Nothing makes me crazier then seeing companies completely blow it when it comes to internship programs.
My annoyance started when I was an over-achieving, straight A, kick ass and take names, willing to work for free, college intern. Every week was the same: I’d show up, they’d have an ‘oh shit she’s back. I completely forgot and have nothing for her to do’ moment, and they’d banish me to a corner where I’d sit and do my homework.
Such a waste…for them. I still got to put it on my resume and I used that worthless internship to get this sucker to hire me for my next internship.
And boy did he get it. Starting my very first day I had serious projects to work on. He’d looked at all the stuff overflowing off his plate and said, ‘Hm…which of these projects can I give Marisa that she can’t possibly screw up enough for me to lose clients?’ Then he’d give me the project to run with…and guess what, even though I was a young, inexperienced intern that might have screwed up a few times I never screwed up bad enough for him to lose any clients AND I was able to take work off his plate…for free (or almost free).
Let me tell you, even though you might not want to go through two thousand employee folders to find out which ones are missing an updated tax form…there’s an intern out there happily willing to do it…for free!
So stop blowing it!
Editors Note: Marisa is a leadership coach, management trainer, and motivational speaker on all things Culture and Engagement. She has helped lead the culture and engagement initiatives at two nationally recognized great places to work; Rackspace as Culture Maven and Modea as Talent Manger. Today Marisa consults, coaches, and leads seminars for organizations looking to increase productivity by focusing on management training and employee engagement.
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