Why are all the interns in my group so awkward?!
Ok not ALL, but the majority. Too much time studying and not enough time being "socialized".
Blame their parents?
Some minor examples:
-EXTREMELY shy (though smart) & when some do talk, lately it's fucking Pokemon talk, "no, i dont have a fucking favorite pokemon"
---and when it's not pokemon talk, it's the nerdiest chatter ("no, i dont know which version of excel is my favorite")
-misunderstandings in conversation for the most basic things, maybe we're all just sleep deprived so i'll give them the benefit of the doubt on this one
-Awkward handshakes (you know what i mean), even worse.... ugh the guy who tried to high five me on the first day, hope no one saw that
-Watching them ponder for hours (ok minutes, but like for 5-10 minutes I see them just stare at an email) how to respond to emails, probably like the guy who doesnt know whether to respond with an "lol" in an email (inspired me to write this post)
-Uff and the worst? how awkward they are around seniors, they look soooo uncomfortable or how so many of their responses sound scripted as if they practiced for 15minutes in the mirror (oh how i wish to be a fly on the wall when they meet in private with seniors)
-2-3 of them, (as if they're competing to be top ass kisser) over the top ass kissing to seniors. haha i think one of the seniors loves the attention, whereas the rest i suspect are getting a bit weirded out, if only I could ask
-Suits that don't fit properly (2 interns). I've actually talked to one about going to a tailor but so far no change
-When possible, I've given up hanging out with most of them outside of work for obvious reasons, oh well, i'll take @Fear The Bulge"'s advice and fill my free evenings with vacuous tinder dates
-What else... haha i've seen some interesting seamless orders..... idgaf but was good for a laugh
Trust me, there's more
Not a bid deal, just saying some people should focus a little more on relating to other people than sticking their head in their book/laptop/pokemon.....
There's a couple of awkward kids at my firm right now but most of them are social, they're just awkward so you clearly see them trying to force conversation like its a standard template. The biggest issue I have with some of them is the ASS KISSING. I cant even begin to explain how cringey and ridiculous. I watch from the side and overhear and I just want to bash my face into my screens.
yeah i forgot to mention ass kissing, don't even get me started on that.
will be very curious to see who gets a return offer.....
i just want to go to the bsd's and be like "yo dawg, i'm normal, hire me" (if you take this part of my comment serious then just go somewhere else)
and you're that intern
Not too many people get straight 4.0's at Wharton to go along with their near perfect SAT scores and come out well adjusted with good social skills...
Bingo. Don't blame the interns, blame the firm that clearly values technical skills over people skills.
I think this is what everyone wishes was true, but isn't the case. A lot of those 4.0 (or close enough) types are normal, put-together people, but just on another level.
I was not one of those people.
Hire the kids with 4.0's they said. Golfers are athletes they said.
From models and bottles to Charizard and Diet Coke.
Pokemon Go and picking up girls can definitely overlap, dude.
"Hey babe, is gonorrhea a Pokemon? Because I can help you catch it."
i dont know what Charizard is but otherwise i like your comment +1
Callin BS on that one. You can think you're too cool to play the game (you're not), but don't act like you don't know what a Charizard is.. Seriously, did you have a childhood?
"Golfers are athletes" was so true that it made me laugh out loud and the md asked me what I was laughing about!
Love the part about golf. 2nd hardest sport there is (Boxing/Martial Arts 1st, Baseball 3rd).
Hockey is way harder to play/learn than any of the sports you mentioned.
Devils advocate: this is the first year in the past four that my group didn't take a single summer intern. Yes, they're annoying and try hardie and think they know everything and suck up to people who have no bearing on their future... but I kinda miss them. It was always nice observing the different hustle approaches. Amusing to see what they think matters. Also, we got to do a lot more baseball games, happy hours etc when the interns were afoot. This summer is completely dead... just a bunch of depressed analysts and low blood-pressure PMs staring at the same faces they always do.
And what group might that be?
The interns are gone? It's not even August yet...
You might as well mention their ethnicity, are they caucasian or asian? Also, taking in consideration the fact that they had to network regardless of whether they come from a target or non-target school only proves that they do have the social skills to initiate contact with strangers.
If you are aware of their social flaws, why not try to have a positive influence on them? get to know them better and initiate conversations?
Not going to mention ethnicity.... discussion doesn't need to go that direction.
True, they did have to network/interview to get here. Don't get me wrong - they are very bright, but like @top chedder" mentioned "Don't blame the interns, blame the firm that clearly values technical skills over people skills." - I think that was the emphasis they focused on for this class of interns, and matches up with how my interviews went.
And yes, you're right, I try to remain positive, there was just an awkward interaction with a fellow intern this a.m. that provoked me to vent on wso (along with seeing that "lol" post)
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/favorite-computerbrowser-shortcut…
didnt u post this?
thanks for taking the time to research my post history.
yes, i was bored and i posted that. does that make me ineligible for making the observations I did in this post? obviously not. don't over think it, get back to work.
HA nerd!
lmao bored?
didn't you also post this http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/no-summer-intern-deaths-this-year…
lol
what's the most preftigious handshake?
not sure, but this is how i'd like it to be when i walk in the office
Our new hires are awkward and/or annoying because they are in their first "real" job, are young, want to prove themselves, and want to impress people. Eventually they will learn to tone it down, or they will be insufferable jackasses whom you hate.
Hire more non-targets.
Have you never read WSO before? It seems like the majority of people are socially awkward and don't know how to handle themselves. As someone above intimated, social skills and academic skills are usually inversely correlated... I'd rather hire someone who doesn't know a DCF or "technicals" but can actually interact with someone. That technical stuff is learnt on the job anyway.
How do I study for social skills?
Where do I apply for your firm?
I could answer this question for you, but I'm not going to. Being a self-starter is key to @Asatar industry.
Should make it easier for you, as a social butterfly, to standout and get promoted (if you don't leave). No chance for people like this to climb the food chain as no chance they will ever be able to bring in business
yeah good point, i'm kind of a pessimist so i hadn't really thought of it this way. if there were to somehow take advantage of the situation, what would you do? i'm obviously not going to say something to a senior, but i guess i could try to show that my personality makes up for my lack of excel skills?
I'm not going to lie, I thought the way your post was written was kind of awkward.
that's funny, it was written pretty quickly, i didn't "check my work" as one would say. idk try writing 10 things you dislike about your coworkers in 60 seconds and read how it sounds. if it doesn't come off as kindve awkward let me know i'd be impressed
Your cry for attention is pathetic. I bet you're the group shit-talker. The do-nothing shit-talk-to-get-by type.
1 - a cry for attention on an anonymous forum is pointless 2 - i knew i'd receive more monkey shit than silver bananas 3 - from the posts of yours i've seen i would fathom you're the group shit-talker, the guy that refuses to lose an argument 4 - "The do-nothing shit-talk-to-get-by type" sounds like upper management to me
Not enough time socializing, or not enough time being socialized? Your phrasing (along with the rest of your post) makes you sound like a giant tool. They're juniors in college, and for many this is their first real job, they don't know how to be BSDs yet. It's your job as the all-knowing analyst/associate/whatever you are to guide and train them.
And really, picking on them for not having a fitted suit? Not everyone was born silver spoon in hand. Hell I wore my dad's suits until I got my first full-time job. I'm sure it wasn't perfectly fitted, but if someone at work told me to go to a tailor instead of...I dunno, doing actual work, that would raise alot of questions, and potentially come across as creepy depending on how you said it. "The analyst at my desk said my jacket was too big and told me my attire should be more form-fitting. He even gave me a tailor to go to". Good luck explaining that to HR.
Also, if you've never spent 5 minutes pondering how to respond to an email, you clearly haven't been an analyst. People frequently get chewed out for stupid things like wording on emails.
News flash: talking about the latest new app is not socially awkward behavior, people have been doing it since the iPhone was invented. If it really bothers you that much, you may want to pick a different decade to live in. And that second statement? That did not come from one of your interns, you're just making shit up now because you're starved for attention. You're a liar, and a terrible one at that.
damn i haven't seen this much hate since Brady was on the forums...
Did you forget about blastoise
wow, u are def awkward....
constructive comment, i appreciate it, but i'd like to quickly disagree a bit....
-being socialized / "socialization" (apologies if i did not phrase this properly, again i will state i wrote this list up very quickly). definition: "The act of adapting behavior to the norms of a culture or society is called socialization. Socialization can also mean going out and meeting people or hanging out with friends. The word socialization can mean "the process of making social."
-i'm an intern, and within the the same age range as all of them. it's NOT MY JOB to guide and train the. that's what parents, teachers, k-12 life, university life, (the seniors at the firm, for certain specific things related to work) and community are for. it takes a village to raise a child - wouldnt you agree?
-a suit that fits isn't that hard to take of... was a minor qualm. calm down
-my example about spending 5-10 minutes on how to respond to an email was more geared towards responses like this http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/should-i-put-a-lol-in-my-email-to…, i think most would know how to respond to an email like that by the age of 20-22, no? if not, our education system is failing us
-re "talking about the latest new app" - trust me, it's more than just talking about the latest app. much more.
-wow calling me a terrible liar. yes that second statement was a "lie" -- i did not say that, but it was something similar. for reasons of protecting anonymity i'm not going to state exactly what the topic was, got it?
I've been watching this thread on and off since you posted it, and to be quite honest I've been attempting to avoid it. I wasn't going to comment, but I then realized I'd be contradicting my beliefs and what follows below. The post that I'm replying to seems to be the proper place to respond.
By saying that it's "NOT MY JOB" is what causes problems to not improve and, even more so, become worse. You may be in the exact same position as them by way of title, some may even have more experience than you, but that does not justify criticizing them without bringing a solution to the table. There will always be others with different views than yourself, those things should not be looked at as areas to improve - that's diversity and aids innovation. With that being said, areas outside of that which you view as needing improvement should be improved by solutions from those in the field working in the suck. No one, not just you, should be complaining if one cannot provide an answer or at the very least a suggestion. It is our job, as human beings, to help others learn and improve themselves. Sharing knowledge costs you nothing more than your time.
In the future you will regret complaining and leaving an environment if you didn't even attempt to help improve it. I know this because when I was younger than I am now I was in the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps. I excelled in this program in a few ways and didn't do as best as I could in others, but I found myself more focused than the majority. I left this program earlier than I could have stayed until for several reasons, but I voiced one reason more loudly than the others. In short, I blamed the other cadets in the program for not taking it as seriously as myself. The Chief Petty Officer, a CPO in the big boy Navy not as ranked in the program, pulled me aside and had a conversation with me. He had wanted me to stay and challenged me to take it upon myself to lead the other cadets, to help our unit improve where I claimed it lacked. He shared many similar points that I am making to you now. I glazed over this and, in stubbornness, still decided to leave. To this day I regret complaining, using a lame excuse, and leaving my shipmates hanging.
Now I'm going to be blunt with you. From your many posts you seem to be extremely immature and in need of a reality check. We have all been there at one point, and that point may come back every so often. To begin to improve this, I want you to write down this URL on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope somewhere safe - in the case that you become an inactive member or leave this site. Put a note to yourself on the outside to open it up in 5 years. When you open it up and visit this page you will be embarrassed with yourself, I guarantee it. That's a good thing, as I want you to be embarrassed. If you're not embarrassed, seal that envelop back up and open it in another 5. The point that I'm trying to make to you is that you're not even close to having the right mindset, it is likely visible to everyone here other than yourself, and you at some point need to realize this to better yourself.
Now I challenge you to restate and better articulate the things you dislike about your workplace as well as the people there and why you dislike them. I then challenge you to share with us how you are going to try to positively influence and improve these things. Finally, I want you to keep us updated on how your implementation of these solutions are coming along and the positive changes happening around you driven by your efforts. I hope to be able to award you some SBs for these efforts upon you sharing them. I sincerely would like you to do this.
I'll leave you with a quote from Chief Tecumseh:
" So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none.
When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.
When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home."
I'm not reading all these comments, but I did catch Esuric's and he/she is pretty spot on. Reading your post, it is obvious that you are a gossiper/whiner. "Oh my God, look at how their suits don't fit!" All of your complaints are trivial, and it seems like you are the loner outside the group. That probably says something about you, too.
And I know you said something about the other guy's thoughts about using "lol" in an e-mail, but you just rattled off a few "haha"s in your post. Everyone knows its "ROFLMAO!" or nothing - go big or go home!
i think you're overreacting.
no, i am not the gossiper/whiner of the group.
rattling off a few "haha's" in a post is different than responding "lol" in an email, how could you even draw that comparison.
thanks WSO for shitting on someone who gave a true vent, a brief look into the life of an intern.
hatersgonnahate (if you take this part of my comment serious you have a problem)
What's more antisocial? Excluding yourself from your peers by silently judging them and then going online to a forum they might use and talking poorly about them to strangers, or, Playing Pokemon Go?
Give the kids a break. They're young and new to this. There's also an inherently awkward power dynamic with internships.
I would be awkward at first if I was an intern. You do not know the people well enough to be comfortable around I guess and it takes some people a fair time to settle in. There is nothing wrong with Pokemon talk, there are more chances of having a conversation about it since it is everywhere now, facebook, twitter etc than to talk about sports and find out the person you are talking to support the rival team
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