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Ryan Healy graduated Penn State University in the Spring of 2006. He recently left his consulting position to start 
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New here? Employee Evolution is dedicated to helping the Millennial generation answer the hard-hitting questions that come with the biggest transition of our lives. Be sure to visit our about section for the full story. Since you're here, check out our best articles in the archives. We've also put together a list of some Millennial-friendly employers on our jobs page. Any questions? Feel free to contact us.
Since starting our blog only a month or so ago, we have received a number of responses from young people complaining about their lack of work and oftentimes, pure boredom. Strangely, I hear the same complaints from friends of mine in full-time positions. I’m sure some people are thinking, “It is your own responsibility to find more work.” To an extent, I agree with this statement. Whether I consider myself an adult or not, I am expected to be one, and adults sometimes have to figure out what to do next, without being told.
In today’s work environment, it is the norm for young people to leave a job within a few years or even months as they grow weary of the same old “busy work.” So I can see why a young employees boredom might not be a companies first concern, especially if the issue is never discussed with a manager or Human Resources. That being said, I believe this kind of talent management is absurd. But I’m only 22. What do I know?
On the other hand, not providing interns with enough (or any) work is a whole different story. I will not mention any names, but a few of the aforementioned responses came from people who identified themselves as interns. And when I think back to my two summers as an intern I notice a similar pattern – there really wasn’t much work to do. When there was work, it was often oversimplified, mundane, busy work. Of course, this type of work should be expected by interns because of their virtual non-existent rank on the corporate totem pole, but I can promise you that these sporadic, mundane assignments will send your brightest interns looking for another job come graduation time.
Not only do companies risk losing their interns to competitors, but the interns will probably tell their friends about the negative internship experience. Their friends will then tell their friends, who will tell their younger siblings etc. Before you know it, ignoring the intern whom you never wanted in the first place can lead to a company being bashed on MySpace, and personal blogs throughout the internet. If you think this is an exaggeration, just look at some of the comments on this blog from readers fed up with their jobs. If the idea still doesn’t resonate, then check out this great article titled, Why Generation Y Hates You.
I get the impression that hiring interns has turned into something that companies feel they have to do rather than something they value. When I think of an internship, the first word that crosses my mind is learning. An intern is (usually) a college student, who is taking time away from learning in a school environment to go to a company and learn in a work environment. Why so often do these interns become glorified secretaries? If nothing else, pair the young intern up with a different mentor each week and let them shadow employees at all levels of the organization.
Full-time employees will eventually realize that the amount of work they do is up to them. Some will sink and others will swim, but the interns are the ones who desperately need the guidance. My advice to a mid or upper level manager is; take an intern under your wing. Show them the culture, show them the office politics and test them out with a tough assignment every once in a while. An intern is there to learn for now, but who knows, they could be a vital part of the organization in a few years.
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>> On the other hand, not providing interns with enough (or any) work is a whole different story.
This is mostly because companies do not have mentors and mentoring culture. I myself had face this problem when I shifted from a programmer position to a manager position www.idealwebtools.com/blog/manager-vs-programmer/ . I was always busy developing applications. Now I spend time in developing people who can develop application. People with company architecture knowledge generally gets more work. Interns do not have company architecture knowledge, so someone need to invest in them. Good companies run mentorship programs.
Coming from someone who has three years of various intern experiences, you are absolutely right. When it actually came time for me to look for a full-time position, the market had left my options extremely tight, but there were still a couple places where I had interned that I wouldn’t even consider applying.
On the other hand, in my current position, I’ve just taken control of our association’s internship program. In the industry this program targets, attracting a young workforce is one of the biggest challenges. Our program requires that interns get first-hand, real-world experience, and we keep tabs on that by having them blog about their experiences regularly. The end goal, of course, is to raise awareness among the interns of this industry as a career option, but also, to spend the duration of the program grooming them into future employees for the host companies.
I always thought this objective was the objective of all internships. However, as Ryan points out, and as I’ve experienced, somehow that’s been lost.
I have been stressing mentor programs since we started this site. They are absolutely necessary. Not only for interns, but for new hires as well. Give me a mentor!
-Ryan
My experience has led me to agree with your point on interns. I took up an internship in something completely unrelated to my field (I study Philosophy and have been working in student project evalution and support), so from the start I was forced to think outside of my box and look at things differently. Moreover, our supervisor actually put is in charge of stuff, driving the projects and making all arrangements required to pull it through.
It’s stressing, but it’s a much more intense learning experience. I have not only acquired valuable skills outside my field, but have come to know of alternatives to what I like and what I can do which I intend to explore in the future. Having something real to do other than getting coffee, being (somewhat) in control of the situation and knowing things happening or crumbling depend on you really puts you on the spot and shows what you’re made of.
And I think I’ve done alright, more or less. It’s been a great experience, so yes: really take it all out of your interns, they have fresh ideas and will to do more, so use that to your advantage.
Hope that helps someone.
Jacqui,
As always, excellent comment. Im really impressed with what your company is doing with their interns. Blogging about on the job experiences not only sounds beneficial, but is probably fun as well. I hope all companies start implementing practices like this. If companies get back to teaching and grooming their interns and new employees, maybe the job turnover rate won’t be so astronomical.
Keep the great comments coming!
-Ryan
Ryan - I absolutely agree that mentoring programs and culture are key,and it’s obviously more difficult for interns if they find themselves in an organization where mentoring is absent. In those cases, interns will have to be proactive - or they could get stuck with little to do, make-work, or scut-work. So, an intern should sit down with their supervisor on day one and ask very specifically about what they will be working on. Don’t start with “what I want to learn”, start with “here are some areas where I think I can make a contribution.” Your learning is important to both you and the company, but from your supervisor’s perspective, they may want to hear more about what you can do for them. Try to get assigned to a project with a beginning and end that falls within your internship: product launch, big customer pitch, etc - it doesn’t have to be a really major situation, just something where you see the whole thing through and play a role. One good way to get involved? Volunteer to write-up meeting notes. If this sounds trivial, it’s not. It’s a way to learn how things work AND to help shape the conversation by capturing key points that more active meeting participants may have missed.
Just a few thoughts from someone on the other side of the generational and career divide…
Maureen,
Great to hear from someone on the “other side” of the generational divide. Asking how you can contribute, rather than what you can learn is great advice because managers often don’t feel like walking you through something, but they always love a little help. And you are right about taking meeting notes. It does sound trivial, but I have familiarized myself with the organization through taking meeting notes. Listening, writing and re writing every day “lingo” is a great way to LEARN. Thanks for the comment.
-Ryan
Spot on. At first there’s a ton to learn which is fine. I pick things up quickly. But then you can get sucked into the routine that everyone around you is a part of. I don’t enjoy that.
A manager stopped by my office because he had heard I was ending my internship. He offered me a full-time job. Even if I didn’t have something already lined up I would have declined it.
Oops on their part. :\
In response to Maureen’s comment, I think it’s a fair assesment, but we also need to consider how the mentors are framing the internships. In many cases, an internship is a young person’s first hands-on experience in a professional situation, and they are, rightfully, a little unsure, so they don’t speak up when they aren’t challenged.
I once had an internship where I was praised (no kidding) for how talented I was at stuffing envelopes. This was not my first internship, and I was a little insulted. The comment prompted me to go to my supervisor and explain to him that I was under the impression that I had been hired because they thought I could be an asset to the company. And, though, I had no problem stuffing envelopes, I wanted to be recognized as having a higher level of skills. From that point on, the internship was an entirely different, incredibly rewarding experience.
Had that been my first intern experience, would I have felt as comfortable speaking up? I don’t know. But the point is, how a supervisor views the intern is a huge part of the anti-learning intern epidemic.
Jacqui makes a very good point about how someone with little hands on experience might be unsure about how and whether to speak up if they’re stuck in a bad intern situation. Unfortunately, if you’re stuck in a place where no one has really prepared for you, you may end up reading a lot of documents, going to a lot of meetings where you have no role, and - as in Jacqui’s case, stuffing a lot of envelopes. And, by the way, this can happen in “real jobs”, too. I can’t think of any alternative to speaking up other than suffering in silence.
It would help, during the interview process, to ask whether the internships are structured or not, what a typical intern gets to do, and maybe ask to speak to someone who’s been an intern there before. I know that it may not always be possible to pick and choose - the internship might be the only one in your industry, town, whatever that’s available; the company name may be worth something on the resume, even if the internship’s a dud; etc.
(Side note to Jacqui: The first time I worked in an office and was asked to stuff envelopes, I didn’t know that you folded a piece of paper in threes to get it in a legal envelope. I have very poor spatial reasoning, and I was folding letters every which way before someone showed me how to do it. A complete Duh moment on my part. Maybe the person complimenting you had had a similar experience!)