I really appreciate your points here Megan! Identifying and utilizing an
interns skills is very resourceful.
It goes without saying that your intern would have felt as though she was
contributing (because she was) and that her work was worthwhile, despite some of
the seemingly tedious but necessary tasks. By allowing her the sense of
belonging and the importance of her work, she was motivated enough to attend to
'boring' work, which then really wasn't!
And intern expects to learn and be challenged, and I agree with you that
some dissatisfaction is apt to arise as a result if they are not. My son was a
museum student intern for 3 1/2 years. He loved the environment but was often
bored, with nothing to do if there were no visitors (which often , there were
not any).
The students were there on the weekends to have the museum open for
visitors, but it would have been great if they had more opportunities to learn during
down time. They couldn't leave the designated areas they were assigned to.
My son, at least learned to gather whatever museum-related publications were
on hand and learned by reading anything he could get his hands on there.
I did the same thing when I first started working in a museum, and had
little training and basically had to teach myself. I was bored with the few
clerical tasks that were required of me. When I started learning about museology,
while reading every newsletter and publication (over a decade's worth of CRM)
and began researching issues I came across...within a month I was able to
start being more productive and had countless projects, for which I was able to
obtain assistance from other students (who would have otherwise been bored).
So in addition to utilizing an interns skills - even if you really just want
them to only attend to mundane tasks or don't have the time to spend with
them- provide them with an opportunity to learn and contribute.
Pam
In a message dated 9/8/2005 11:48:57 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Actually, I have had the opposite experience. When an
intern brings a different set of skills to the table,
it can be a win-win situation.
For example, we recently had a college-level intern
who was majoring in graphic design. As a result of
this, she was able to create a number of ads and print
materials for us that otherwise we would have had to
shop out. She still did more "intern" types of
projects, such as cleaning up a database, but we
figured out what she had that we needed and used it.
She has some real work experience that she can show
people, and we were thrilled with her.
The main thing here is that both the organization and
the intern should have a need that can be met by the
other. The only unsuccessful intern situations I have
seen were ones in which either there wasn't enough for
the intern to do, or the expectations of the staff
were too high.
Megan Balderston
Director of Education and Public Programs
Hinsdale Center for the Arts
Hinsdale, IL
Pamela Silvestri, Museum Assistant
Northeast States Civilian Conservation Corps Museum
Shenipsit State Forest
166 Chestnut Hill Road
Stafford Springs, Connecticut 06076
(860) 684-3430
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