Dear Internships

If you get assigned an internship like this, LEAVE

Monday, I tackled the teachers in the first of this week's 'Back To School' series. Today, I'm getting a little more abstract and introspective about something every student should experience or at least should explore: internships. The modern internship was created to give students the opportunity to experience their field at a (very) basic level. Sometimes it results in a rewarding duration, and other times it's a period of pure drudgery. Let's dive into that a little more...

It's funny, I've always had one of you during the summer. As a matter of fact, all of my summer jobs were internships. Working retail never suited me. Working at one of you was just a nice thing to say: (insert name here)'s working at (insert company here) for the summer, and is doing (insert tasks here). It seemed prestigious. Along with having a physical job that I had to go to, every day, rain or shine, I've grown to loathe you, in the nicest way possible. Internships, you're like training camp for the big leagues, ie: a full time position. I can't say that I don't enjoy you. Meeting new people in a professional sense, getting to experience a field first-hand and getting the perks of having a job (depending on the locale) all make you something coveted and wanted. You give students an opportunity to see an office at it's most basic level: administrative. That lends itself to dealing with office politics, professional courtesy and understanding operations, which are all beneficial. At the same time, you bring a lot of different stuff to the picture that most students don't think about.

For one, you give kids the illusion that they're actually doing something in the big picture of XYZ Company. That's not the case. Oftentimes when students embark on you, they're given the most menial of tasks, usually ones that full-time employees should do. This work, aptly titled 'grunt work' for the grunts of discontent coming from an intern, is simply given so that the intern has something to do. Next, you put students under the supervision of people, who might not be the best to be under. Oftentimes, the person that an intern works under isn't a professional in their field, but an administrator whose job it is to oversee them and make sure that they're completing what drudgery they're given. That supervisor might not have any experience in the field and sometimes might not even be open to the idea of an intern being there, leading to tension in the office. You may advertise a professional experience, but what happens usually borders on general office help at a cheap price, sometimes free. Internships, you're not all that you're cracked up to be. Overall, I'd say that you are a good look, but not for everyone. Your system lends itself to students who work well in organized, and often rigid systems, or students who are extremely proactive. If a student has a problem with authority or are slow to be motivated, you aren't the right way to spend a summer. That said, you're definitely something that students should look into. If not to know whether an office setting is right, then just to be able to tell those 'Worst Internship Ever' stories. Lord knows I have a few...