My son is going to due his first ME internship this summer and it’s about a 12 week deal. He’s pretty excited, especially being only a sophomore. The question I have is how much time should he ask for family vacation during this? His mom and I are divorced and we take separate 5 day vacations. Or should ask at all? This is a new venture so I am curious.
Thanks for your feedback!
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Well, there are a couple sides to this. I interned every summer in college, and now work at a company that has interns. Nothing in the company is going to come to a crashing halt just because you took a couple days off, it’s sort of the nature of being an intern. Most people are understanding that it’s also the intern’s summer break, and it’s not uncommon to take a couple days off for a trip or whatever. That said, 12 weeks is not a ton of time, you figure it takes at least 2 to learn the basic stuff and your son will still need a lot of oversight. Taking away 2 weeks really will throw them off, and the time in their internship is really important, you get to know people, figure out how a business runs, and hopefully get your hands dirty and do some interesting things that teach you a lot about potential careers and industries.
I know time with parents is important for your son, and my gut would tell me 1 week off max, but avoid it if possible. This is something you should ask your son, and if not going on the vacation is the end of the world to them, to broach it with their employer. If it were me, I would just take like a long weekend or two to visit. Vacations are fun, and if you can schedule one or both to happen before/after the internship then that would be ideal. Your son is becoming an adult, and this internship is definitely important. I am a couple years out of college and wouldn’t be where I am without my internships.
Lastly, congrats to your son!
My kids’ internships spelled out how much paid time off they got- usually just a few days. We don’t travel in the summer anymore but plan trips over Christmas break. He can certainly ask what the policy is but I wouldn’t continue to think he can take 2 weeks off each summer. It’s the trade off for getting internships.
@leftrightleft dang PTO for an internship! That’s pretty sweet. All mine were essentially hourly (actually, one was more of a stipend per week, mostly because sometimes the hours were over 40) and no PTO. Yeah, its definitely a taste of the real world when you have to start giving up summer breaks for internships, though most of the times internships can be exciting and it’s great getting the experience plus getting paid.
None.
He needs to be there. The whole point is to learn and build up his skills. Also, the last 1/2 of the internship is usually the most important, as that’s when he starts doing more complicated projects/work.
Try to plan your vacation around the internships and school. Taking a day or two off isn’t an issue, but a week is way too much.
Congrats, this is a huge step for your son! :-bd
It would probably be best to plan vacations before the internship starts or after it is over.
If you absolutely need a vacation, July 4th is a Wednesday this year and he could probably take the Monday/Tuesday or Thursday/Friday of that week off, which gives you a good stretch of time. Ideally I would have him (not you) reach out to his mentor or immediate supervisor and ask what the mentor’s/supervisor’s summer vacation plans are specifically for that week.
My son’s internships had staggered start times so you could take time off before hand, or at the end, but you were expected to be there continuously. That’s the way it’s set up.
Medical emergency? Of course. Vacation? No. Your son’s exams probably end in early May- that’s when you take vacation, not during the internship.
Can’t hurt to ask. Don’t ask - don’t get.
If the company looks at interns as potential future full-time employees, then any intern who takes a week or two off, of a 12 week summer, is shooting himself in the foot. A day or two is not a big deal. Any more than that defeats the purpose of an internship.
Of course, much depends on the company, how many other interns are part of the program, and how structured the program has been. Even among different departments at some companies, the internship programs can vary quite a bit.
At most internships, the interns are paid hourly, with limited availability to make up additional hours missed, because of state limits on the number of hours. My S had an internship where he was not permitted to work more than 40 hours per week. He was allowed to work up to 10 hours per day, so when we went on a long weekend getaway, he was able to work Mon-Thurs the week before, then took Friday off, the following Mon/Tues off, and came back Wed-Fri the next week - only missing 10 hours paid time.
Of course, he would not have been able to do this during the last week of his program as they all had intern presentations, etc.
"Can’t hurt to ask. Don’t ask - don’t get. "
Disagree. Internships are not just an opportunity for students to learn at a functioning company, they’re sometimes a test run for employers to evaluate potential future candidates for employment. And there most definitely are stupid questions. Included in that category are questions that show a candidate doesn’t understand basic work etiquette or a specific program. It would be a lot easier if there were a list of stupid questions or an intern handbook, but sometimes interns are best served by observing the workplace culture and asking around to gain an understanding rather than going straight to the employer with every question. There are a lot of grey areas, so it’s tough. With some company cultures and programs even asking for 3 days off might show the intern doesn’t understand how the company and program works, but with others it would be fine to take a week off. If the kid in question has been hired by a company that is clear about time off or the fast pace and structure of the program, asking to take a week off would make the employer question if the kid wasn’t listening to the internship description or had poor judgment.
Rule of thumb: any company that reacts that negatively to a simple question is probably not one you want to work for. My experience is limited and comes from son who had internship last year (freshman summer) and is considering offers now for his sophomore summer. Each company he has interviewed with specifically mentioned that they assumed/wanted the student to have time off (to visit family or just down time). The key is that you ask this question up front before they make any offer and before you accept.
It’s a tough issue. Depends on what type and level of company it is. Some companies are perfectly OK with truly clueless interns and others are looking for interns to have a wee bit of judgment. Not clear which type company the OP’s son is interning with, so it’s worth mentioning that if the son is interning with a competitive top level consulting company, for example (and yes, they hire MEs), they will be observing the son for his judgment and behavior. There are simple questions that will be considered dumb and asking those questions will indicate the intern won’t be a match for that type of job.
On the other hand, there will be slower paced companies - government is usually like this - where they are used to spoon feeding people and won’t mind any question.
Important to know what type of environment this is before asking for a week off.
Perhaps it is the sector where your looking for internships. In my son’s case (CS major) the companies look for hard work but understand the value of time off.
Rivet- I lead recruiting for a large global company.
We don’t react negatively to simple questions. But most college kids are off between early May (this year late April for some universities) and early September and typically have a week in May before the internships start and a week or two in August afterwards.
That’s a good time for vacationing. Missing an entire week of a 12 week internship puts a kid at a disadvantage when it’s time to evaluate his or her performance. I can’t predict if the week the kid is off is the week the CEO is evaluating the business strategy presentations the intern teams have put together, or if it’s a week of just crunching numbers in a cubicle. So sure- ask. But be forewarned that not every company will see the need to use internship time for a vacation, especially if your kid has a few weeks either before or after their internship.
It might be a good idea to plan vacation outside the internship time frame. If he was granted internship already, he might want to ask his supervisor if it is ok to take few days off, but it is not ideal. I know company my DD interned for this winter was accruing vacation and sick leave time on top of her internship, so I guess they assume that you might want to take few days off. 12 weeks is a long internship, so maybe they will be fine with him taking few days off. Normally summer internships are 10 weeks long. At least the one my DD had.
It’s not about knowing the value of time off. It’s about judgment of knowing if time off is a reasonable request given the assignment.
There are plenty of employers who know the value of time off but would think an employee had poor judgment if s/he asked for that time off in the middle of a critical or time-sensitive project for example. I’m not saying this kid shouldn’t ever take time off, I’m suggesting that he use some judgment about whether that might be appropriate in this situation.
Applying for internships should also be looked at as an opportunity for the student to learn how they will eventually be negotiating for their first full time job. Everything should be known up-front before an internship is accepted: pay, expectations, deliverables, post internship follow-up, and holidays/time off. I would not bring up time off after the fact, but you should know everything ahead of time. If you say “yes” you are committed.
This is why we went on a cruise over Christmas vacation this year. D is at a school the gets out late April and starts up late August. She had an internship last year that ran from early June to just before school started. Our younger S is in high school and he didn’t finish his school year until late June. We had absolutely zero overlap in the two kids time off. We expect the same thing this summer but this summer we planned to go on vacation without our D which will be very strange but maybe just what we are moving toward.