Internship challenges and ways to overcome them
By Tan Zhi Inn
Finding work can be very challenging if you don’t have any experience. Internships are essential for every college student as they open many great doors and are a good way to get real life working experience.
Unfortunately, there’s a chance that you will find yourself facing challenges which you feel are very hard to handle. When going into any new situations, you hope everything will proceed smoothly and live up your expectation(s). However, what happens when your internship doesn’t meet your expectations? Here are three common internship challenges and ways to overcome them.
Not enough tasks and feeling bored
Part of the main reason you took the internship in the first place is to gain valuable work experience. However, it can be frustrating when you constantly face the problem of not having enough work to do in the office. “Sometimes, the tasks given were very easy and I can finish them before lunchtime. After that, I spend the rest of my working hours on Facebook and it is so boring sitting in the office doing useless stuff,” Henry Wong Han Yi, 21, a degree student in Hospitality said.
Group photo of Tan Hwa Jie (right), 21, majoring in Architecture with his female colleagues during internship.
Architecture major Tan Hwa Jie, 22, who had completed his internship in an architecture firm, suggested that when there’s not enough work given to interns, keep in mind that they must be proactive and ask their supervisor or other colleagues for additional work to do. “When I have done the task given,” Tan said, “I will contact other departments to see whether they have any work that can be assigned to me.”
Afraid to ask questions
Sometimes, you don’t want to be annoying or get in anyone’s way but when the task assigned to you is completely unclear, you need to clarify it with your supervisor. “When I started my internship, I was in a dilemma on whether to ask my supervisor so many times to clarify something or try to figure it out myself,” interior architecture major Quenna Chee Lai Quen, 23, said. “But I told myself not to be afraid to ask questions because sometimes I realize it is easy for supervisors to forget that we are new and still lacking in experience, so it is important to reach out for help when you need it.”
The task given is not what you expected
Sometimes, the task given to you by your supervisor or colleagues is not what you expected as it does not related to your major and you hoped to do or learn something that would be more relevant and useful. For example, advertising major Fiona Lim Yu Pei, 21, said she expected to learn more about branding, however, the task given by her supervisor is more to event planning and some of the jobs are not challenging at all. “I hoped the job that was assigned to me would be more relevant to my major so that I can gain more experience and learn things that I am really interested in,” she added.
Hence, you need to map out your needs and expectations with your supervisor beforehand. Especially during your interview, you need to have a clear discussion with your supervisor to reach a mutual agreement on what you will be expected to do. “Luckily, I tried my best to learn how to communicate my thoughts and discontent with my supervisors and let them know that I am interested in learning and doing more with branding,” Lim said. “Interns must learn to communicate their needs by using positive communications so that it can help you meet your expectations during internship.”
However, as a student who is going to step into the competitive working world, learning how to handle all the obstacles is an excellent self-improvement experience. By demonstrating your ability to face these challenges that could happen during the internship, you will give your employer a positive impression of your interpersonal, problem solving and communication skills as well as the ability to deal with the difficulties that may come along.