WTF interns?!

As I write this post, the intern I’m suppose to meet for a kickoff meeting is now 20 minutes late.

I just shot her an e-mail and still have yet to receive a response. Benefit of the doubt, it’s the holiday season and the traffic is insane. But this isn’t the first time it’s happened.

When I was in school, I never worked an internship. I did however work my ass off ever since grade school at my father’s business. I was getting a wage that today’s senior undergrad would probably spend on a new iTunes playlist before they went out for thirsty Thursday.

I would have loved killed to get the experience from a local tech company. I had to knock on a lot of doors at the local universities to even bend the ear of someone who could announce internships to the students.

I WANT TO HELP STUDENTS LEARN WHAT IT’S LIKE IN THE REAL WORLD.

Is that so hard?

Here is the scary part

I’m going to rank the 3 schools I’ve volunteered time to in order of the student’s aptitude/willingness to engage.

Local high school > local community college > local state university.

Let me start with the university…

I worked with a senior undergrad marketing class. Helping them prepare for what they might encounter in the web marketing field. Their pulse was that of a zombie that Rick just blew the head off of in The Walking Dead.

I’m talking marketing students that barely lifted a finger. I don’t think they realize the level of competition or shit jobs they are going to get when they graduate with zero experience.

I mentor students for a community college. Each semester I get 5 – 8 kids and they have a series of questions to ask me. When the semester starts off, they are all on time. Willing and ready.

By the time it’s coming down to the end – I don’t hear a peep. Either these kids are dopping out or just not doing their work. But hey – it’s a two year school and they are off to bigger and better things after this.

The wild card that surprised me the most was at a recent high school career day I attended. They were juniors in high school and these kids were sharp. Asking the right questions and seemingly prepared.

Sure a lot can change 6 years from now – but at least it’s a ray of hope in this seemingly gloomy outlook.

So WTF is my point?

I’m not the smartest guy on the planet. I did not do well at English growing up. I should be the last person putting words on a blog.

BUT I’m willing to learn, work hard, and seize opportunity when I can get it.

I sell and I’m proud of it.

The point is, why can’t these kids see the opportunity in front of them? Don’t they know how hard it is out there? Did I realize how hard it was for me when I was in their shoes?

Now she’s 42 minutes late – I assume not coming.

Oh well. Businesses are built on a pile of failures, they might as well start failing now.

 


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

2 responses to “WTF interns?!”

  1. Mark Medeiros Avatar

    Need, it comes down to need and I can only assume they don’t have any, or their complacent as heck. If you don’t have a burning desire to win, learn or try then whats the point. Being late, and not calling, to me is an absolute waste of my time.Next!

  2. Jenny Avatar
    Jenny

    Well said!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *