Monday, July 30, 2007

Intern-al pains

This article http://blogs.businessweek.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/7154.1259414387 details some of the idiosyncrasies of unleashing 20-22 year olds on a workplace each summer. Love the story of the intern "putting out there what he wants" in a role. Hilarious! And true.

Back here at the marketing ranch, I'm working on helping our intern get up to speed, and I'm still not seeing the fruits of my labor. I can't be sure if I'm just moving too quickly for her (and perhaps eliminating a couple of the details a veteran takes for granted?) or if she's just kind of missing the point.

There have been a few instances today already (and yes, it's only Monday) where I realized she didn't review my directions. That were emailed. In bullet point form. Concisely.

The goal is to reach a point when she'll start to really make a difference in alleviating my workload. And we'd planned to hire her, should it all work out. But for now, I'm having second thoughts and wondering if she's the right one for this entry-level role.

She's also from my alma mater (same discipline, major and specialty), and came highly recommended, so I recognize I have  ridiculous expectations for her. It's just taking a long time to explain details to her and I need relief now.