“People who help you are much more invested in you”, said my Boss. She is pro-intern and exemplifies the perfect mixture of a constructive critic and support system. As I have gotten to know her I found an opening to get a more personal scoop on the inner-workings of intern faux paux and brownie points. When asked what she looks for during an intern’s interview she preceded to tell me a story of how she did not hire one girl (for a paid internship) on the grounds that her skirt was too short and she was not wearing panty-hoes. An intern’s presentation reflects not only on her, but on the Institution that she is being hired for, she claims. It is important to be neat, put-together, and radiate professionalism. Her second and third points of an interview go hand-in-hand as the potential intern should demonstrate a basic knowledge about the institution, while portraying enthusiasm and interest. An interest point of the interview, she said, “is when the student has had no previous work in [this area] and why they are interested now”.
If you’ve had a bad interview though, she expresses a saving grace, which is persistence! After hiring, her three key qualities she hopes for in a model-intern are: 1) initiative, 2) going the extra mile, and 3) organized. Initiative is an intern seeing something that could be more efficient and taking care of it, while “going the extra mile” refers to attending outside events and showing a legitimate interest in the work of the institute.
My favorite part of the interview, she went into the “faux paux’s” of interns! “PHONE ETIQUETTE!...answering the phone in a whisper, mumbling, not saying your name”, she went on to say that it is important to speak confidently and go out of your way to help the caller. There is a basic tagline to pick up the phone and interns need to learn it. Next was lateness, a basic among many bosses I am sure, but the general consensus is that it shows a major lack of respect. Lastly was an extension of the interview, which is when an intern looks “sloppy”. There is never an excuse for that and “you never know who is going to walk into the office!”.
Well there it is…the secrets to intern-success and I got it from a dependable source: the boss!
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