Member of The Institute of Leadership & Management Clemorton Consultancy is a Limited Company registered in Scotland No. 217262

Website; www.clemorton.co.uk

‘Bridging the gap between theory practice’ ™

Successful Internships and Work Experience – Workshop

STUART MADDOCKS (M Inst LM)

Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, which found that 21.7% of those that

graduated in 2009 who were employed six months later were working for an employer

they had undertaken some kind of work experience for in the past.

Source – The Complete University Guide

Introduction & Objectives

What do they want and not want? ◦ Internship Do’s and Don’ts

Under the surface – The Ego States

Giving and receiving Feedback

Meeting Input

Summary & Close

This workshop requires individuals that have the following:

An interest in exploring further the expectations of organisations in relation to interns and work experience.

An open minded view on new ideas/concepts and approaches to help with their opportunities.

Participants will leave the workshop better equipped to;

Understand what organisations expect from us and Know what they don’t want to see

Understand the factors that underpin workplace communication issues

Communicate confidently with key people to gain opportunities in the future

Deal assertively in difficult situations with peers and management

Input into team decisions and meetings

Give and receive feedback to/from colleagues and managers alike

As an introduction to one another, please share in groups of 2 or more - what your fantasy career would be if you could do anything for a living.

Many full-time students starting their internships and work

experience feel as though their entire career is riding on

those few short weeks. It’s not.

Still, making a good impression and securing a full-time job

offer at the end of the time is always beneficial.

Here are some steps you can take to increase your chances

of getting that job offer:

Complete the assignment you’re given.

“Most internships require students to complete a project and give some sort

of final presentation.

Just about all experienced organisations will say that your main priority is to

do a great job on this assignment.

Prepare ahead of your internship by touching base with your managers to

ensure you understand what they want from you. Then brainstorm and

research the topic at hand…”

Director of Entrepreneurship – Major Educational Institution

Communicate Communicate Communicate...

“One of the biggest mistakes students make is that they feel as though they

can handle a particular project, run with it, and never check in with

supervisors. When they do this, they often get off track and turn in something

that disappoints the employer. If the company does not have checkpoints,

such as a mid-point evaluation, then create them yourself.

Find the balance between asking too much and not asking enough, Seek out

feedback early and often. We believe that is critical to success.”

Head of Operations – Global Security Solutions

Add Value

“Once you have a handle on your main assignment, volunteer to help in other areas.

There are good opportunities to show your work ethic and pick up other skills. Just be

certain you can handle more work..”

“I recall one student during my time, who volunteered to take on two additional

projects and ended up short-changing the original assignment. As the manager, I

thought the intern did fine on the additional assignments but that they took time

away from the original project, and it showed.”

HR Team Leader, Pharmaceuticals

Be Happy

“Beyond delivering the work, you should be the person with whom others

want to work. This means you must be respectful of people’s time; ask good

questions; do what is needed, even if it is a job that you might consider

beneath your capabilities; work hard; and be reliable.

Also, don’t get drawn into complaint sessions about the company with regular

employees. Have a positive attitude: Even if times are tough, keep smiling.”

HR Director, Hospital Trust

Network with your colleagues

“Making contacts is a bonus of the internship. You should participate in any events that the company

holds. If possible, develop a mentor which can be anyone you trust who has the necessary experience.

If there are no company-organised events for interns, then initiate them yourself. Invite your manager to

attend or gather the other interns for a lunch or dinner.

Of course, you should not make networking take up so much of your time that you neglect your work

duties. Try to find balance.”

Communications Manager – Facilities company

Demonstrate your potential

“Remember that you are being assessed by the employer at every turn, it’s

not about showing you can learn a job in 10 weeks,” . “It’s about showing you

can learn the job when you arrive full time.

In other words, don’t feel as though you have to know everything from the

start. Be willing to ask for help, managers would rather you get help and turn

out results they need than go it alone and fail.”

Finance Director – Charitable Organisation

Know your place

“You don’t run the company—yet. Know who your superiors are and

treat them accordingly.

Also know that they’re very busy people, and the more you can be

trusted to take initiative and complete all of your assignments, no

matter how small or mundane, the more respect you’ll command.”

CEO – Global Consulting firm

Look the part

“Leave the tell-tale jeans and trainers at home and dress for

the success you’re working toward. It may not be a secret

that you’re the office intern, but your potential shouldn’t be

camouflaged by student attire. It’s always better in the

workplace to be mistaken for an executive than a student.”

Key Account Manager – Logistics

Be early – not late

“One of our biggest frustrations with interns is the mixed attitude that we are

confronted with around time keeping. Some people think its acceptable to be

late for everything; meetings, start-times and deadlines.

The bottom line is that its unacceptable and leaves a bad impression. If you

want a chance of being seriously and getting a job with us – you must act like

you already have the job, that means get here early, not late.”

Head of Graduate recruitment – Healthcare

Drink too much alcohol

“This can be tricky if you are at a work party. If everyone is

drinking (and I mean everyone) then you can consider it but

do not look at this as an opportunity to get totally

intoxicated. Similarly, if you are out to lunch with your

managers or any higher ups in the organisation, better to

not order alcohol.”

HR Manager - NHS

Thinking about only what you can get from the internship, not what you can

give

“A common mistake that interns make is approaching the internship as if their

primary goal is to learn. Of course, learning more about an industry or

company, and building new skills and knowledge are important bi-products of

any internship.

Successful interns focus on what they can deliver, not on what they will be

able to get from the internships. They make take on one or two less

glamorous assignments if it will help the team, which builds trust and buy-in

which can lead to more substantive projects.”

Project Manager – Civil Engineering

Arguing after making a mistake

“The most common mistake is arguing. It’s more defensive

than antagonistic, but too often interns argue after making

a mistake. They’ll tell me why they did something wrong or

try to defend their actions. Instead, they should listen and

learn what they did wrong so they don’t do it again.”

Head of Marketing at a leading Energy Provider

Complain about being bored

“Guess what? Work is not as fun as a party. I know

you’re bored sometimes. Me too. It’s called work, not

keep-me-entertained land,”

IT Manager – Financial Services

Hidden Barriers

TA was developed by Canadian-born US psychiatrist,

Eric Berne, during the late 1950s.

It was triggered by a need to better understand the

way his patients behaved when interacting with him.

During communication, changes occur in the way

people behave. Some of these changes such as voice,

vocabulary, gestures, etc. are observable. Others are

less obvious. A person’s inner thoughts or feelings

may be hidden - these are known as;

EGO STATES

In each and every one of us there are three basic ego states which together form our own individual personality. The three states are -

PARENT

ADULT

CHILD

This is displayed in two ways:

Critical - when an individual is attempting to express

superiority in an aggressive, vigorous or active way and uses

words like:

You must You should Never It is inappropriate to That's not how we do things around here

Nurturing - when an individual communicates in a

caring, fostering or supportive manner and uses words

like:

Let me take care of it for you You'll be alright I can help you Be careful Look out for

The Adult ego state is essential for

survival. It occurs when people are

communicating in a logical, sensible

manner. It occurs when information is

being processed and/or analysed.

The Adult is analytical, fact-based, rational and calm and would say things like:

What are the alternatives?

Lets look for causes

According to the statistics

If we take a calm, rational approach

The child ego state covers three types of behaviour;

Adapted - when individuals behave in a compliant or obedient

fashion and are not prepared to disagree with the views and/or

opinions of others.

Rebellious - closely associated to adapted, but, in terms of

behaviour, the opposite, e.g. rejection, disagreement.

Free - when individuals react in a spontaneous fashion, It is the

ego state which generates creative and uninhibited ideas

At work you will hear the Rebellious Child saying things like:

That's a stupid rule anyway. Let's do it this way

Forget about it, he's just the boss, this is how we do it around here

Let's knock off for today! It must be beer o'clock somewhere!

At work you will hear the Adapted Child saying things like:

Here it is, just as you asked, sir

Sorry, I'll try to improve

We'd best follow the procedure

You will hear someone in their Free Child saying things like:

Let's make sure this is fun

It's so great to be here at work

I'm really feeling sad that we didn't achieve our goal

Any unit of social interaction can be defined as a

transaction. There are two parts to all transactions:

Stimulus The initial acknowledgement of the presence

of others. This may be in the form of a statement, a

question or merely a gesture.

Response A reaction to a stimulus.

This simple form of transaction occurs when a message, sent

from a specific ES, gets the predicted response from a specific

ES in the other person. This could be, for example, an adult to

adult transaction.

Stimulus -“Have you managed to complete that report

yet?”(A-A)

Response -“Yes, I am just about to email it over to you” (A-A)

It might be child to child

Stimulus -“Shall we forget this meeting and go and have

a beer in the pub instead?” (C-C)

Response -“Yes, I am sick of this conference, its boring,

which pub do you want to go to?” (C-C)

P

A

C

P

A

C

STIMULUS

RESPONSE

Or it might be a Parent to child dialogue

Stimulus -"You should have your room tidy by now!" (P-

C)

Response -"Will you stop hassling me, I'll do it

eventually!" (C-P).

P

A

C

P

A

C

The cause of many of the problems in the world today. It occurs

when the expected response is not forthcoming. The response

comes from a different ego state. Lets jumble up the responses

from the earlier examples:

Stimulus -“Have you managed to complete that report

yet?” (A-A)

Response -“Will you stop hassling me? I'll do it

eventually!" (C-P)

TRY IT FOR YOURSELVES

HAVE A COVERSATION WITH EACH OTHER AND BEGIN IT WITH - “Have you managed to complete that report yet?”

Respond as a child might and see where it leads….

P

A

C

P

A

C

STIMULUS

This is a crossed transaction likely to produce problems in the workplace. A may respond with a Parent to Child transaction. For instance:

A: "If you don't change your attitude, me and you are likely to have some issues moving forward”

And so the spiral begins !!

1

WHAT DO YOU SEE PAST ASSERTVENESS ?

“What is Assertive Behaviour?”

10 Min Discussion & Present Back

Calm

Controlled

Clear

Appropriate eye contact

Relaxed posture

Smiling appropriately

Listening to other points of view Expressing ideas clearly, but not at the expense of

others Being open and honest with yourself and others Showing understanding of other’s situation Making decisions dealing positively with conflict Expressing feelings confidently and sensitively Feeling equal to others Being clear and focused, not side-tracked Being able to reach workable solutions to difficulties

“WHEN YOU….”

“I FEEL………”

“BECAUSE I……..”

PAUSE FOR DISCUSSION

“I WOULD LIKE…..”

“BECAUSE….”

“WHAT DO YOU THINK..”

Feel good about yourself

Feel more relaxed and content

Become less afraid of taking some risks

Opinion is respected

Gives best chance of resolving a situation satisfactorily

Views get a fair hearing

Self-confidence increases

Others understand properly

There are fewer situations, which are left, unresolved

Culture becomes more open to receiving and giving feedback

RSVP

Arrive early

Come prepared

Do not interrupt

Turn Phone off

Do not multi-task

Speak in turn

Have your say

Be patient – Pay attention

Stay calm

Keep questions simple

and to the point

Listen to others

Take notes

Respond to action items

You are there because you should have an input – so be

prepared and make your input count. Do not just turn up

and expect to be heard unless you are clear and

succinct.

LISTEN CAREFULLY

BE CONSITENT

DEVELOP YOUR

PRODUCT

KNOW YOUR VALUE

GET TRAINING

NETWORK

STAY FOCUSSED

ELEVATOR PITCH

You are your brand – remember to build a strong one –

that’s what people will buy – not just words or paper..

Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, which found that 21.7% of those that

graduated in 2009 who were employed six months later were working for an employer

they had undertaken some kind of work experience for in the past.

Source – The Complete University Guide

We forget 50% of what we hear immediately.

We forget 75% of what we hear within two months.

Of the 25% we do remember, only 60% is correct, plus we add things that were never said in the first place!