The Inside Job

Tell Us Your Best Internship Stories

May 7, 2008 RSS Feed Print

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These days, internships are as ubiquitous as the business books that recommend them, and that means we have a nice wide base from which to draw funny internship stories.

To that end—and in keeping with the start of internship season and yesterday's blog item—I ask you, trusty readers, to treat us to your best stories of working life as interns or of sharing office space with interns. Please regale us in the comments section. (The writer of the most entertaining story gets course credit. Sorry, this effort is unpaid.)

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I keep seeing all these internship horror stories and i would like to share my AMAZING internship story with the world.
At my college, like many, I am required to do an internship before graduation. I am a communications major with a concentration in advertising and promotions, however at 22 I am still unsure about where I want to take my career. I was also unsure where I wanted to intern until I found this great new company called Super Interns.
Super Interns is a company that sells products to teach small businesses and large companies how to set up their own internship programs and work virtually with their interns. After my first lunch meeting with one of my supervisors I knew this was the place for me. From the beginning we talked about me, what i wanted to do and get out of this internship. My supervisor asked me what I was and was not interested in so that i was not stuck working on a project I had no interest in. At Super Interns they do not treat you like an intern they treat you like a valuable asset to their company. I was allowed to chose the projects I wanted to work on and chose my own job title.
After working on a few small promotional projects over the summer I became their blog coordinator, I alone am in charge of their blog and its an amazing opportunity. one of the best things about my internship is that I work virtually, I do everything from home, on my computer, on my own time. Everyone I work with has been great.
My supervisors are two of the smartest, motivated women I have ever met. They are always there for me when I have questions or need help with anything, from school to my resume. Everything about this experience has been so wonderful, I have learned so much in 3 short months and I feel more prepared to enter the real world thanks to Super Interns.

Bianca Hopkins of CT 5:33PM October 28, 2010

At my office, owing to the perpetual shortage of office space, we generally put the summer interns in computer labs. The work environment in these labs can be a mixed bag. On the one hand, there's plenty of room to move around, 'cause they tend to be spacious. On the other hand, there's usually a load of computer equipment running, resulting in noise and heat (or, paradoxically, chill, if you happen to be sitting near an HVAC vent), not to mention a dearth of desk space.
But maybe the least pleasant part of it, or so I once thought, is that we might stuff a whole school of interns in one lab, packing them like sardines in a can. One year, when we'd given nine interns about four linear feet of desk space each in one of my labs, I went in to talk with them near the end of the summer. I asked them how they'd liked working with us, how happy they were with the projects they'd been given, what they thought of living in the New York City area, and that sort of thing. They had had a positive experience, overall.
Then I asked about the accommodations. "How about the office space? Pretty crammed in, hm?"
"No!" they said as one. "It's great having all of us together like this. We really get to bond, and it's good for working together."
OK, so. What would be anathema to me was all to the students' delight. Go figure.

Barry Leiba of NY 6:41PM May 07, 2008

While there is a lot of talk of the 'next generation' being too coddled by their parents, I personally had two experiences with interns that shocked me into being a believer. They were never taught how to work, and they did not know that hard work translates into more responsibility.
One summer intern, who could not follow directions, told a full-timer that she would be nice to him when she was his boss. She didn't last the summer.
The other, a journalism intern no less, didn't see the importance of knowing how to spell correctly. It got to the point that he caused more work than what he contributed.

isabella of DC 10:59AM May 07, 2008