Internship is mostly busywork – should I quit?

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm doing a 4-month internship at a mid-sized consulting firm in Germany. I'm now in month 2 and a half, and except for 2 weeks on a project, all my tasks have been repetitive busywork (e.g. searching emails for firms, formatting slides).

I'm thinking about quitting early because I’m not learning anything.
If I quit now, will I get a bad reference letter (Zeugnis)?
Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Or is it a very bad idea to quit at all?

I'm an international student, so I’m worried how this might affect future applications in Germany.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Hi,

Nooo, don't quit.

You've got 6 weeks left, tough it out - but use your time wisely. I suggest:

Truly push your initiative:

Instead of waiting, take the initiative by having a respectful conversation with your manager. Frame it as a desire to grow and contribute more, and ask how you can support the team beyond your current tasks.
Reach out to every single partner/senior partner and set up a coffee chat - get to know them, get to know their work, what they do, what they're looking for - use the time to expand your internal network.
Reach out to your peers and those just above you; ask them what it takes to get to the next level - build up your information, understand what it takes!!

Leverege What’s There

Look for angles to gain something useful (Even in mundane work, )whether it's refining skills, building relationships, or gathering concrete examples for your resume and interviews.
Save useful things: frameworks, slides,
Use the time to test out your excel and PowerPoint shortcuts.
Use the time to practice your modelling skills or whatever skills you want to use

Grow your external network:

Search other job opportunities
Make coffee chats and plans to meet other people from other firms, you said you're a foreign person in Germany - you need to create more opportunities for yourself - don't just rely on this.

Okay, this is all off the top of my head, but I would be very happy to chat more.

Answer 2

I understand your position - some firms are better than others at giving meaningful work during internships.

My advice would be as follows:

You only have 6 weeks left - it’s worth sticking it out rather than burning any bridges
Take a look at what the full time consultants are doing. I would wager that their work is not busy work and they’re doing the core problem-solving and advisory work that you’d expect from a consulting gig
Often internships - especially at boutiques - are as much about assessing your fit for a role (I.e., can you work well within a team, are you reliable, etc) as they are about preparing you to be a consultant

I think you should complete your internship, receive your full time offer, and then decide whether or not you want to go elsewhere.

Answer 3

Hi there,

Q: I'm thinking about quitting early because I’m not learning anything.

Do you have another offer? If not, I don’t see a clear reason to quit. Although you might prefer doing nothing rather than your current work, if you quit, you will lose the option to include the internship on your CV. Given the remaining time is relatively minor (only 6 weeks), it might be worth waiting to leverage that.

Rather than quitting, I would recommend asking your boss if there is anything you might do related to your areas of interest AFTER you have done your duty (if you ask INSTEAD of doing your duty, they will say no, as they still need someone to do the job.) This means you will have to work more at the beginning, but if you are reliable, they might choose to move you to your areas of interest instead of the more boring tasks.

Good luck!

Francesco

Answer 4

Unfortunately things like this happen. If you are "on the beach", i.e., not on a project, that's the kind of work you'll get. If you are temporarily staffed on a project, they'll start by giving you some minor tasks to keep you busy.

Until.

Until they start seeing that you do a good job on those tasks, are motivated, and BELIEVE that you can BE TRUSTED a "real" task where you work with a bit more autonomy.

Of course, if you ask for this you may be able to accelerate it.

BUT. If you look bothered by the work you do. You don't double check your work or show quality problems. It will take longer.

And if you are in a project, please show interest in what everyone else is doing. Offer to offload some work from their plate.

Good luck!

Answer 5

I'm sorry to hear. That must be frustrating.

It also sounds like you don't necessarily have a lot of alternatives, and you're limited by your status as an international student.

It might help to reframe this as a challenge - in short, discuss directly and yet politely with whoever is in charge of your internship project and explain that you are looking for something more challenging. It would be useful if you had specific examples of the sort of work you'd want and could do, as well as whatdge, expertise, and skill areas of knowle you have to make it easier for them to allocate something to you.

Best,
Cristian

Answer 6

Hi there!

I understand the feeling. However, it would not only a bad idea to quit, but an opportunity that you would let slip.
Do the busywork with the max of excellence you can yet being efficient. Look to your work and think: can I do it better? What can I add to make this even more useful?
Also, talk to other senior people about their trajectory and challenges, you may learn a lot from it.

Once you’re done with the busywork and being acknowledged for a great job, plus having making contact with senior people, you may either be allocated to a project or at least get a good / great review.

I have been OTB for a month once and used the advice above myself. Turned out that the partner was so pleased with my job in a “boring” presentation that he required me to a project after.

Keep us posted, good luck!

Best,

Mari