#Internship #ConsultingFirm #CareerAdvice
Hey everyone! 👋 Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you thought you were making a good impression, only to find out later that it wasn’t quite the right move? I recently introduced myself as an intern to clients in a new project, but it turns out my boss wasn’t too happy about it. 🤦♂️
Here are some thoughts on the situation:
– It can be jarring to find out that your role is being portrayed differently than what you expected. 🤷♀️
– Communication is key in these situations – it would have been helpful to have a heads up about how I should present myself to the client.
– It’s important to align expectations and understand your role within the team and the project.
As for a possible solution, some things to consider:
– Have a sit-down conversation with your boss to clarify your role and how you should present yourself to clients moving forward. 🗣️
– Use this as an opportunity to learn and develop – gaining exposure as a “junior/mid level consultant” could be a valuable experience, even if it doesn’t align with your initial expectations. 📈
– Stay professional and focused on delivering quality work, regardless of your title or role. 🎯
What do you all think? Have you ever experienced a similar situation in your career? Share your thoughts and insights! 💡#CareerDevelopment #ProfessionalGrowth
Do you get paid being an intern?
Dealt with this before. It’s your boss’ fault, 200%.
At the same time, this is a learning moment for you to not hop into client calls blind. Yes, it is not your job to fill yourself in, but lets face it, your bosses will forget to brief you and then you’ll land in awful situations like this where people are mad at you for reasons beyond your control. Because the boss knows the context and expects you to read his mind.
You need to know enough context about the call to know whether you should be saying “Yes, we can anything you want” (ie. a sales call to a prospective customer) or “no, thats impossible and a stupid way to do it, but maybe we can do X alternative” (a technical call with their integration team). Again, its not your fault, but you can find ways to protect yourself.
Good luck!
>It feels unfair, because I had no heads up about this. Is this a common thing and was I supposed to already know it?
It happened and your boss then corrected you so it doesn’t happen again. A consultancy is always going to hire you out and make money from your efforts. The company may be profiting from hiring you out as a junior, but they are also taking on the risk that you’ll make errors and damage their relationship with the client because you’re an intern.
Do you want the experience or not? Can you get a junior role somewhere else?
It’s a tough damn market right now. I’m not saying this to be critical but as a splash of reality: You aren’t in a position to worry about fair or be bitter yet. When you’re turning down offers and companies are engaging in bidding wars to get you to come work for them, then worry about fair.
How were you supposed to know?
Your boss was supposed to communicate that to you, otherwise you’d never know to do that.
Your boss is an idiot. No one at an engineering firm is billed as mid-level without a PE following their name. In most states (if you’re in the states), it is 4-5 years of on the job full-time training as an Engineering Intern after graduating from an engineering program. Technically we usually call EIs “staff engineers”, and only use the term Intern to describe part-time employees who are still pursuing their degrees.
Now, if you’re full time staff and you’re an “Engineering intern ” (aka completed school and on the path to a PE), then you’re probably considered staff.
lol def your boss’ fault. You’re an intern, how the hell are you supposed to know the way the game is played. They should’ve told you at least