15 Internship Challenges Every Intern Face as a Newbie in Office 2024

Internship Difficulties or Internship Challenges Every Intern Face as a Newbie — Your first step in your work life. Don’t Let Common Problems Ruin Your Internship.

You are just finished with your courses and ready to implement your learned knowledge into action. If not implemented, at least see how all those bookish knowledge is being used in corporate life. However, you exactly don’t know what to expect or predict.

So how does it feel? Excited? Nervous? Not sure what to say? Where to go? Whom to ask? Lonely? Confused? Hesitation to talk? All at the same? Yes, that’s right. All are new intern problems. Here are some everyday Internship Challenges you face as an intern and can relate to, right from your first day.

15 Internship Difficulties/Challenges Every Intern Face as a Newbie in the Office 2024

1. The First Day Reactions

It’s the day of your joining. You’re early. Dressed formally and carefully, in your best professional attire, because you know first impression matters.

You try to start early from your home. And panic if you’re being late. You’re excited but you’re nervous too.

2. Internship Problem: Awkward Introductions

So, you reached the office and now is your orientation. You’re introduced to a lot of people. Too many people to remember the names and their departments/designations.

You might politely say, hello but you don’t know what to say next. So you remain awkwardly quiet.

3. Too Many Information Absorption

Your orientation is not finished yet. You get brief (not brief!) introductions to the company profile, what they do, and all the HR facilities/bindings. The information comes at such a velocity that before even processing one part comes the other parts.

And the data gets jumbled in your head resulting in the ultimate perplexed expression on your face. Moreover, when you’re asked, “are you clear on these?” you just simply give a hesitant nod or a quick ‘yes sir’.

4. Internship Challenges: Self-ice-breaking sessions

You’re still confused, this is one of the major intern problems. Not sure how to socialize with your colleagues/supervisor is a major challenge for you. If other interns are joining with you, you tend to adjust to the office environment more easily than if you’re the only intern joining.

This is more of a challenge for introverts out there than extroverts. More or less, everyone takes time for the ice-breaking sessions during the first step of their career.

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5. Internship Difficulties: No Work –  Major intern problems!

One of your main expectations as an intern is to do some work, some practical office works. Alas! During the first weeks, you don’t get that much work other than some printing or scanning.

Yes, at least you learn the printing or scanning machine jobs but you’re here to contribute much more than that. Deprived work is the main reason for your boredom in the internship.

6. Common Internship Challenges: How to do the work?

Finally, you’ve been assigned to some work, some real work. But umm… how to progress? You know several ways to do it but is there any particular way your supervisor demands from you? You’re confused. You don’t get enough guidelines or directions.

7. Should I ask? Whom should I ask? What shall I say when asking?

A common Intern Problem is asking questions. Your biggest hesitation lies in asking questions. What if asking questions will create an impression that you don’t know anything?

Will they perceive you as silly? So many thoughts roam through your mind.

You’re not even sure which of your colleagues will help you or will they feel disturbed. You feel hesitant in interrupt them.

8. Internship Difficulties: The perception that you don’t know/you know

Here comes another challenge. Often your supervisor may perceive that either you know everything about a particular task or you don’t know anything at all since you’re a newbie.

This affects your confidence to some extent.

Either way, when your manager has the confidence that you can do the job, you get a little nervous since you’re new.

Then again, when a manager perceives you don’t know, you try to think of ways to make him understand that you can manage the work.

9. Internship Challenges: Understanding the office culture

It sure takes time to understand the office culture. Since every organizational culture varies from office to office. Some have a rigid structure while others are flexible.

Though organizations are moving more towards flexibility nowadays, some offices do have strict policies. Then again, there are some internal differences too.

For example, the marketing department may be more social, and fun-loving than the finance department. The vice-versa may happen too.

During your first weeks of socializing struggles, trying to observe the organizational behavior is a challenge here too.

Your perception is very important here since according to that you progress in socializing.

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10. Should I be friendly? Or a bit reserved?

The first step to your socialization begins with this question to yourself. And you try to find its answers by understanding the organizational culture.

Also, you try to understand what is expected of you. These common Internship Challenges interns face are critical as a newbie.

Is Will being friendly be not welcomed and treated as over-friendly? Or shall remaining quiet and doing the job will create the impression you want to create?

11. Should I go for lunch now? Can I leave?

These are the minor challenges interns face or not even a challenge you might say. Sure, the HR representative informed you of all the basic policies and you know the lunch hour and exit time.

Still, you feel a minor hesitation while getting up from your seat for lunch or leaving. Should you ask your line manager? Should you have lunch with him or is it okay to have lunch before him?

This might be just for the first few days. After understanding the certain pattern of your office, you don’t face this minor hesitation anymore.

12. How to ask for a leave?

Here comes your most feared question, “Sir, can I take a leave?” There might be various genuine reasons for your leave: family emergency, university formalities, sickness, etc.

Still, you worry about your impression of the reaction of your boss. It takes a moment of internal preparation to ask the boss for leave.

13. Understanding teamwork

Understanding teamwork is one of the biggest Intern Problems or Internship Challenges because teamwork in the professional sector is a lot different than your projects at varsity.

Miscommunication, misinterpretation of the actual objectives, and different opinions of team members are common and vary from that of the project group work you’ve done.

Also, mishaps in internal communication affect your work. You find yourself not sure how to resolve many cases.

14. Understanding the Organogram

The hierarchy differs from organization to organization; some have complex and tall while some have flat. The hierarchy often gets difficult to understand during the first few weeks.

And you should know it since you need to be clear about whom you’re reporting and who is reporting to whom.

15. So how was my work?

So you’re regular at your office and completing the jobs instantly to create a lasting impression and let the supervisor see the potential in you. However, you get no feedback.

You might get an informal “good job” from the boss but you still don’t know if your work is up to the mark, do you need to improve or not.

You are even ready for constructive criticism but the lack of proper feedback doesn’t encourage you.

Wrapping Up: Internship Difficulties/Challenges Every Intern Face as a Newbie in the Office 

These are the common intern problems encountered during the internship. Some of you faced some of the above situations, and some of you can relate to all of them.

However, you continue with the expectation that you’ll get adjusted soon. True.

For the solutions to the common Internship Challenges Every Intern Face as a Newbie, you should know that the advantage of being a newbie is that no one will burden you with loads of work and they expect questions from you.

So, freely ask questions where you get confused, try to blend in with the office people, and socializing with colleagues will help you to adjust to the office and the work too.

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