Illustration by JENNY YURSHANSKY/Daily Bruin
By Andy Shah
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
UCLA alumna Nirupama Jayaraman recalled that her summer
internship with a major educational television station was lacking
in one major thing: learning.
“The internship seemed great on paper. It had the name and
prestige, but on my first day there, I realized they didn’t
really care to teach me anything new,” said Jayaraman, who is
now a public school teacher in New York. “My boss was really
busy and intimidating, so I didn’t know how to act around the
office.”
The word internship conjures images of resumes, office
buildings, and important people in starched white shirts and career
suits. Generally, they are a good thing “”mdash; the employer gets
some help around the office, and the interns gain experience and a
glimpse into what could be a future career.
But they can also turn out to be dull, unfulfilling or even
downright exploitative.
“I felt like an unnoticed volunteer, as if I was in the
way,” Jayaraman said.
While it’s common to hear tales of how difficult or how
easy it was to get a particular internship, things can become
particularly trying once the intern starts the job.
After all, interns are under a lot of often-unnoticed pressure
““ they have to be professional without seeming anti-social,
emit enthusiasm without being artificial, and handle an often
sizable workload while balancing coursework, extra-curricular
activities and a social life.
Interns past and present all emphasize the importance of the
social aspect, or “internship etiquette,” involved in
the job scene.
“You have to learn how to break the ice,” said
Annuraag Kristipati, a UCLA alumnus who is now a consultant with
PricewaterhouseCoopers. “During one of my summer internships,
I was initially very formal and professional, and you have to
maintain that to establish your credibility.
“But once I got to know my boss better, it became more of
a friendship than a employer-employee relationship,” he
said.
Now that Kristipati is on the other side of the table, he
realizes just how important being a “people person”
is.
“You really have to know how to work in a team, because
all we do is work with other people on projects,” he
said.
Still, Kristipati acknowledged that once the interview process
is over, then the real pressure sets in. The little things ““
going to lunch with your boss, straddling the fine line between
being enthused and fake ““ make all the difference.
“We care more about who you are as a person rather than
your stats, like GPA,” he said, adding that PWC interns
undergo a rigorous screening process.
Once the internship started, interns agreed the day-to-day
routine becomes more fulfilling after solid personal relationships
are established.
For example, Jayaraman said she regrets not trying to get to
know her boss better.
“In hindsight, I let my anxiety over the situation get in
the way. Even though he probably wouldn’t have had time, I
could’ve asked my boss out to lunch,” she said.
“Even though I would’ve felt a little rejected, at
least it would’ve shown that I was interested in getting to
know more about him, which I was.”
A lot of times, however, the situation is beyond the
intern’s control. And here, an insensitive boss versus a
personable one can make all the difference.
Rocky Khullar, a first-year graduate student in mechanical
engineering, said he didn’t have to make the effort to get to
know people.
“The staff took the initiative, because in a way, the
internship was a summer for them to impress me,” said
Khullar, who interned at the consulting firm Arthur Andersen.
“They treated all of us well, and had a lot of mechanisms in
place for us to get to know each other, like happy hours and the
like.”
On the job, career counselors generally agree that an intern
should try to adhere to the common dress code.
“Dress appropriately. Follow the dress code of your
colleagues and, if unsure, ask what type of dress is expected of
you,” wrote Caryl Watkins, placement director at the City
University of New York, on the university’s career center Web
site.
Employers also expect interns to display basic etiquette like
punctuality, following thorough with assignments, and trying to
avoid office politics.
But these guidelines don’t mean employers expect robotic
compliance from their interns.
“We are encouraged to maintain a professional attitude at
all times while we are at work, but when there is a little lull in
activity we can talk about our outside lives,” said Gavin
Clifford, a third-year religious studies student hoping to pursue a
career in sports medicine. “Our boss is a real person too, he
has a life and went through the program that we are in right now,
so he can relate to our struggles and pressures.”
In fact, many employers like an intern who is willing to
disclose some ““ but not all ““ aspects of their personal
life.
Jayaraman, who now helps oversee some aspiring teachers, said
she likes it when the interns are comfortable enough to confide in
her.
“I mean, I don’t want to know everything ““
leave the crude stuff to your friends,” she said. “But
it’s nice when interns feel free enough to talk about
themselves. It should be a two-way street.”
Employers also stress the importance of enthusiasm, but, as
Kristipati said, “We can spot a fake right away.” It
helps, of course, when the intern is genuinely interested in and
engaged in the work.
“If you have to fake your enthusiasm all the time, then
maybe you are in the wrong internship,” Clifford said.
“I really enjoy being a part of this program; we do lots of
the work together with other student trainers, so that makes some
of the less desirable work more exciting.
“I also think that our internship stresses hard work and
knowledge a lot more than anything else, so brown-nosing does not
seem to be an issue,” he continued.
In the end, however, the main aspect of the internship is to
gain some real-life experience into what could be a career. In a
perfect world, both parties win ““ the intern gains
experience, and the employer receives the contribution of a young,
eager college student.
“The main thing is just keeping an open mind and utilizing
common sense,” Jayaraman said. “Adapt to various
situations, even if its not what you expected it to be. Remember,
it’s a two-way street; you’re supposed to gain as much
as you give.”