What to do re: overly ambitious intern

[TheSeptemberIssue]

Intern (early 20's) just joined our team for a year. She is a shared resource between six of us but reports directly to me.

She's nice enough, enthusiastic and willing to learn, but she's started rubbing the rest of the team up the wrong way. In meetings, she'll butt in, or she'll repeat what someone else has said to try and make it sound like her idea. She's also refused to do some admin tasks, or done them begrudgingly, because she feels she's here to learn and that isn't benefitting her.

The rest of the team have now started to make a few passing comments to me and I'm not sure what to do next? Is she just highly ambitious and wanting to get on in life, or does she need to learn to work her way up and deal effectively with colleagues? Do I say something or not?

I had a junior like that. We started to develop discreet tasks and review them regularly. Sadly she kept doing things she didn't like v badly which meant no one wanted to give her the bigger jobs because they couldn't trust her.

It culminated in her being let go 3 weeks ago. It apparently came as a real shock to her despite regular feedback on her performance.

You need to say something. She's here to learn, and part of that is about effective communication, dealing with colleagues, not dominating meetings, doing routine admin (assuming, as you imply, that she has a range of tasks and admin is only one, and not the sole thing.) Being ambitious is great, but she's an intern, not being parachuted in as CEO, and being perceived to be obnoxious or work shy, or liable to take credit for others ideas, are important things to avoid.

I agree with being very precise about what is expected & how to contribute meaningfully in meetings.

When I work with grad's and undergrad's I type the task to them ensuring all questions answered and then email it to them either a outlook task or email. I then print these at reviews. It only takes a few weeks for them to either meet expectations or begin performance management.

You need to have a gentle word...

Something along the lines of "I can see you are very keen to make a good impression, and it isn't always easy when you arrive at an office to read the culture and way of working, so I thought I'd give you some background on that, and the do's and don'ts of our team.

I've also got some feedback about how your contribution is being perceived by the team, so you can both learn the industry and also the sort of soft skills that are going to vital throughout your career."

Depending on her reaction, you might also want to point out that accepting criticism is a vital skill at work

Is she being paid? If she's not, I can see why she'd be irked by doing admin tasks rather than learning about the job.

I'd perhaps invite her to 'sit in' on meetings as an observer than actually include her in them. Ask her to minute-take or similar to keep her occupied - this is still a useful workplace skill and will ensure she grasps the outcome of the meeting.

Being able to get your head down and grind through the boring stuff is a vital skill to learn. So is not pissing off Co workers. She needs direct feedback though. Early 20s may be legally an adult but I have worked with enough people in this age bracket to know that it's not unusual for emotional maturity adulthood to lag a few years behind legal adulthood.

The advice above is very good.
How about getting her to take the minutes of the meetings? It’s a useful skill, will focus her during the meetings (less chance of interrupting); also she will have to record the ideas and who said them, so she won’t believe they all come from her.
BTW, I wouldn’t directly address her behaviour in meetings initially (except for suggestion above) as technically she is doing nothing wrong aside from being annoying. Whereas refusing to do admin or doing it badly on purpose is not acceptable.

Oh, I see Mackerel got there first with the minute-taking.....

Tell her. Each and every time with the specific example of what she's done and explain why it's annoying.

If necessary take her for a coffee and spell things out.

Yep, sit her down and tell her.

Give her a role in meetings. A quiet one.

tell the little upstart

honestly kids like this stick in my craw

love sparechange wording, might have to use that sometime

many years of admin I did till I got promoted, and with a smile on my face too. as did our previous admin who is now on £60K

Does she have a clear job description?
And how much leArning is she suppose to make, ie is there a plan to sit down with her to review sticky issues (behaviour or otherwise)? If yes who is supposed to sit down with her?

I feel that part is an issue with a job description (ie she isn't expecting to do these admin tasks). And part of the issue is about not knowing how to behave in Work settings.
All of which need to be addressed.

It may also be a good idea to explain that, while she is there to learn, it's a two way street. It takes time for you to mentor her and in return she needs to contribute to the team. Doing the boring, easy jobs is important and as the most junior member of the team she needs to realise they will often fall on her.

Is this a paid internship? That is going to determine my answer!

Is she being paid?

May I ask: was she privately educated?

If she's there for a year, I imagine she is being paid.

But agree with everyone. Say something and say it now. This is only going to get worse. Be constructive and if she doesn't accept and act on the criticism then you're going to have to get rid of her. There must be loads of other keen kids who'd love to be in her position.

I remember interviewing someone for a graduate scheme who was shocked and appalled that photocopying might be part of their job.

I agree with Badg3r. I've worked with a multitude of interns, and some of them do expect to be at CEO level within weeks if not days. They often need a "little chat" about the fact that SOMEONE has to do the folding letters/making routine phone calls/booking things. And if not them, it would be me, or another manager, or perhaps it should be the boss? Not hammering it home with sarcasm, just a general statement of the obvious that in work, stuff JUST NEEDS DOING. And they are there to take part in the "doing".

I have to say though, it is very difficult to cope with people who just flat out refuse to do things. I have a colleague like this now, and managers just wilt in the face of such blatant shiteness. But you are better than my managers!

Depends if she is being paid or not?

If not paid or just being paid expenses you can't really blame her and I would say that you should employ a proper admin assistant for those jobs.

If she is being paid a proper salary then her job description needs to be made clearer to her.

AimUnder What on earth does that have to do with it? Or is that just a prelude to attacking privately educated people?

OP, tell her gently. I've had a large number of interns at my company and we always have a sit down and a checklist of their duties so there is no confusion re running errands and doing the donkey work, if they aren't happy with making copies and getting coffees then they can work somewhere else. It's a mutual understanding and it seems to work well. I also give them notes at the end of every week just neutrally laying out any pointers. It is a learning experience after all.

Good idea re the minute taking. She'll learn, being an intern can be quite demoralizing to someone as it can be so subservient but as long as they get what they're getting out of it and why they need to do it, it should be ok.

AimUnder Very snobbish thing to ask.

Sounds like she needs some 1:1 time and some guidance from you, OP. Many of the suggestions unthread are very sound pieces of advice.

Pitching in to get admin done is learning. All part of managing your day. Every job has shit that has to be done and if you're at the bottom most if it falls to you.

AimUnder I have no idea what you were going to add, based on whether the intern was privately educated or not, but I would say that from my 5 years of working closely with interns and being peripherally involved in their recruitment, there is NO difference in their levels of achievement and ambition. We recruit very thoroughly and have very few interns who do not meet expectations but, of those who do, they can be either state or privately educated.

If she reports directly to you, then yes, of course its your job to rein her in. She's there to learn not only the job, but how to be a team-player, to do the crap jobs with a good attitude so that perhaps she'll be trusted to do other stuff, to get along with people, not to interrupt when others are speaking, and to have a positive attitude to work and the people she works with. As her mentor/direct report you need to take her aside and point those things out, as clearly no one has properly prepared her for the world of work and if she wants to get on - either in your organisation or another - she's going to have to wind her neck in, lose the negative attitude and muck in with whatever needs to be done.

Good advice up thread. I'll add that this needs nipping sooner rather than later, otherwise she will think it is behaviour that's acceptable, and she will become entrenched in that mindset.