Taking Charge

[amkxoxo]

So I started my job last November, as it is now August. I think I have grown a lot and have been doing well. I am entry level college student and I'm only 23, so I was lucky enough that they gave me a chance. It was between me and another more experienced guy, and they picked the other guy, who turned it down, so it went to me. I am very lucky to make a salary, have great time off, and decent flexible schedule around anything that may come up in my life. Everyone is very nice in my office, as it is small and only 6 of us. They eased me into my role and job, instead of just throwing me to the sharks. What I didn't expect was that a few months in my boss kind if just hands a few interns over to me to lead. I have never had that type of role before and I was not sure what my boss wanted to have me do with them. I felt bad because they were confused too. The interns were not told, as I was not, who they report to. They would get frazzled and wouldn't want to do any work without checking with my boss. I often didn't want them doing any work without checking with my boss.

 

He kind if just woke up one day and pawned them off on me. Then occasionally when he wanted them to do something for him, he would suddenly call on them. But it made it so confusing for me and the interns. My boss stupidly set them up for a certain number of hours a week, which made it hard on weeks where we had little work to do. I would have rather had them work hard one week and barely work another week when we had little work, but he promised them all 12 hours a week, which was ridiculous. I had nothing for them to do because I was busy with m own work, so they often sat doing homework for their college classes. By the end of their work term, I was almost okay with them spending time doing whatever. But then the secretary of he office started getting all up my butt. She would constantly criticize them and their not doing any work, but we had no work for them to do. Then she would be asking me "what are they doing?"

 

Its not her job to oversee them, it was mine. She needed to back off. Or sometimes she would get really rude and go over to them, looking over their shoulder to see what they were doing. When I had my intern meetings with the interns outside of the office, many of them voiced that they didn't like being openly criticized by her, and she was rude to them. I felt so bad, as I am so nice to them. They are college students just like I was, and I know how they feel.

 

The secretary would them sometimes email me when the students are right there to notify me that she didn't think they were working. I would inform her that I gave them a task and they were fine. She needed to butt out, but I didn't tell her that. The secretary oversees our young part time college workers, but the interns are mine. She tries to monitor them all. Then she complains she has so many people to monitor. Its so frustrating.

 

Now that summer is ending we are getting more interns for the college school year. I am again, in charge of them. My co-workers are not all up my butt about how they can't be lazy and how I need to have constant tasks for them to do. I am already having anxiety over it. I am not a big leader type of person. I am not a follower either, but not a leader. I feel like I was given little to no direction on how to lead them. I question if my boss was having similar struggles to me, and thus he just passed it off to me since I was new. I am so nervous and I don't want to fail.

[rester]

Keeping interns and other staff busy is a job in itself. Consider this a great opportunity to learn how to delegate tasks. Spend some time up front teaching the interns the simpler tasks so they can do them in the coming weeks.

 

Don't be afraid to ask your boss for guidance if you need it.

[amkxoxo]

That is the problem, my boss is really busy and is not around a lot. I don't know what tasks to delegate to the interns because most times, I'm looking for tasks for myself. I was a student intern a year ago and I didn't get a lot of guidance and felt my time was wasted looking for stuff to do. I don't want the new interns to be this way too.

[kenmore]

You are correct in your assertion that this is a great opportunity for you! You are also correct that you need to be very concerned about how things are going. Your boss is right that they most likely would keep looking for another job if they are not working enough hours, thus the guaranteed 12hrs/wk. His secretary is correct that if on the clock, they should be working on company things, not their college courses. That puts you in a terrible position, but the bright side is it's beginning management which means if you handle this correctly, it can mean big things for you!

 

Nobody expects you to be a miracle maker, so if you pull one out of your butt, they will be impressed. Since your boss put you in charge of them, you need to find things to keep them busy on company tasks in a useful way. I know that's not easy, I used to run my own business for almost 30 years so I know what it's like to be paying someone and not have enough work for them to do. From the employees perspective they are worried because they know they can't remain employed forever if they aren't working on company business, they won't like it if their hours get cut back nor if some are let go. It's bad for morale.

 

I don't know what kind of business it is or what jobs need to be done but think of them as a valuable resource that needs to get utilized. Invent tasks that help somehow. Have them take some of the load off people there who are busy. That secretary you mentioned who complains she's too busy. Have one of them help her do some of her work. That will help get her off your ass too. Surely there are papers that need organization, clients to call and ask if they need any assistance at the moment, letters that must be written. Again, maybe if I knew what the industry is I could offer more suggestions but there's ALWAYS some useful thing somewhere that could get done and take a load off someone else.

 

Your boss gave this to you as a test. He sees leadership capabilities in you and knows you just need to build them up. He isn't expecting perfection now, but what you describe can't be sustained forever. Be creative. Maybe have them work on advertisements. Even if they suck, maybe one good one will come out. Anything company related is better than working on their college homework! Best of luck!

 

Ken

[amkxoxo]

Thanks for all the advice. Its tough because the interns have specific jobs. One if finance and one is graphics and marketing. I can't have them do stupid secretarial work. I want them to feel important, myself to feel important, and like we accomplished something.

[kenmore]

Thanks for all the advice. Its tough because the interns have specific jobs. One if finance and one is graphics and marketing. I can't have them do stupid secretarial work. I want them to feel important, myself to feel important, and like we accomplished something.

 

I understand that and it's true to the extent that they have work to do. If you can find important work for them to do in their respective fields or create some, that's great! If not, then menial work it is (and secretary work isn't menial anyway. Now cleaning the toilets...) Since they are interns, that means they are not at a level yet where they can be too picky. Also, I'm sure they don't feel too important doing classwork on company time.

 

The way for you to feel important is succeed. You will succeed if you keep them busy. That's what your boss wants you to do. From what you describe, there is not enough pre-determined work for them, so you must find other work for them. It's the only way. Good luck!

 

Ken