Intern Diaries: What to Do When You Have Nothing to Do

Despite being one of only four editorial interns at one of the most popular magazines in the world, I still sometimes find myself sitting at my desk with nothing to do. My internship involves a lot of researching, fact-checking, transcribing interviews and brainstorming and as closing time comes around (when a magazine is finishing an issue), the steady flow of intern assignments slows to a trickle. Staff members are working on polishing articles and last minute editing, the sort of thing that interns can’t really help with. While it’s never a good idea to look like you’re doing nothing, it’s also not a good idea to pester busy editors with constant requests for assignments. Even the most polite “Is there anything I can help you with?” email can become irritiating if it shows up one too many times in the inbox of a writer scrambling to meet deadlines. So what’s a superstar intern to do? In the past three weeks, I’ve found myself in the following situations and figured out how to avoid sliding into the bored-and-constantly-refreshing-inbox-abyss.

1. You’ve already emailed everyone you’ve ever completed an assignment for and no one has anything new for you to do.  
It’s a great idea to send out emails or stop by desks (depending on how formal your office is) to try and pick up assignments. It’s important to stand out as an intern with initiaitve and drive and to let the people you work for know that you want to be a great resource for them. However, when crunch time comes around, reaching out often is more likely to label you  a nusianse, instead of a go-getter. I keep a running list of on-going assignments: tasks that editors need done on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. This is my first defense against a slow day. 

2. You’ve been working on an assignment for hours and you’ve hit a dead end.
This has happened to me a number of times and trust me, it happens to everyone! Sometimes an editor will ask you to do something that simply can’t be done. When this happens, don’t sit at your desk and despair and don’t keep it to yourself. There’s nothing worse than leaving an editor hanging, especially if you know they’re going to have to come up with a new idea. If you’re stuck, email your boss right away and let them know what the situation is. Also provide them with several alternative options or solutions to your problem. I once had to do some research about a topic I simply couldn’t find anywhere. Instead of freaking out, I researched several similiar topics and presented them to my editor. She loved the idea! 

3. Other interns have assignments, you have nothing to do.
Ask your fellow interns if you can help them out! While it’s great to be hand-selected by editors to complete tasks for them, there’s nothing wrong with assisting your peers with their assignments. Teamwork never stops being important!

• Intern Diaries