What if internship

Have a chat with your manager and ask for greater responsibility or to work on a particular project. Ask them to explain why they are unwilling to give you responsibility.

They may not have realised that you want more challenging work or they may highlight some weaknesses that you have and tell you how to improve these so they can give you greater responsibility. They will be pleased that you are showing initiative and a willingness to challenge yourself. This mentor is responsible for training the intern, introducing them to the company, assigning them with tasks, keeping track of their progress, and troubleshooting any problems that may crop up.

There are many demands placed on their time. Advice: Self-learning is the most valuable kind of learning. Try to support yourself as much as possible. Look for help from other interns and older colleagues, many of whom will be happy to teach you if you approach them. If you are struggling to connect with your mentor or they are swamped, then speak to someone and see if you can be assigned a new mentor. If this is not possible then try to get, your mentor to schedule regular weekly catch-ups so that you have a set time each week where you can sit down and discuss your progress and any concerns you have.

In reality, while you do have to perform menial tasks on occasion, you should also be given real responsibilities. A good company will train you on how to be a competent full-time worker. Some rare few companies really do treat their interns as gophers, however. You may be asked to perform menial labour and little else.

Advice: As a newbie intern, you need to be prepared for some grunt work. Menial work should be balanced out with real work that teaches you something. At the end of the day, an internship should provide you with skills that you feel like you can use in your future career if you have highlighted that this is not happening and you feel like you are not being treated well then consider finding a new internship.

You may also only get part-time hours. But companies do compensate their interns in some way, if not pay them directly, or at least, they should. Some of the compensation you may receive may include academic credit, a travel allowance, food money or free housing. They may see you as a source of cheap labour. They may assign you many responsibilities while only paying you a pittance. If you feel your company is giving you too much work and not paying enough, speak to your mentor and see if they can help.

When applying to internships, always be sure that you and the company understand what you will be receiving. If this is not being adhered to then raise this with them. Some interns have too much work.

Then some interns have too little. This may seem like a good problem to have on the surface, but it can be harmful in the long run. It can take time for newbie interns to get into the groove.

Your workload should be light initially but will increase over time. If it seems as if your workload is decreasing instead, you have a problem on your hands. Advice: Ask for extra work instead of being passive and expecting work to come to you. Volunteer to help your colleagues or other interns with their tasks. It is the job of HR to use the feedback received from interns and supervisors to modify internship policies and procedures as necessary, to continually establish the business case for internships to upper management, and to continually improve the internship program.

See Tips for Recruiting Summer Interns. There are potential legal issues involved when employing interns, mostly around wage and hour laws. First, employers should be careful not to violate state or federal laws regarding underage persons.

All states have child labor standards, and age limitations differ from state to state. Once an employee is age 18, there are no federal child labor rules. Similarly, employers should be careful not to discriminate illegally based on age against older applicants for internships, who may have been laid off or are seeking different experiences in their retirement years.

Older workers may be just as qualified as, or even more qualified than, other applicants in satisfying an organization's goals for adopting an internship program in the first place. Second, employers should be aware of state and federal laws on minimum wage and overtime. State rules are often more generous than federal law on payment of minimum wages and overtime. Wages need to meet both state and federal requirements to be compliant.

The rules applicable to interns are likely to be different for government and private employers, with private employers having stricter rules. In the public sector and the nonprofit sector, unpaid internships are often permissible. Third, interns are likely to perceive that they are not subject to the employer's policies even if they sign documents saying that they are.

Similarly, supervisors may think that the workplace rules for regular employees are not necessarily applicable to interns. Internships may be abused by interns and supervisors alike. Generational differences between interns and supervisors can lead to claims meritorious or not of sexual harassment, invasion of privacy and defamation. Employers should maintain order in their operations—and internships should be no exception. Periodic meetings between HR and interns and between HR and supervisors can help prevent inappropriate conduct or stop it before it gets out of hand.

Fourth, internship can be a path of illegal immigration and employment in the United States if interns overstay their visas. Employers should be careful to comply with all federal and state immigration laws when employing interns. The FLSA defines the term "employ" broadly as including to "suffer or permit to work" "suffer" is a synonym for "allow".

Technically speaking, the FLSA does not define or explicitly recognize the existence of "interns. In January , the DOL provided updated guidance to reflect the following seven criteria to identify the primary beneficiary in determining whether an employment relationship with an intern or student exists:. According to the DOL, "courts have described the 'primary beneficiary test' as a flexible test, and no single factor is determinative.

Accordingly, whether an intern or student is an employee under the FLSA necessarily depends on the unique circumstances of each case. The simple solution is to just pay the intern a legal wage.

Doing so will save the for-profit organization a lot of risk and concern about whether a particular internship program complies with the FLSA or comparable state law. In addition, paying interns helps teach them the realities of mandatory withdrawals from paychecks, gives them a tangible benefit for their labor and probably improves the quality of their work.

Clearly, an internship should not be used to displace a regular employee or to take advantage of a person seeking KSAs as a way to obtain free or low-cost labor for the organization.

Ideally, an internship is a symbiotic relationship. Communications can be an area in which employers can benefit, but also an area in which they can make mistakes. They should pay careful attention to drafting policies and procedures, as well as public announcements, regarding internships.

An organization will not want to be seen as reneging on promises made to interns or as taking advantage of them. Clearly identifying what the program offers and how interns will benefit will help attract great candidates. At the outset of any internship program, it is important to establish a framework for determining whether the internship program has been successful.

This is the realm of metrics. Here are possible goals of an internship program:. Q: Can I complete more than one internship at a time? A: Students may only do one internship per semester. Q: Can I continue my internship beyond one semester? A: Students may elect to continue an internship beyond a single semester. However, to earn academic credit, the internship must provide a new or different challenge. Q: What if I leave the internship before completing my hours? A: If a student leaves an internship for any reason, whether it is of their own free will or they are asked to leave by the internship site, they forfeit any hours completed and will be withdrawn by the Career Planning Center.

Q: What if something goes wrong? Liability concerns: Liability for an internship experience can vary depending on the circumstances of the internship. Normally when you are involved with an internship where you are being paid, you are considered an employee of the organization with which you are interning. As an employee you are covered by the liability insurance of your employer.

Internships where you are not being paid fall into two categories: academic credit received and academic credit not received. The college carries insurance to cover claims arising out of academic credit internship covering bodily injury or property damage. However, individual student liability is not covered where academic credit is not received. No insurance is available for internships without academic credit.

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