Managing Interns: A Few Weeks In
You've probably already seen it: the intern who's been refreshing their inbox for two weeks waiting for a "real" assignment, or the one who turned in something so far off the mark that you wondered if they'd heard your instructions. And you've likely also seen the interns who are hitting it out of the park – who ask smart questions and meet deadlines. Sometimes it’s them, but sometimes it’s how you set up the work. Perhaps the assignments you handed out in week one were vague, or the feedback you meant to give got pushed to the following week and still hasn’t been given. Either way, you're a few weeks into the program now, which is still early enough to fix what isn't working and reinforce what is.
Fix the Structure of the Work First
If an intern still seems unsure what to do with their time, that's not necessarily an initiative problem. It may be an assignment problem. Interns who don't know what to do tend to handle it one of two ways: they ask the same question to five different people hoping someone has an answer, or they go quiet and wait, which looks like disengagement but is really just confusion. Give interns something specific and real to do, and break it into smaller chunks if necessary. Go back to what got handed out in week one and add more responsibility. Confirm with them that they understood the expectations – sometimes we assume what they should know, and don't actually explain communication norms, response times, what "checking in" is supposed to mean. What feels obvious to someone with fifteen years of workplace experience is not obvious to someone who is three weeks into their first one. A quick conversation, asking them to walk you through what they think their priorities are for the week, will usually tell you whether the gap is on their end or yours.
Deliver Feedback With the Right Frame
Most interns have not had much experience receiving real, professional feedback, as school and part-time jobs don’t usually provide it. So your quick correction may be perceived as a much bigger deal than you intended. Tie feedback to the task, not the person, and confirm that it actually registered with them, instead of assuming it did. Ask them to repeat back what they heard, or to tell you what they'll do differently next time. The same goes for managing your own reaction. It's frustrating when a task you thought was self-explanatory comes back wrong, but showing that frustration usually makes the intern more cautious, not more competent. They get more focused on not getting it wrong again than on actually doing better work. This is a skill, not an instinct, and managers often appreciate training on how to give feedback, because it's harder than it sounds.
Treat Performance Concerns as a Management Issue
If there's a real performance problem, deal with it now instead of ignoring it until the internship is over. We often avoid giving performance feedback because it's hard, and we don't want to make someone feel bad. That instinct is understandable, but it usually backfires: the intern leaves without ever knowing there was a problem, and the organization doesn’t get the work done properly or efficiently. In truth, it is a gift to the intern to hear about their challenges and have time to improve. Most of them would rather know now, while there's still a summer left to do something about it, than find out for the first time on their last day. The best practice is to have the detailed conversation, and write down what was discussed and how to improve.
The Payoff
Having interns takes attention and focus from busy managers. But an intern who's given real work, clear feedback, and an honest read on how they're doing usually rises to meet it, and you end up with someone worth bringing back, either as a future hire or as a strong reference for the next person they recommend. A few weeks in is not too late to change the trajectory.
Managing interns and employees is something we end up talking through with managers all the time because it can be complicated, and it’s worth doing the right way.