What should I tell my intern?
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Anonymous
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I’m a manager of an intern who is 3-4 weeks into a 10 week company program.
It’s going well, and I’ve managed interns before, but what advice would you have wanted to know early in your career as a rising senior in college? (They are general business major and we are a local private sector company.) |
Anonymous
| Have they asked for advice? |
Anonymous
| DC is currently an intern, and they have some mentorship program. DC said they asked the mentor what they regret doing or not doing early in their career, and what DC should do in their field to get to where they want to go. |
Anonymous
This! Honestly, if they’re doing well, they’re probably getting advice/ guidance/mentoring from someone. Its half-way, so I would make sure they know how well they’re doing, and to keep up the good work. They will likely want to use you as a reference, so you may want to offer that up before they leave. |
Anonymous
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Communications skills are very important, even if in STEM fields.
Try hard to get along with everyone. People one has not seen in 20 years might well reappear in one's work life. Civility and composure matters, even in stressful relationships. |
Anonymous
| The intern is doing well, and I’ve told them that. They haven’t asked for advice and I’m not gonna be heavy-handed about it, but I just wondered what else might be good to know. |
Anonymous
If you can’t think of anything, you might not be the best person to be doling out the advice. |
Anonymous
| Wow, and good morning to you too. I was trying to get different perspectives from my own. Chill with the aggression. |
Anonymous
| If they’ve done or said nothing that warrants advice or correction, and you are casting about for something useful to tell them…just wait until they clearly need advice! |
Anonymous
Sorry, not trying to be aggressive. I just truly don’t understand the online crowdsourcing for advice. The intern can do that themselves. The most meaningful advice is that which comes from personal experience. We don’t even know what industry you’re in. |
Anonymous
Umm the whole point of an online forum like this is to literally crowdsource for advice. Why are you even on DCUM if you don’t understand why anyone wise this forum? Op- I think it’s so nice you’re proactively trying to be helpful and inspiring. You sound like a great person to work for. |
Anonymous
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The interns usually want to know what the decisionmaking process is for getting a full-time offer. Also how early career employees will be trained/rotated. Does the program provide that information clearly?
I have been involved in corporate summer intern recruiting in the past. Several times, due to austerity measures, we either could not issue internship offers or full-time offers after internships. I think it's helpful to give some hints if you see trouble coming. At least once, we hired an intern several years later, even though we could not give full-time offers during his graduation year. So the "keep in touch no matter what" message can be quite important. |
Anonymous
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Here's how ChatGPT answers your question.
That's a thoughtful question—and a great opportunity to make a meaningful impact. Here’s advice that many professionals say they wish they’d received as rising college seniors, particularly in a general business context and a smaller private-sector company: 💡 Advice to Share with Your Intern (What Many Wish They Knew Sooner) 1. Get Curious About How the Business Really Works Encourage them to: Ask how your company makes money and what the margins are. Learn who the actual customers are and what success looks like for them. Understand what key metrics matter most to leadership. This turns them from a task-doer into a strategic thinker. 2. Learn to Write & Communicate Clearly In smaller companies, the ability to write clear emails, summarize findings concisely, or put together a good slide deck often outweighs technical business knowledge. Give them feedback on their writing and presentation style early. 3. Ask Questions That Go Beyond the Task Instead of just asking how to do something, teach them to also ask: “Why are we doing it this way?” “What happens if this doesn’t get done?” “How does this fit into the bigger picture?” This builds context, which is priceless. 4. Build a Reputable Work Style Let them know that how they show up matters: Are they consistent? Do they follow through? Can people trust them to own a task and circle back? Small company environments especially reward people who are dependable and take initiative. 5. Relationships Matter More Than You Think Encourage them to: Introduce themselves to people outside of their team. Ask someone to coffee or a 20-min chat about their role. Build a network inside the company. It’s an underrated professional skill that often leads to jobs or mentorship down the line. 6. Understand That No Job Is “Too Small” In local or lean companies, everyone wears multiple hats. If they show humility and excellence on even the small stuff, it builds trust that they can handle more. 7. Reflect Weekly Suggest they write down: What they learned What surprised them What they did well What they’d do differently next time This kind of self-awareness is rare at that stage, and sets them apart. 👥 As Their Manager: Ways You Can Amplify Their Growth Expose Them to Strategy or Leadership Conversations (even briefly) Give Them Ownership over something meaningful, with guardrails Let Them Present Their Work, even in a low-stakes setting Give Candid Feedback with encouragement and direction |
Anonymous
| If your not already, schedule a 20 minute coffee/tea with them each week. Just have a conversation and topics will come up. It is nice that you're concerned/ interested. |