What I learned from my youngest Intern

I have been handling a team for over 4 years now and on and off we hire interns in our peak season to help share the load. Plus we get to hire a couple as full time team members.

The interns that we hire are usually in the age-group of 19-22 or even more. Till date my youngest intern had been 19 year old girl, sweet, cute, innocent but so sincere in her work that I almost used to forget that she is just 19. She was mature beyond age and maybe another reason we hired her twice. We also wanted to retain her full time but she had to take a break and concentrate on her studies.

Then, I met Anshika – one of my boss’s daughter, not even a month into her sixteenth year.

Before meeting her I was already been briefed about her by a couple of people including her father and the plan was set for her profile and work assigned for the tenure. When I met her she was so so cute. The very first day I took her in instead of coming to my desk she asked for her uncle (who happens to be one of the directors too) and went and sat with him. Wherein I had to call him and ask him to send her.

As I started to brief her about the company I already knew she is not interested. She was a kid after all and while leaving she was already planning not to come again. But she did as for the father’s push, which over a period of time I understood, is her idol. Her father not only teaches her a lot (by the way, he is a great story-teller) but also wants to prepare her for the world ahead.  Maybe as he has seen the world and knows that his sweet kid needs to be tough to survive and succeed but maybe so there is a lot of pressure on her to be what she is not.

She is not like those kids who already know what they want as early as they learn spelling a “dream”. She is a kid, who loves to laze around with friends, play pranks, roam around with friends at the same time an eager beaver, understands everything, remembers everything and does it with a joy that beams inside-out.

Over few days, she started to like the office and used to come and start her daily work unsupervised. I have to say I was surprised and impressed with the change (kuch toh maine bhi sahi kiya hoga ;)) I don’t know how much she gained over the 30-35 days but it surely taught me a few things.

1)      Anshika is a shy girl, she never used to speak to anyone but as she was set alone to manage things while everyone was out for meeting, she got to know people and opened up a bit as she saw strangers helping her. 

                   It taught me that the more you talk to someone and get to know them, the easier it gets for you to let your guard down. Infact the more we chatted up I got to know her better. She opened up about her deep down laid fears and feelings.

2)      One day she was acting like a cranky kid. One of the most observant directors came in for my help (in case you are wondering, I have 10 directors) and asked her to explain what all she learnt and encouraged her and she was so so happy and beaming, as well as was ready to do more.

           I learnt that unless a person is made responsible and acknowledged they would never realise the importance of their work. And so would never make the effort to learn more.

3)      I asked her to remove certain papers from few files. She had sorted 3 files and was doing the last one but a hefty one and she got tired. I felt bad for her and asked her to close it and tell the other person that it has been done. And she said –“ No, whatever work is given to me I’ll do it with full honesty.”

          It made me realise that no matter how easy it seems to let go your morals and ethics, but what makes one stand apart is when one stands by their values.

But what is the most important thing that she taught me is to observe the small little things again. Everything is connected what we ignore as it is mundane is indeed very important. All the best darling.

P.S. She is too scared about anyone taking her pic...so sorry