INTERNSHIPS CAN BE a great experience and a solid means of getting your foot on the proverbial ladder.
But they ain’t always peachy. In fact, they can be kind of a mixed bag.
This is the sort of stuff you’ll deal with.
1. Being constantly referred to as “the intern”
Say goodbye to your first name. You shall henceforth be known only as “the intern”.
2. Thinking it’s going to be as high-octane and pressurised as The Devil Wears Prada
And feeling a mixture of disappointment and sweet relief when it’s nothing like it.
3. Expressing inordinate enthusiasm over doing the most mundane tasks
Spend an afternoon filing away documents from 2007?
YES PLEASE, NO PROBLEM AT ALL, JUST GLAD TO GET THE EXPERIENCE!
4. Trying and failing to master the printer
At some point during your internship, you will have to deal with the printer and you will make an absolute hames of it. You will pretend it’s the printer’s fault and never own up to your technological ineptitude.
5. Lunch is an everyday struggle
Especially if you’re the lone intern. WHO WILL YOU SIT WITH IN THE CANTEEN?
6. And the constant references to interns of yore don’t help either
Ciaran was a great lad, was he? Thanks, this is doing wonders for my confidence.
7. Worrying about sounding like a complete numpty at formal meetings
YOU: “Please don’t ask me for my thoughts, please don’t ask me for my thoughts”
BOSS: “Any thoughts, intern?”
8. Trying to decipher what is and what isn’t acceptable
Sure, you may theoretically finish at 6pm, but what if nobody else appears to be budging from their desks? Is it poor form to leave? The stress of it all.
9. Having to explain to relatives that, yes, it may be an unpaid internship, but you’re learning so much and it’s really “hands-on”
As you die a little bit on the inside.
10. Agonising over your bank balance
And wondering if you’ll ever have money.
*goes back to eating noodles*
