1. Work simulation. Pretending to look busy is just as strenuous as actually working — in fact it requires much more creativity and dedication, like switching between the “make-believe-research” and the “actual-research” tabs on your browser in time. This actually takes time and effort to perfect, folks.
2. Perpetual guilt. Since you are an internee you can’t be Youtubing or Facebooking with as much liberty as other employees, and make sure never to laugh out loud regardless of how hilarious today’s “Cyanide and Happiness” is.
3. Great expectations. So what if it’s just the first half of your first day? How do you not know where the IT desk is? *bewildered look*
4. Leftovers. The work given to you will mainly be heaps of labour that no one wants to indulge in.
5. Homelessness. There will be no work station that is “actually” yours. The moment Mister-Just-Married returns from his honeymoon, you will be sent back to the PC which only works in MS-DOS mode.
6. “This wasn’t in the job description” you will hear yourself wondering time and time again. Well, too bad kiddo. When you enter the workplace looking that eager and that perky, there will be consequences.
7. Vague boundaries. Since you will be working here for six weeks — two months tops — you will occasionally feel the I-can-say-anything-euphoria. You will then follow your instincts and tell your supervisor how much blue suits her, in response she will give you an
awkward why-are-you-talking-to-me-look.
8. No remuneration. Like most interns, you probably aren’t being paid more than a few thousand bucks. So you’ll understand how frustrating it is to pretend to be enthusiastic about a project, babbling on about how it will add to your CV… when all you care about is spending the rest of your summer in bed or catching up on “How I Met Your Mother”.
9. The humiliation. As an intern, you really have no
status in an organisation. So you aim to fly below the radar, but you know that whenever some “real employee” walks past the desk and sees your unfamiliar face, he’ll inevitably ask your superior, “Who’s that?” To which they’ll give that ego-crushing reply: “Just the intern.”
10. Being the outsider. Since you aren’t exactly part of the ‘corporation’, the ‘official’ details will be withheld from you. For instance:
“Can you start on that project where you compare
everyone’s performance with their respective salaries?”
“Sure, where do I get to the payroll database from?”
“Just assume random numbers for now.”
“Uhh...”
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, July 24th, 2011.
COMMENTS (11)
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This is so true! i just started interning and it feels exactly the same! and to top it, the environment is so sleep inducing! Work or no work, it stays just as bad!
This article seems to try to generalize internships and mainly play along with the perceived ideas of what and internship would "feel like." I disagree with the overall negative aspect that this article has provided. I believe you as in internee can choose your path, if you want to be the one looking busy or acknowledge that when you get work and you do it. As for when you don't get work you go look for some or go around, talk if anything use this opportunity to increase your networking. If you go around and become friendly you'll notice people aren't as rude as this article has projected, they spend their entire day in the same office as well, when someone new comes in it generates interest, take advantage of this interest by stepping up to the plate. The ironic part is that I myself am currently an internee and just happened to come by this article while sitting on my desk, on my free time (self inflicted today). Something worth noting: I know you might feel like you aren't important and to the company and to a major extent you are correct, but remember this is important for YOU personally, to grow, learn, network and for many beginner to get a feel of the office/workforce life.
It mainly depends on where u r interning..some organizations have v good internship programs and well defined tasks for their internees n u feel good being a part of them but if you have used some sort of reference or "pawa" for getting an internship without getting any info if that organization has internship program or not , then you are going to meet the above mentioned circumstances....
though im working in one of the leading multinational organizations of lahore,,everything mentioned in this article is so true..
So truee! Though it varies from place to place, but it is mostly like that.
This is so true..!!! What an article!! Read something really good after a long time great job Fatima Rizwan.
No pain, no gain!
That's true for most of the cases of random internship. I have interned twice before and have shared the same experiences, but there are a few companies in Pakistan, that do really care about the learning and experience of their interns.
oh my god, so boring!
OMG!!! I can't believe you have published this in ET... :P This is so true.. But you've forgotten one thing THE GOSSIPS... :P everyone will talk about you... Aisa lagta hai k koi kaam hi nahi hai inko :S
I'm loving this article.. :D
Its not always this bad. I've interned at a couple of places and only 3-4 of the 10 actually happened to me. It all depends where you're interning. If its a small company chances are they don't really have an H.R department or an active Internship program which can make what you say true. In places where they do have the above mentioned, its not always the case.