On several occasions, I have lamented that many companies won't hire students for internships, depriving them of the chance to see first-hand how engineering really works, and learn real-world problem-solving for their studies. It's usually a big win for the student. For the engineers willing to mentor there's a lot to be gained in honing a teaching skill. Also, having a clever person with low expectations available, I have often found mathematical and research tasks that suit them well that would take me a while to do. Even if they take 4x longer to do it, they still get the job done for me. And often an extra pair of hands is good, too. I've had almost universally positive encounters with the bright people we've chosen as interns. So right from day one working where I do, I have supported our policy to hire students in later years of engineering studies for 4 or 8 month internships.
Recently I have just discovered a new abuse of interns. Yet another reason why it's hard for well-meaning managers and supervisors to hire student interns.
Soon after hiring an engineering intern this summer, it seems that the company shareholders got wind of this, and now two "uninvited" junior engineers have been parachuted into our midst. As one of the mentors of the department, the time I can spend with our chosen intern just got cut by 1/3 because I how have to divide my training time between three. This wouldn't be so bad, but the two just parachuted in have some clear deficiencies.
The same thing happened a couple of years ago. The intern we hired was great, and then a month later we were forced to hire and manage an insolent snot. The first intern we hired ended up having a bad experience, despite how bright he was, because the snot was too distracting to me and the other mentors. Now that it's happened again, it looks like a trend, and if we want the nepotism to stop, we have to stop hiring student interns. A step backward for everyone.
I guess I just wanted to kvetch about this. I'm just going to deal with the situation, somehow. If any of you are planning to hire an intern, you might want to consider this risk and prepare accordingly to prevent it happening.
Recently I have just discovered a new abuse of interns. Yet another reason why it's hard for well-meaning managers and supervisors to hire student interns.
Soon after hiring an engineering intern this summer, it seems that the company shareholders got wind of this, and now two "uninvited" junior engineers have been parachuted into our midst. As one of the mentors of the department, the time I can spend with our chosen intern just got cut by 1/3 because I how have to divide my training time between three. This wouldn't be so bad, but the two just parachuted in have some clear deficiencies.
The same thing happened a couple of years ago. The intern we hired was great, and then a month later we were forced to hire and manage an insolent snot. The first intern we hired ended up having a bad experience, despite how bright he was, because the snot was too distracting to me and the other mentors. Now that it's happened again, it looks like a trend, and if we want the nepotism to stop, we have to stop hiring student interns. A step backward for everyone.
I guess I just wanted to kvetch about this. I'm just going to deal with the situation, somehow. If any of you are planning to hire an intern, you might want to consider this risk and prepare accordingly to prevent it happening.
