Saturday, February 09, 2013
LD On The DL: Internship Season
LiveBlog: The beginning of January heralds the start of Intern Season. Soon college students and recent graduates will blanket the country in an attempt to land nifty summer positions. Job sites will be staffed with eager, young souls looking to learn, grow, and hone their craft. They will watch their elders … us … and from being around us will absorb our knowledge in a continuing, beautiful circle of life not unlike the apprentices of master craftsman during the middle ages.
And if you believe that I’ve got some real estate in Florida to sell you.
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After reading Lance's take on interns in the theatre industry, I started analyzing my internships for some perspective on this question. My first was an unpaid and unhoused internship, but in a very education-minded organization which professed the value of putting interns right in the heat of leading their own productions in addition to assisting on mainstage shows. There was always a disconnect between them, though - my supervisors never really checked in with me and my show until the last moment when there wasn't much to fix, and inversely leaps in understanding weren't encouraged when pseudo-assisting (under an additional staff assistant). At the same time, my boss bailed me out on problems a few times when I cracked - they were there to weaken the blow and make it easier to take (and react to). My other internship placed me directly in the entry-level position for the field and encouraged interaction between the interns on separate shows, even if not creating specific debriefs/meetings. In this job, I felt a lot more of the replacement for a paid staff member (as Lance extolls), and didn't feel as much of the safety net if something utterly failed. There was a higher expectation of the interns, even though there was still a wide gap between the professionals and not an explicit "mentoring" relationship - it was assistant and supervisor, a much more "professional" situation.
Lance keys into compensation and education as the primary motivators of taking an internship for an applicant, while citing cost-cutting and more available hands (with education as a sidebar or lowest-priority factor) for the employer. Do I wish internships provided the same type of intense experiences embedded amongst professionals with adequate compensation? Absolutely - it's respectful to the students, helpful with their expenses, and should not impact the effort with which the intern works for the company. But I see a bigger issue in that education disconnect - the experiences often do not provide the education themselves, so purely plugging interns in where you would hire professionals leaves out the additional bit of analysis, discussion and advising that interns are hungry for and employers don't always see as most valuable/necessary to provide. Companies employing interns, especially unpaid ones, have a duty to make up that value to the intern in the ability to learn from their successes and mistakes, not just giving them an arena to make them.
I didn't exactly take advantage of all my "internship" opportunities. What I mean, is my first real internship was in my final summer in college. However, I did spend some summers working at a movie theater. Frankly, working a minimum wage customer service job was one of the most beneficial experiences I've ever had - both as a theater technician and as a manager. I agree with Lance's opinion regarding interns' mastery with service. As someone hiring an intern to become a part of the face of my company for a summer, I would be anxious that the intern understand how to handle relationships. So, maybe when I'm hiring interns, that will just be the background and skills that I'm looking for...
This article is also making me feel pretty good about my managerial background. Thankfully, PM/SM/TD has exposed me to the business side of the industry. However, I'm not so sure that the emphasis that college has on, as Lance puts it, "gear", is such a problem. I think that the more important background that schools such as CMU focus on are skills. The conservatory program is for the most part, a vocational school. Our experience in school is an apprenticeship. The company you intern with has an obligation to provide you with a educational summer, but it is also up to you to step up to the plate.
The gulf is awkward. I've been there. Nothing is going to make it better, except for time. Internships, wether good or bad, are a useful and educational experience. There's no "wrong" internship, just one that might make you miserable. They'll all influence and expose you. I encourage students looking for internships to seek out diversity in the jobs you apply for. Try something you'd never do in school, because you'll do the jobs you have in school over and over.
Well, this is a bit gloomy. Here I am, second semester freshman year, looking for my first internship ever for this summer. And apparently, that's not what I should be doing! If I'd been asked before reading this post what it is that I want out of a theater summer internship, I would've probably said I am just looking for experience doing theater somewhere that isn't my high school or CMU. Now, it has come to my attention that without some sort of educational frame tied to the internship, I might not get as much learning out of it as I wish to. Now, I'm thinking, what if my internship is with someone like Darcy who is uncomfortable with the undefined dimension of my relationship with them? Well, I'm not sure what that would lead to, but I doubt that I wouldn't learn SOMETHING from the experience.
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