[Two Pronged] Our undergraduate interns are a nightmare

• Aimee, an HR head at a hospital, expresses frustration with the performance of undergraduate interns, noting their lack of professionalism and accountability.
• Dr. Holmes and Mr. Baer suggest improving the selection process for interns and emphasize the importance of addressing the underlying issues rather than blaming the new interns.
• They encourage Aimee to manage her expectations and emotions while navigating the challenges of the internship program, highlighting the need for a calm and rational approach.

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Rappler’s People section runs an advice column by couple Jeremy Baer and clinical psychologist Dr. Margarita Holmes.

Jeremy has a master’s degree in law from Oxford University. A banker of 37 years who worked in three continents, he has been training with Dr. Holmes for the last 10 years as co-lecturer and, occasionally, as co-therapist, especially with clients whose financial concerns intrude into their daily lives.

Together, they have written two books: Love Triangles: Understanding the Macho-Mistress Mentality and Imported Love: Filipino-Foreign Liaisons.

Dear Dr. Holmes and Mr. Baer,

I am the head of an HR dept in a mid size hospital in Metro Manila. As part of my position and for the past 15 years, I have been in charge of internship programs for graduate students enrolled in the allied medical fields (OT, MT, etc).

This year, I decided to expand our internship program to include AB (undergraduate) seniors in our internship.

It is a nightmare and we will never do it again. At first the undergrad interns showed such promise: not as scared as the older graduates to speak up their minds. But then they started expecting their opinions to be “respected” which really means to be accepted as truth, even if they have no research or past clinical experience to back these up.

Worse, they do not have the amor propio (self respect) to apologize or even be embarrassed when they are caught inventing their test results.

They even complain that they are “triggered” when our staff scold them for things that graduate students accept, apologize for, and try to do better.

We want to stop this internship program for undergraduates but the owner of the hospital does not. The kudos he receives for this is so much that I think that (and not the program) is what he resists losing.

Please help.
– Aimee

Dear Aimee,

You are clearly unhappy with the quality of the current batch of undergraduate interns that your company has hired. However, if it is in fact the case that the owner of the company is determined to maintain the program, then there is presumably little or nothing that you can do to cancel future intakes.

That said, there are other avenues you can explore. I imagine there is a selection process which you can use to weed out those applicants who demonstrate the qualities above that you find unacceptable, always supposing that the interns are unwilling to change their ways.

In addition, when individual interns reach the end of their internships, the company can simply decide not to employ them further.

A problem may develop if the company owner relies on some of these interns becoming full time employees. The fact that none successfully graduates will give you the opportunity to discuss the unsuitability of the present intake and the sustainability of an AB senior intern program, at least as it is structured now, and support your view that AB seniors do not align with your corporate requirements.

An additional argument in your favor must be that no company should be keen to employ people who are willing to invent test results and not take responsibility when caught out.

At the end of the day, your owner may come round to the view that an internship program that ultimately does not benefit his company is a luxury he can ill afford, whatever the supposed kudos involved.

Best wishes,
– JAF Baer

Dear Aimee,

Thank you very much for your letter. Thank you too, Mr Baer, for adding the perspective needed about how companies really work for those of us who have never worked in one.

When I first read your letter, I thought it might mean simply underscoring the differences between Gen Z and Gen Y (millennials). These would include what research backs up as “typically gen Z” and “typically Gen Y.”

Usually, a Gen Z person is anyone born between 2012 and 1996 (ages 14 to 29 in 2026).

This would then include most of both the BA and MA graduates; most MA students are usually Gen Z-ers themselves. So any differences between your MA graduates (older Gen Z-er’s) and your BA graduates may just be differences between the oldest among the Gen Z-ers and the not-so-old.

An alternative explanation is that your perception of the differences may also be a function of your expectations. This anticipation of expanding your program to include undergraduate seniors in your internship must have garnered some attention at least among other hospitals. Hence, the kudos given the owner of yours. Kudos he may be reluctant to lose — especially after so short a time.

It is tempting to “demonize” a group because their characteristics are so different from previous interns and much more difficult to adjust to.

Perhaps, the excitement of the new expansion encouraged you to focus solely on the good that could come from it, and minimize the possible problems.

It would be understandable to assure oneself that: “Nothing major could possibly go wrong! These (already) senior undergrads are just a year younger than most of the interns we already have in our program.”

But I think problems arose, thus things did go wrong and having such high expectations made them seem worse than they really were.

It is easy to look for a scapegoat when plans go awry and much easier when problems that arise are so closely connected (at least in time) to the new group that just came in. But it could only mean that new procedures are always difficult to adjust to. It could even be that this particular group of AB seniors have quirks much more difficult to take.

Mr Baer’s suggestion to improve your selection process might be most important. It might not necessarily mean the next bunch of interns you decide to bring in will be perfect, but I think they will be far better than those you already have.

At the risk of sounding naïve, I doubt your ending this expansion immediately will be well received either by your boss, but also by your cohorts.

Another way of dealing with this problem is to concentrate on yourself.

The most important is to try and shift your nervous system from one that is, at present, on high alert and thus reactive, and take slow, deep breaths that will calm you.

Another calming possibility is acknowledging your feelings: Is it frustration? Shock? Extreme disappointment? Or merely confusion? If you can do this without judging or berating yourself, (after all, we cannot be responsible for our feelings, just for what we do with them) you will be in a better state to decide what the best next step might be.

Finally, avoid immediate assumptions: Remind yourself that an unexpected difference is not automatically a catastrophe or a personal threat.

These three suggestions will not solve all your problems, but I hope will ease some of the worry that block us from choosing the most rational decision. It takes a lot of courage to try and improve a system that was already running smoothly. It takes even more courage to recognize and admit that, in the beginning at least, it seemed not the best decision to make.

And yet, you did both of that! Kudos to you!

With every best wish!
– MG Holmes

– Rappler.com

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