Shock horror! Internship is not all it's cracked up to be!!

dazey

I'll keep it vague. I studied in a field where there are no jobs. but I loved the study and the people involved in the practice of my subject. A few months back I decided to take on an internship position assisting in the admin/management side of the industry. At the interview my future boss as an intern was very persuasive about where this experience would lead. I was grateful to be accepted by the organization.

However operation of the place is very stale, and I find a lot of his (the boss) tactics for operation of the organization to be not quite as effective as they could be. I am meant to be developing a strategy to boost business, and knowing the target market from my study, feel I could add a lot to the company. My boss however does not have the passion or insight into the industry that I have, he is a business man, concerned with crunching numbers.

There is a manager above mine, and he seems to be the one all people refer to when they want things to get done. I would love to email my ideas for the development of the place to him, but he has financial control over several parts of the organization and I am only working in one. I would love for my initiative and ideas to be taken seriously and I think approaching him may be the only way. It could also backfire and my current boss of sorts may not give me a good reference. If this experience doesn't work out emigration is next.

wildlifeboy

Fair play to you tho in fairness. I would send that mail to the guy that gets things done. you have little to lose and a lot to gain. it shows you are proactive and interested. go for it.

dazey

wildlifeboy wrote: »

Fair play to you tho in fairness. I would send that mail to the guy that gets things done. you have little to lose and a lot to gain. it shows you are proactive and interested. go for it.

it would be quite cheeky of me though, and for a dude, my boss is a bit of a bitch. I could CC him in the email to the financial big gun, or I could arrange to meet him in person and he is quite formidable/ a busy man. He could laugh in my face, tell my boss in the office, and they could have me out on my ear.

then I'd have nothing to show! it could come across as brazen

doolox

Rewrite and revise your proposal until there are no holes or pitfalls in it then go to the "heavy hitter" with it. CC your immediate boss to keep him in the loop.

They cannot and will not fire you for coming up with new ideas but might be annoyed if there are obvious snags, pitfalls or reasons why the idea will not work, thus wasting their time.

By getting help from an experienced colleague you run the risk of your idea being stolen and you getting no credit for it so beware of that contingency.

Individualistic "pay for perfomance" and "personnel evaluation" have led to a very competitive and cutthroat workplace where secrecy and "street smarts" are of paramount importance.

It appears that you cannot trust your immediate boss to guide and help you in the launch process of this new idea and you also appear to hold the overall boss as being a very formidable character but good ideas are always welcome in most progressive companies.

dazey

doolox wrote: »

Rewrite and revise your proposal until there are no holes or pitfalls in it then go to the "heavy hitter" with it. CC your immediate boss to keep him in the loop.

They cannot and will not fire you for coming up with new ideas but might be annoyed if there are obvious snags, pitfalls or reasons why the idea will not work, thus wasting their time.

By getting help from an experienced colleague you run the risk of your idea being stolen and you getting no credit for it so beware of that contingency.

Individualistic "pay for perfomance" and "personnel evaluation" have led to a very competitive and cutthroat workplace where secrecy and "street smarts" are of paramount importance.

It appears that you cannot trust your immediate boss to guide and help you in the launch process of this new idea and you also appear to hold the overall boss as being a very formidable character but good ideas are always welcome in most progressive companies.

I know what you are saying. In a few weeks I will be expected to present ideas to the boss directly above me. There is just the two of us in the office so it can be quite claustrophobic (spelling?). That is why bypassing him and presenting to the other boss, even if I include him in the email, could be seen as a direct snub. Also the internship is not associated with Fas and the guy took me on at his own discretion so that is why I think he could get rid of me easily. Then that is a few months experience that I cannot account for on my CV, a bit of a waste. The place is very clique-y and I can't really trust anyone else in the place and I don't know many other people in the industry. There may be pitfalls as I am only new to this and don't really have a head for business, yet feel I could add a lot to the company. It is a fairly massive company running the place and I am in a subdivision of it. A tiny fish. Sorry for the long reply. Thanks!

Mrs OBumble

Do NOT, repeat NOT NOT NOT try to do this by email.

You need to find some way to get face time with mover-and-shaker-boss and get your ideas across in person. so that it becomes his idea to ask your boss for some input from you.

ABajaninCork

I'd ask for a face-to-face meeting. See if your immediate LM can make the meeting too.

You can present your ideas, and it would look good. Make a presentation with handouts, the lot. Make sure your projections stack up.

StillWaters

I don't think you can go to the ideas man without first presenting to your immediate boss. Surely as part of your presentation on ideas, there will be an action plan associated where you might suggest the ideas man comes on board, but IMO it would be a big mistake to bypass your boss when you haven't even presented your ideas to him. You might not even have the measure of him yet.

finisklin

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Do NOT, repeat NOT NOT NOT try to do this by email.

You need to find some way to get face time with mover-and-shaker-boss and get your ideas across in person. so that it becomes his idea to ask your boss for some input from you.

I have to echo this. You need to have a water cooler, lunch, lift etc moment with this guy where you bounce your idea off him in a very casual, informal way (You will have to manufacture this so that you bump into him).

If you can do so in that relaxed tone and finish with the statement/question "I will forward the detailed proposal to you and AN Other (your immediate boss name)" or let's chat more about it at our meeting next week.

Make that moment happen and have your elevator pitch crafted i.e. script it.

dazey

finisklin wrote: »

I have to echo this. You need to have a water cooler, lunch, lift etc moment with this guy where you bounce your idea off him in a very casual, informal way (You will have to manufacture this so that you bump into him).

If you can do so in that relaxed tone and finish with the statement/question "I will forward the detailed proposal to you and AN Other (your immediate boss name)" or let's chat more about it at our meeting next week.

Make that moment happen and have your elevator pitch crafted i.e. script it.

We never meet. He is the big fish up in his high office block. i think he vaguely knows I exist. I don't want to look like a little upstart. If I asked my boss if I could sit in on a meeting between him and the main man I'd say he'd be a bit shocked and just say "no". In which case I think I should just cut my losses, make excuses and leave