Yahoo column: Manager’s guide to growing happy employees
At a point when I didn’t have the money to hire an assistant, I ran an ad for an unpaid intern. I ran it on a lark, thinking I’d be lucky if anyone in the world would want to work for free.
The number of responses I received was incredible, not just in quantity, but also in quality.
The intern I chose was smart, talented, and fun — all the things I want in a coworker. And I was nervous she would leave. So every day, I thought to myself, “Am I doing everything I can to keep her? Am I teaching her enough? Is she getting enough out of this job?”
People aren’t managers because they have the title. They’re managers because they make the people they lead feel good about themselves and what they’re doing. I knew this before, from books, but I really learned it with my unpaid intern.
Most managers have a title and pay their employees. These are management crutches. If you want to be a really good manager, ignore those formalities and make people believe that they’re getting something even more important out of the manager/employee deal; that way, you’ll help them to grow personally.
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7 Comments »
Unpaid intern. EVil Evil Evil. I was saddened to hear that you would do that to someone. Of course they’re going to take the job. You had an article of your own on this generation, and getting stuck in the loop of too many years of Interning and Temping.
The reason I have a comment at all is that I am a PAID Intern myself, for a Forestry firm up in Canada. And okay, maybe there’s more money to kick around - but pay something! argggg. Free work is the bottoms of despiration for “experience”.
I’m glad to hear you learned something about management though. I have a great manager, he’s keeping me for a year, and for more than a fair wage too.
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This is a good comment. You’re right — I have gone on tirades about unpaid interns. For those who have not read the tirades, I think there are two problems with unpaid internships:
1. Internships are necessary for young people to succeed. If all the good ones are unpaid, then only rich kids can succeed.
2. It is morally questionable to ask someone to work for free.
The kind of internship that I think does work is, essentially, a trade. I spend as many hours teaching someone as they spend working. To be honest, that sort of trade ends up being more costly (in my time) as it would be to hire someone who is not an intern.
I am not actually sure if this is a good answer to your question. But it’s an honest answer.
-Penelope
Posted by InChurnMyBelly | February 15, 2007
Awesome article. Your writing is always more attuned to the younger generation
Posted by RM | February 15, 2007
Hmm. This is interesting. Experience is currency yes, but folding money makes living possible. The intrinsic value and inherent value of employment are subjects of a debate. The younger gen. seems to want experience, both of work and of a fun or good job. Money is really secondary for a certain class. With higher than high turnover rates, how or why would a manager want to retain an employee unless they were making the manager’s job easier.
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Denzel. Thanks for laying out the current situation so clearly. The answer to the last question is that just because someone leaves after 18 months doesn’t mean that person doesn’t add value. Value is not longevity dependent. And in fact, there is data to show that people who have been at the same job for a really long time start to become less effective within the organization - they become so complacent and set in their ways that their ability to collaborate and innovate goes down.
Penelope
Posted by Denzel | February 15, 2007
Hi Miss P! Hey I just went to Y Finance and lo and behold there you are on the front “page”! Very cool!
Posted by finance girl | February 15, 2007
Hey Penelope
If only there were more such positions; how great to get experience and exposure without being made to feel you “owe” the company. In this way you can move around getting the necessary skills - so what, this is training and development without having to pay for it. So what if you don’t get paid: does the university or college pay you for the development they give you? Think about it that way.
In this way we could, as new entrants into the business world, meet the job ads “Experience required”!
ICE
Posted by ICE | May 12, 2007
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