{"id":1406,"date":"2015-07-24T00:05:19","date_gmt":"2015-07-24T00:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keblog.demoapp.xyz\/?p=1406"},"modified":"2022-10-19T03:58:42","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T03:58:42","slug":"internship-problems-and-what-to-do-when-they-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/internship-problems-and-what-to-do-when-they-happen","title":{"rendered":"5 Internship Problems and What to Do When They Happen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For most of us, an internship is our first brush with the real world. It will probably be your first time to spend an entire day wearing a collared button-up top and a pair of sensible shoes. You imagine eagerly going to work 15 minutes early. You can\u2019t wait to get in there and get a head start on your career.<\/p>\n<p>And then you get there. Quickly, you realize your internship isn\u2019t exactly what you expected it to be. Frankly, it\u2019s kind of disappointing. Reality check, kid, you\u2019re at the bottom of the corporate food chain.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_26 counter-hierarchy\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">TOPICS<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" style=\"display: none;\"><label for=\"item\" aria-label=\"Table of Content\"><i class=\"ez-toc-glyphicon ez-toc-icon-toggle\"><\/i><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"item\"><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class=\"ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1\"><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/internship-problems-and-what-to-do-when-they-happen\/#Youre_doing_mindless_work\" title=\"You\u2019re doing mindless work\">You\u2019re doing mindless work<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/internship-problems-and-what-to-do-when-they-happen\/#Youre_not_doing_anything\" title=\"You\u2019re not doing anything\">You\u2019re not doing anything<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/internship-problems-and-what-to-do-when-they-happen\/#Youre_not_getting_any_guidance\" title=\"You\u2019re not getting any guidance\">You\u2019re not getting any guidance<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/internship-problems-and-what-to-do-when-they-happen\/#You_get_left_out_of_meetings_or_work_discussions\" title=\"You get left out of meetings or work discussions\">You get left out of meetings or work discussions<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/internship-problems-and-what-to-do-when-they-happen\/#Your_internship_stipend_isnt_enough\" title=\"Your internship stipend isn\u2019t enough\">Your internship stipend isn\u2019t enough<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Youre_doing_mindless_work\"><\/span><strong>You\u2019re doing mindless work<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Realistically speaking, you\u2019re not going to be able to save the world in your first week. While you will (hopefully) be entrusted to do actual work, chances are you will be given\u00a0a lot of clerical work as well. In case you didn\u2019t know, the real world entails a lot of photocopying, paper filing and coffee fetching. It just so happens that<span style=\"text-decoration: line-through\">\u00a0some<\/span>\u00a0a good bit of that work will fall onto your desk.<\/p>\n<p>Getting your hands on real work takes a lot of responsibility. As an intern, you haven\u2019t proven yourself of being capable of handling the heavy stuff. You will have to deal with the grunt work as a rite of passage into being a bonafide employee.<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">What you can do<\/span>:<\/em> First try to do your best with the tasks given to you at work. You have to hustle and prove your worth then hopefully, your boss will trust you enough to give you meatier roles.<\/p>\n<p>But if all you\u2019re doing is clerical work and you\u2019re not really doing anything valuable or educational, try to talk to your supervisor about it. You want to leave your internship with new insights and skills, so work with your boss on ensuring that you will do relevant work. Volunteer your help with some projects that your team is working on. You can propose to work on a solo project to cap off your internship experience.<\/p>\n<p>Try to find value in the work that is presented in you and if it doesn\u2019t work, create opportunities for yourself.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Youre_not_doing_anything\"><\/span><strong>You\u2019re not doing anything<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s natural to have a lot of down time when you\u2019re an intern. Sure, there is probably a lot of work to do around the office but it\u2019s possible that it\u2019s not work that an intern would be privy to. It could also be that your boss has a lot on his or her own plate and has completely overlooked your workload. \u00a0If there\u2019s no work for you, try to create work for yourself.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><em>What you can do:<\/em> <\/span>You can ask your boss if there are any projects that he or she is tackling that you can work on. Chances are there are some stagnant projects on your boss\u2019 to-do list that you can start working on yourself. Or maybe you can ask other members of your team that need some help on their own projects.<\/p>\n<p>Again, you can also propose projects that you can do on your own. These projects can showcase your capabilities so that your boss can trust you with bigger tasks too.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Youre_not_getting_any_guidance\"><\/span><strong>You\u2019re not getting any guidance<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>As an intern, it\u2019s likely that you don\u2019t know anything at work. But you wouldn\u2019t want to stay that way for the rest of your internship. By the end of your stay at the company, you should\u00a0have picked up more than just\u00a0a thing or two from your work experience, no matter how brief it was.<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">What you can do: <\/span><\/em>If you haven\u2019t done it yet, try to sit down and talk to your boss about having a training plan for the remainder of your internship. Or at least talk to him\/her about the things you want to learn or achieve so that your boss also knows what to teach you and how to guide you. As your internship progresses, have check-in meetings so that you can both see if you are on track.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re confused about how you should accomplish your tasks, always ask. Never be afraid to ask questions! Your boss probably thinks that you already know what to do and that his\/her instructions were clear enough. \u00a0So let your boss know that you need additional guidance for your project. If you\u2019re keen to know about your job performance, ask your boss about giving you evaluations. This will help you learn about your strengths and weaknesses as an employee.<\/p>\n<p>Always make sure that you communicate with your boss and that you are both on the same page when it comes to your internship.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"You_get_left_out_of_meetings_or_work_discussions\"><\/span><strong>You get left out of meetings or work discussions<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Being an intern, you\u2019re kind of part of the company, but not really. You will work on things alongside other employees but there are simply some things that you won\u2019t be a part of, such as meetings. Oftentimes, confidential matters are discussed at these meetings and you just don\u2019t have the clearance to know these things. Aside from this, meetings are nebulous by nature and adding more people can further complicate them and drag them out longer.<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">What you can do: <\/span><\/em>While they may not allow you to participate at meetings, you can ask to be a silent observer. Ask if you can come along to a few key meetings just to see how projects are formulated, strategized and implemented. Tell your boss that you just want to get a complete picture of how things work at an office environment.<\/p>\n<p>However, make sure you don\u2019t disrupt the proceedings and do what you told them you would do: observe.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Your_internship_stipend_isnt_enough\"><\/span><strong>Your internship stipend isn\u2019t enough<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>This particular scenario doesn\u2019t apply to everyone. Most internships these days are unpaid. Some interns are lucky enough to get compensation but it\u2019s mostly because the workload is heavier than the usual internship or maybe the work entails a lot of expenses.<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">What you can do<\/span><\/em>: Ideally, you should sort out stipend issues before the start of your internship. If you\u2019re encountering unseen expenses such as transportation costs for running errands or buying materials for projects, you should talk to your boss about getting additional assistance to cover for the expenses.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t have a stipend but you find yourself shelling out your personal funds to cover work expenses, ask your boss for a reimbursement. There shouldn\u2019t be a problem with reimbursing these expenses as long as you keep official receipts, so make sure to ask your boss or the finance department how the reimbursement process goes.<\/p>\n<p>Your internship is one of the best ways you can prepare for life in the real world. It\u2019s the closest you can get to an actual job without actually taking on the workload of a full-time employee. Make the most of what is given to you and if you encounter any of these internship problems, do what you can to turn these problems into opportunities. Good luck, intern!<\/p>\n<p><em>Not yet an intern? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kalibrr.com\/job-board\/w\/100-internship-or-ojt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here<\/a> to search and apply for internship positions.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kalibrr.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign up on Kalibrr<\/a> today and find the right job (or internship) for you. You can also <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/confirmsubscription.com\/h\/i\/77238488FF110D6D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">subscribe<\/a><\/strong> to our weekly newsletter and get Kalibrr Career Advice straight from your inbox!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For most of us, an internship is our first brush with the real world. It will probably be your first time to spend an entire day wearing a collared button-up top and a pair of sensible shoes. You imagine eagerly going to work 15 minutes early. You can\u2019t wait to get in there and get [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neo-blog.kalibrr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}