for an intern who has that kind of specific experience. But considering a different type of intern who perhaps has the right skills but maybe not the exact experience you’re looking for, might: a) Yield you more results, and b) Give you a fresh perspective on the role.

For example, all of the following could be good candidates for this internship:

• A current college student who’s president of the social media club (read: loves Twitter)

• A journalist for the school newspaper (read: loves writing)

• Anyone who writes their own blog (read: loves online community)

While none of the above have exact experience in your industry or in managing social media feeds, their resumes may show potential. And if you’re willing to invest in training them, you could end up with a really dedicated intern whose gratitude for the chance will pay off in droves.

And don’t forget that for a social media internship, you may not need someone local. Many times, a virtual intern can be really useful for tasks that are online-only, and can open up a nationwide talent pool of interns.

So what types of roles do you need to stick to your guns on? Anything truly specialized, or where you don’t have the time or experience to train the intern in. In other words, if you’re non-technical and you need a web developer; if you’re not a salesperson and you need someone to cold call; or if you’re not a creative person and you need a designer. In all of those scenarios, it’s very easy to cut straight to the people who have the specific skills you need for the role.