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?

Also is her work description beryear to all the members of the team that are asking her to do stuff?
Ie are you sure she isn't giving all the crap stuff from everyone ?

My most recent intern (shared by four people, reports to me) is fantastic but the last two were horrendous. The first had a shitty attitude because he wasn't being paid and so was sloppy, slow and spent most of the day on the internet. The second was sullen, rude and a general pain in my arse from day one, and had to be let go after numerous discussions regarding their appearance (she wore cotton jogging bottoms and huge, ratty t-shirts to a customer facing office), her attitude and the fact that she ignored tasks and caused delays. She would stare into space and I would have to snap her out of it several times a day but she still sobbed and gave me looks of wide-eyed surprise when I spoke to her about her conduct

Thanks all

For some reason, this said it hadn't posted earlier so apologies for my double post.

It's a paid internship if that makes any difference.

It's great to hear all the responses. Part of me was thinking I should leave it, that it's very much 'the apprentice' approach to things and she's just trying to get ahead and make an impression but also, part of corporate life is to work as part of a team and pick up on the daily social cues.

The meeting minutes is a great one, gives her responsibility and keeps her busy!

Right, going to see if I can delete the other thread now...

I think that the advice above is excellent and you will really be benefitting her by telling her this. I interned for a very tough company in the states and while they overdid it a bit and I loathed them, they turned me from entitled, scattered useless arts grad into a lean mean admin machine… when I returned to the UK the very competitive media industry I went into were SO PATHETICALLY GRATEFUL to have this hardworking, efficient assistant who was capable and not too proud for anything from copying to tea/coffee making, minute taking and who had learned to read cues as to when it was appropriate to have input, that I positively flew up the company ladder. Then I moved and had to manage some of the 'this is beneath me' types - some of whom were lovely in themselves but clueless as to the really basic nature of some of their responsibilities! With careful mentoring some of them get it and become amazing, some of them will never realise that if you fluff the most basic and boring tasks you will never be 'privileged' with more responsibility (and money). I am SO GRATEFUL to those hateful witches in the US now! (Am sure you will be very nice…!)

I think the weekly catchup with notes is very good. 'The young folk' do seem to have grown up with this every-one-has-a-voice, flat structure, non-hierarchy and so it is a hell of a shock to the system to discover that someone has to stuff the envelopes and go to the post office, and sadly for a while that someone is them

If she's unpaid, she may feel that she's being used for grunt-work. Some admin is fine for an unpaid intern (it's what they do in exchange for shadowing experienced people, getting in on a couple of nice projects, and obtaining references/contacts) but if she's doing pretty much all the menial jobs with just a few meetings here and there, it could seem unjust.

XP sorry.

So she's paid? That makes a difference.

Sparechange's advice is brilliant.
Aimunder - what is the relevance of whether she was privately educated or not?
Whatever job this intern has - now and in the future - there will always be some boring admin to be done. It also has to be done at home. It is an unavoidable part of life.

Great post knittingbat. Learning these lessons is what internships are for.

How's it been going TheSeptember?

As an ex records manager i had the opposite experience. Out of a year's internship not even a week would be given over to admin and the more tedious work. I argued that they should spend a week (at least) on this, learning the history of the organisation, etc. They were completely uninterested and encouraged to be so and incapable of finding anything in the records department, fill a stapler or use a photocopier until they wanted to for personal reasons.

As we used to say in my department, squash her. She will thank you in the end.

If she's being paid, she shouldn't refuse to do any reasonable tasks, so you are being perfectly reasonable in insisting that she does them. However, I'm unsure about the meetings... if she has been invited to the meetings, then is she really supposed to sit there like a mouse? I agree that she shouldn't interrupt, but I wouldn't say that it is wrong for her to give her views. Otherwise, why is she actually at the meeting? She was probably told at uni that she should speak out and be confident. I could see another thread, "I have this intern who sits at meetings in silence and doesn't contribute...". If you want her to just observe, then you need to say that to her - that she is there as an observer not a participant. If she's actually invited to the meeting, then she is not doing anything wrong by talking.

Part of learning how to be a professional working adult is when to nod and smile when given the crud work to do and to realise that even if you were the MD of a top 100 company most people spend a lot of their working day doing tedious mundane tasks

She should also be learning about the importance of building positive networks and relationships across the organisation and trying to shine even in boring chores so that those she works for have a positive association with her name. Otherwise she has no chance of getting a job at the end of the period.

Most of this should be self evident but sadly as it appears not to be it's your job to tell her.

Interns need to be managed closely and this one needs to be given explicit instructions about e.g. when to talk and when to observe.