A collection of bad ideas...

 ... or internship pitfalls to steer clear of!

I was reminded by a good friend following my posts that I focused on tips of what to do to succeed, but failed to share my learnings on things that were a common denominator for failures. I don’t personally like a post focusing on the negative, but I could see the value of at least offering the most common pitfalls to avoid – there will be plenty others that are unique to each situation that I could never possibly cover.

I think it goes without saying that NOT doing the five main points of my last post is not a good idea, since those are the most common DO’s for success. So I will not spend time talking about those DON’Ts. I will focus instead on some other things to avoid:

• Poor Time Management. Besides being on time for work and meetings, being on time with the deliverables assigned to us is non-negotiable. We must at all costs avoid the student syndrome of leaving things to be started last minute, because a failure in this case has business and financial impacts – besides scarring our professional reputation. That implies keeping a healthy level of organization, asking questions when priorities are conflicting or not clear, and specially raising our hand when we need help on a timely way – meaning asking for help when there is still a chance for getting help without impacting the deliverable due dates.

• Overpromising & underdelivering. Self-confidence is an incredible treat to cultivate, but only insofar as it translates into results. Meaning our words are our bond, and whatever we promise, we deliver. It is something simple that I refer to as “Say/Do”. Whatever we say we will do, we do. Sounds simple and easy, but it is much more challenging than what we think. Specially because we humans have a very tough time saying No. We end up saying Yes, assuming we will figure out things later. But, in business, later is much earlier than we ever expect it to be. Our reputation goes hand in hand on how much people can rely on us to do what we agreed and committed to do.

• Scoffing at “trivial” tasks. Not all tasks are equally appealing, interesting, sexy or challenging, and that is the reality of all jobs. Even the most glamorous jobs have a side that nobody but those performing it know. In real life, there are no really trivial tasks. In the world of today, everything that is done, is done for a reason. If in doubt, we should always ask, and understand why something is needed – it helps us reframe the trivial on a bigger picture. From my experience, the things I hated doing the most were a low hanging fruit of opportunity to shine – by finding ways to do them faster or in a simpler way, so I didn’t need to spend as much time and effort on things I didn’t enjoy. But never, ever, skipping or shying away from them. And it goes without saying that internships are the most junior of the junior positions. Hopefully none of us have any illusion that our first work would be as the boss, or that just by doing everything right we get hired or promoted. Doing everything right, even the smallest and most trivial tasks, is just part of doing the job expected from us. 

• Being afraid to speak up. No human is an island, a very old poem used to say. In professional contexts, none of us really work in isolation. Even when we have very specific responsibilities, whatever we deliver depend on inputs from others, and / or will serve as inputs for someone else down the line. So whenever we have concerns, or doubts, or need clarification, we must learn to overcome any potential shyness and speak up. Politely, and using our own voice, we should always find the space to speak up. I lost count of how many times the question I asked or the angle one of my comments pointed out changed the outcome. And many times, it only happens because we are looking at things with fresher eyes as interns than other people who have been doing that work forever…

• Using our personal phones at work. It should be obvious, but it isn’t. I lost count of how many times I had to reprimand newcomers getting lost in the endless scrolling during work hours. We all must limit personal phone use to breaks, so we can maintain focus on our responsibilities. And also avoid oversharing on social media, or engaging in unprofessional online conduct. We don’t exist as separate individuals – the person and the professional – and that means we all share the responsibility of maintaining a professional online presence and avoid posting anything that could reflect negatively on ourselves or on the company we work for. 

There are many other don’ts but they are domain specific… Some would claim they are all “common sense”, but I always question that, since if it was that “common” we would not need to think about those things. But the above have been consistent with every person and area I’ve observed failing over the past +30 years, so I think it is safe to share them regardless of domain.

What about you, do you observe other things that were frowned upon or caused failures to newbies? Share in the comments, we are always learning from one another!