Really, I get it. Not everyone has a stellar experience with their intern. Sometimes, you just don’t get the right person in the right position. It happens to everyone and I would be lying if I told you it will never happen to you. My hope is that the majority of your experiences with interns will be positive but for those times when it is not, there are some things you can do to help manage or avoid a bad experience again.
The Bad Intern (well not really that bad)
Now I’m pretty sure your worst experience with an intern isn’t to the level of a horror movie. No little “Jason’s” running around with masks on ready to chop people up into little pieces. If you’ve had that experience, let’s get together and write a book, which turns into a movie, and we’ll make millions of dollars together.
Typically, the normal story I hear about interns starts with, “our intern is just ____________”. Insert whatever you want there with a sigh on the end. Problems arise when you’re dealing with a new person who may or may not have the type of professional skills you are used to interacting with. Of course, we’ve already talked about how different generations view work and workplace etiquette on sometimes opposite sides of the spectrum which naturally causes conflicts.
Well, we’ll start here. I’d like to share a story with you of one supervisor who had a bad experience with his intern.
“Jeff” (names have been changed to protect those involved) was a younger supervisor who was new to the organization but very eager to have an intern. He went through the interview process and hired what he believed would be a rock-star intern. At first, everything seemed to go well and the intern exceeded his expectations. Very soon however, problems began to arise. The student started showing up late, seemed to have a more relaxed dress code approach, and Jeff felt like she didn’t respect him. As Jeff and I sat and talked about the problems he was having, I realized that this was a familiar scenario that I had heard others speak about. I probed a little deeper to get to some of the reasons for the change in behavior and a few things started to make sense.
It doesn’t have to be a blood bath
By no means is Jeff’s story the worst I’ve ever heard, but it’s a familiar one I hear occasionally from employers. Inevitably there comes a point when employers get an intern who doesn’t work up to their expectations. Sometimes it’s just that the student wasn’t ready for the internship or lacks the maturity to be in a professional environment. Sometimes, the intern isn’t a bad person, just not a very good fit for the job or the organization. And sometimes, it isn’t really the intern that’s bad; they’ve just picked up bad habits from other employees. I’d like to focus on this last one just for a second.
Let’s go back to our earlier story about Jeff. After talking to him, I learned that Jeff had initially created a very relaxed environment in the way he treated his intern. While attempting to be a good supervisor, he blurred the lines for the intern who thought they had become friends. It wasn’t that she disrespected him but rather, she was mirroring his behavior at work. I don’t really think anyone is at fault here but there were definitely some opportunities for both to step back into a professional mode in the office environment and after a few conversations with them, that is exactly what happened.
I’ve had other situations where supervisors have been concerned with a student’s lack of professionalism and it usually doesn’t take long before you understand that the intern is just taking cues from other employees. While employers may want an intern to act a certain way, ultimately they will become what is around them. That’s not to say that this will always be the case and certainly I know that there are times when interns show up with this relaxed attitude first, but there is an opportunity to provide what I like to call “teaching moments” for your intern which can help them become a better intern for you.
If you are having problems with an intern, you have to start with a conversation with them that includes what your expectations are, what the issue is, how they can fix it, and how you’ll monitor their progress. If a young person doesn’t ever receive feedback, they can’t make things better and you will have missed an opportunity to make them better for you and for them. If you have the conversation a few times and it still doesn’t sink in, maybe it’s time to put on the hat of mentor and really discuss with your intern if the job they are doing for you is really a good fit for them in the long run. So often, young people go into a career with no real understanding of what that career involves. It may take getting some experience for them to realize it’s not for them. That’s not a failure but rather an opportunity to save themselves (or their parents) a lot of money. Don’t be afraid to have that conversation with them. It may be a relief for you both.
If none of this works, then you can fire your intern. Please don’t feel like you are stuck with a bad apple. Again, sometimes young people aren’t ready for an internship. You may actually help them mature a little by allowing them to see the consequences for poor performance or behavior. There’s nothing wrong with that at all and you should not feel guilty if you get to that point. Although, I would definitely love to see you try the other ideas before you get to the firing stage. You’d be surprised how far a little direction and mentoring can go to help an intern succeed.
In the end, having a bad intern shouldn’t deter you from getting another one. Interns are like employees. You’ll get good ones and you’ll get not so good ones, but there will be some that will come along and knock your socks off. For those interns that don’t knock your socks off…train them to be good employees and you will still win in the end!
No comments:
Post a Comment