Lack of work at Internship

Cynicaloflife on 12/12/2018 - 18:57
Last edited 12/12/2018 - 18:58

Hi Folks,

Currently doing internship at a large company.

Unfortunately, they don’t have much work for me so I am spending a majority of my time browsing the web. They are even taking a new intern next month. So don’t know how there will be enough work for me and him.

Should I leave the job and go on a holiday? I am starting a new grad role next year and will not have any holidays ever again.

I feel that the experience from this company is useless. I am probably just sticking around as they are paying me and I need the money a bit.

I was thinking of getting my ‘cracking the coding interview’ book and just do some programming preparation at work.

Poll Options

  • 10
    Yes
  • 25
    No
Education & Work

Comments

  • dasher86 on 12/12/2018 - 18:59
    +5

    If you haven't already show some initiative and ask around in different departments for work.

    • Cynicaloflife on 12/12/2018 - 19:01

      I have been asking for work. But it feels awkward to ask for it every day :/

      • jjjaar on 12/12/2018 - 20:25

        As someone that works somewhere where we have junior staff that have little to no work, I don’t mind when they remind me up to twice a day. Sometimes there’s legitimately no work to give them, but other times you’ve just forgotten and needed the reminder.

  • altomic on 12/12/2018 - 19:14

    if you are getting paid then use the time to look for a new job

  • Halo375 on 12/12/2018 - 19:18
    +2

    You have a good attitude. Keep the job but find a better way to spend your time than just browsing the net, perhaps looking for a more challenging job, continuing studying or just keep contributing more to Ozbargain!

    • Mentallysick on 13/12/2018 - 12:45

      Yes . I vote for you to contribute more for ozbargain.

      Keep hunting for good deals and let all of us know.

      ATM I want you to find the deal for Iphone XS.

      Thank you

  • FireRunner on 12/12/2018 - 19:19

    You can browse ozbargain all day and get paid to do nothing. May as well stay.

  • Quantumcat on 12/12/2018 - 19:22
    +5

    If you want to work: talk to people in different teams and find out what they're doing. Ask to sit in on meetings. Think of things you can do and offer to help people. You could read business specs and offer feedback, or take notes in meetings, things like that. Take initiative.

    Since you don't need a reference from this place, if you don't want to work there's no need to make yourself busy, why not do a udemy course or work on a personal project. Have a mind holiday.

    • dasher86 on 12/12/2018 - 19:25
      +3

      This is great advice.
      Ask to shadow someone in a role you see yourself doing in the future.

      • Cynicaloflife on 12/12/2018 - 19:29

        Awesome! I have a meeting with one of the staff tomorrow.

        Will ask her, if she knows any team that may need any assistance

        I feel like, I would rather sit at home then dragging my feet to work and do nothing haha :/ all

        • Quantumcat on 12/12/2018 - 19:43

          I was in the same position last year :) I did uni work all day (gave up after trying so hard to get work for like 3 months, worked harder trying to find work than the work I actually did).

        • serpserpserp on 12/12/2018 - 19:46

          Use your time to meet everyone in the department or areas you want to work in. Interships are less about outputting quality work and more about networking and figuring out if where you are is the right place for you (and a bonus for you is getting to see how large coprorations work from the inside, take note of the culture to ensure again that you are in the right place).

          Perhaps have a general conversation with your boss(es) about work and see what the pain points for them are, maybe you can help brainstorm a way to solve a problem for them. Back when I was a grad and had no work in one team, I did exactly this and the boss told me about his admin problem of tracking workflow with his team etc. I ended up building the team a little prototype internal database with a nice front end to solve that problem in about a week, then presented to boss, then team, took feedback and they felt it was worth me putting more time into it to flesh it out which I did. In the end I learned a lot and they got something they needed and were very thankful on that point by the end of the rotation.

  • Randxyz123 on 12/12/2018 - 21:40

    Should I leave the job and go on a holiday? I am starting a new grad role next year and will not have any holidays ever again.

    What are you talking about? You will earn leave which you can take and then go on holiday? In the 3rd month of my grad program, I took 3 days off and went on holiday!

    I've been where you are

    Talk to people you sit next to about what they are doing. Ask for work each day. Ask people around you to sit in on their meetings and meet as many people as possible. Add them on linkedin (I know it's corny) but contacts are everything.

    Your boss might not be used to having a new intern and that they have to kinda spoon you work to do and follow up with you.

    What do you want to do in the future? As per the above comments ask to shadow the expert in that field.

    Set up a meeting every 2 weeks on Mondays to check in with your boss.

    If the company has any online training you can do, do that.

  • Cynicaloflife on 12/12/2018 - 21:50

    Thanks for the info.

    I would like to gain a perspective from the people who voted yes.

    I can pretty much take a 2.5 months off (before my grad program starts), if I give in my resignation tomorrow.

    I don’t think I can ever get 2.5 months of holiday in a grad program.

    • Randxyz123 on 12/12/2018 - 22:55

      Maybe not during the grad program itself but most companies let you have 4 weeks a year. Some will let you salary sacrifice more leave or take unpaid leave.

      Don't blow this opportunity off. Don't listen to people who say "you don't need a reference from this job". Rubbish.

      You'll be earning a decent amount with the internship and the grad program to put towards a nice holiday say mid-2020. You'll have enough leave built up to spend on at least a month away. Plenty of people, while I was in a grad program, took a month off. No problems. In fact, most big companies want you to take time off especially at the end of the year. Unfortunately, it isn't the best time to jet over to Europe but it can still be fun. The best thing about working full time is that within reason you CAN take time off when you want. That means you can book tickets during non uni holidays (eg May/early June) when it is getting warm in Europe but still pretty cheap.

    • Love a bargain on 13/12/2018 - 12:45

      And you can always take a break after you've finished the grad program

  • bobbified on 12/12/2018 - 22:25

    Welcome to the corporate world. Large companies are not the most productive places.

    At least you might now understand why things take so long next time you deal with a large corporation.

  • RefusdClassification on 13/12/2018 - 03:27
    -2

    "Unfortunately, they don’t have much work for me so I am spending a majority of my time browsing the web." Excellent preparation for for government bureaucratic job. I would love to be paid a middle class salary for doing next to nothing.

  • chemax on 13/12/2018 - 13:06

    That's the IBM grad role right? IBMers have a term called 'the bench' for when you are between client projects, they will get you to help out other teams but most often you will have a lot of downtime in the office. Get used to it and utilise the time to upskill to get better at your job, this includes formal / informal training (which IBM support you with).

    • myusername on 18/12/2018 - 10:16

      The Institute of Broken Marriages as we like to call it

  • fl360 on 15/12/2018 - 09:48

    widen your net, grads do not know a lot of companies - their knowledge about the workforce, even in the industry which they have spend their time studying in - is minimal.

    there are many smaller companies and less known fields are also hiring people, because they only know the top 6 banks / investment banks / account firms, they are missing out other opportunities.

    say investment - they only know goldman / morgan stanley / ubs / credit suissie / CFSAM etc… however these firms are cutting roles recently because their biggest clients - the institutional clients - are cutting business with them as they are insourcing….

    say industry super funds are getting bigger and bigger, they are the client of these IB's, yet for a grad they hardly know them, and they won't feel proud telling others they got a job there.

    blame Instagram.

    follow the money, not the brand.

  • Pootie Tang on 18/12/2018 - 09:26

    Deffo take the holidays. If you are a decent grad any company will also let you take unpaid leave. People understand the relationship between youth and travel.

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