Interns

An intern story

As our country celebrates another year of independence from warm beer, and taxation without representation many work havens open their doors to bushy tailed college students who take their first wobbly steps in the corporate world as interns. Some of these interns come from prominent families, and top schools while others have inherited a hard working, "this is a chance of a lifetime", cannot-blow-this mentality, while others, I'm quite convinced, arose one morning dawned some pleated pants and tasseled loafers and decided "yea sure, internship!?"

Without exception every college-aged intern brings to the office a youthful perspective on the stuff that has otherwise become mundane. Suddenly the understocked and dusty supply room becomes an arcade of excitement as interns bounce from the bin of over sized erasers to the shelves of multi-sized legal pads to a plethora of highlighters and paper-clips. Smiles dance across their faces as if they've found gold in the kitchen when shown the free coffee and water jug. And what once was the quiet (productive) hour between 9:45am - 10:45am is filled with hydraulic explosions made by adjusting the height of ones chair. These are things that you cannot hate an intern for.

With their naive wonderment and joy, interns also bring other gifts to the work place. First and foremost are the ancient secrets passed down among the successful generations of their family and friends: "The O'Mally Rules to Success in Business". This set of rules, not specific to the O'Mally clan, is sure to fire some people up. One report of an intern in London, has a father telling his son that successful bankers talk and scream at/to their computers. Since successful bankers have done this in the past, the intern has chosen to do this today. No doubt, the boss will hear various points of the conversation and draft a job offer.

Another good lesson from the family guide to success is the inherited executive stubbornness of their successful mothers/fathers. It is true, that many interns come from powerful families who have worked incredibly hard to attain a certain status. BUT, the interns job title is not CEO - it's just intern. As such a common gripe of interns is the classic scenario of "I did not go to school for this". When in fact the interns statement is false. This is exactly what the intern went to so school for. It's a job where you use your finger tips more than your biceps, so pile it on.

Finally, many interns subscribe to other success guides in addition to their own families. Peter Lynch, Jack Welch, Warren Buffet - the list is very impressive and all of their books are certainly worthy a gander. The age old intern adage of "'first on the floor, last to leave" is tied to books like these. I implore interns to work efficiently, and ask for more work, work until 10 every night if there is work there. But sitting at your desk reading espn.com articles for 6 hours doesn't seem to be an efficient use of time. But that's just me. Honestly, it stresses me out knowing that Joe Intern kills himself to get to the office just to sit around.

Something to consider discussing with your interns (or if your an intern yourself), is that fact that every guide to something is created by someone that is already successful. What worked for them probably wont work exactly the same for you. For instance, screaming at your monitor doesn't make you look busy or important - unless you are actually busy and important.

No one writes a success story until their done. Isn't it possible that they've glossed over most of the details in order to be perceived as more successful? People want lists, and checks, people buy certainty and that is what successful people can provide... a list of things that they did. But buying their biography only ensures one thing, you'll know where they've been. Be successful (and happy by the way) by keeping your head up, being consistent to the people around you and being open to people and ideas.

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