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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

A good intern serves tea, asks for tasks

By Xu Wenwen | August 11, 2010, Wednesday | Print Edition

SUMMER internships for college students are supposed to provide real-world experience and some may even lead to real-world jobs. They can be a waste of time, or they can be productive. Much depends on the student. Xu Wenwen reports.

Some summer interns sit around with nothing to do, passively surfing the Internet or writing a glowing report on what they learned in their internship. Others refill tea cups and clean up the office, showing they're respectful and eager to learn. Some take initiative and ask for work.

These days many students are interning in local enterprises, trying to get valuable experience and bridge the gap between school and work. But many find the experience disappointing, as do some employers who have to take on a few students over the summer.

College junior Ruby Feng has been just sitting at her computer for a whole day, doing nothing, waiting for task to be assigned, waiting for something from her intern "mentor."

She's "working" at a Hangzhou newspaper, but so are many other interns, so there isn't enough work to go around. Into her second week, Feng sits there politely and doesn't ask for work or make suggestions.

Feng, like many sophomore and junior students, got her internship through guanxi - her uncle knew someone at the paper and called to ask if Ruby could get a job. Since Feng was studying law and journalism, she was thrilled to work at the newspaper but her excitement soon faded: there were too many interns and new recruits. It became clear she didn't even have a place to sit, so she "worked" from home, waiting for an assignment that never came.

"I learned very little but spent a lot of time," she said, giving up last week. "Many of the interns who did stay in the office weren't busy; they surfed the Internet or read books," she said.

Of course, some internships were better. Some students were more motivated, and so were employers.

Students who are not motivated usually don't do very well or make a good impression.

Chen Yi, a fresh graduate, said that two years ago he entered a firm on a summer internship through guanxi.

"I was lazy, I never asked for responsibilities and of course I learned little," he said. "It didn't change until I became a junior and decided I had to get going on my career."

Today Chen is a successful sales assistant in Zhejiang Kuka Sofa Manufacture Co.

Internships can be boring, but a good attitude is important. Consider the case of Shen Hang, Chen's colleague who graduated last semester. He describes his internship last vacation at a small foreign-trade company as playing the role of a "handy man."

In the small company where teaching an intern usually meant telling him or her to read the business section, "my main work at the beginning was to refill colleagues' cups," says Shen.

But Shen didn't turn up his nose and believed that refilling cups was a shortcut to making a good first impression. He kept filling cups until his mentor gave him a new job, sorting out files.

Though the job was easy and clerical, Shen was pleased.

"Instead of waiting for instructions, it's always a good idea to look for tasks. Attitude is everything," he said.

Actually, refilling a mentor's tea cup and cleaning the office are traditional ways in China to flatter the intern's supervisor, as they represent respect and eagerness to be trained.

Zhao Xinyuan just graduated from the China Academy of Art and will soon take up a regular position (she graduated from intern) at the Taiwan Pavilion in Phoenix Creative Park in Hangzhou. In her view, refilling cups and tidying up the office show modesty.

"It means I can accept other's directions and shows I'm not a passive worker," she said.

"Some interns are alert and behave properly, but some are passing and will spend a whole day on the computer, which is a big waste to the company," said Wendy Hu, the HR manager of World English School at Xiaoshan, Hangzhou. She employs a dozen of interns every year.

"Some of them are weak in dealing with problems, some are shy in relating to people, some lack professional knowledge and some act improperly," she said, saying those people would be rejected.

A positive work attitude is definitely required by employers, but some interns recruited through guanxi may be passive, feeling they don't have to work. Some short-handed enterprises may employ interns openly and pay them low salaries.

Gu Yinying, a junior studying journalism, got a job as a temporary assistant in the PR department of Xi-zi Otis Elevator Co in Hangzhou last July. She credits her "serious interview." She gets paid 1,000 yuan (US$147) a month.

Her mentor assigns a reasonable amount of work, including writing stories for the company magazine and editing content on the company website.

Gu is very satisfied. "My mentor teaches me a lot, and I learn a lot, not only about the job content, but also about how to work with different people," she said.

"Learning communication skills is as important as gaining professional knowledge for young students," said Shi Peining, director of administration of Hangzhou Tianrui Co, who has more than 30 years in human resources and administration.

"Students studying law or finance, cannot practice law or accounting for a two-month internship," Shi said. "They should try a profession that requires communication skills, because socializing with people is great practice."

Hangzhou


 

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