An internship provides an opportunity for a campus student to obtain experience before graduation. Unfortunately, many companies don’t really give their interns the training and experience they need to know what really happens in the working field. Its rather unfair when a student wastes their time on an
“opportunity” that in the end just lets them down and affects the
negatively. While internships provide even an added advantage to new graduates, students must ensure they seek out internships that provide quality experiences.These are some of the signs that maybe you need to look for another internship place as soon as possible.
1.Bad References
Students should seek out references from peers. Word of mouth travels quickly on campuses, and you don’t want an internship with a company that has a bad reputation. Many companies here in Kampala have very bad reputation ranging from sexual harassment claims to some allegedly taking huge advantage of interns to the point of literally making them house helps. So research has to be made before to prevent such instances from happening.
2.Lack of Work
Although it seems counter intuitive, some companies actually struggle to provide work to their interns. Managers often become busy and don’t make time to provide projects to interns. This can happen because they don’t want to invest time to explain the project and provide feedback. This in turn can negatively affect the intern as they wouldn’t be fulfilling the core purpose of the program.
3.No Formal Training
A company that doesn’t provide formal training programs could be a poor company for which to work. Companies must be invested in training interns to do their jobs. This ultimately will benefit the company through employee growth. Many companies, though, don’t take the time to establish and conduct training.
4.No advancement Plan
Although post-intern employment is never guaranteed, managers should communicate their intentions and be upfront about the possibilities. Avoid companies that aren’t clear about potential advancement opportunities.
5.Unavailable Managers
Managers are busy people. They often have individual job requirements and responsibilities to manage entire groups. Any manager who doesn’t make time to meet with and coach interns is a poor manager. Although the company might have good intentions, the manager often can be the key to creating a good or bad work experience.
6.Unprepared Upon Arrival
If you arrive to your first day of work and find a proper work space hasn’t been set up, it could be a sign of a bad internship. Companies that don’t make a priority of preparing for an intern’s arrival might be disorganized in other aspects of their business. If the company makes the effort of hiring you, it needs to follow through and ensure an adequate work space is available on your first day.
7.No Clear Goals
For an intern to develop and improve her skills, a manager must
establish clear goals at the beginning of the internship. These goals should be in writing and discussed with the intern. The goals need to be reviewed periodically, and the intern’s performance should be reviewed at the end of the internship. Companies that fail to implement goals for their interns often fail to provide valuable work experiences.
8.Busy Work
While having some work is better than none, busy work is often not valuable. Although interns don’t always receive the most interesting or challenging projects, companies should ensure there is a proper balance of work provided for the experience to be effective for the student and the company.
9.No Clear Authority
An intern needs to know to whom he is reporting. Although there is no universal way of establishing a manager-intern relationship, it must be clear to the intern who they work for, who can provide support and who they need to ask for approval. Lack of authority can create a confusing and frustrating experience.
10.No Educational Support
People tend to forget that an internship is an educational process
that is usually completed in conjunction with campus study. Although internships don’t necessarily play a direct role in a student’s course of study, the student’s schooling and internship provide educational value. Companies that don’t acknowledge and support a student’s education might not understand the value of an internship and hence should not even be considered for one.
