Hate your internship? Learn a different lesson

Now that many interns are settling into their summer work sites, emotions can be all over the map. Some will be thrilled with their new duties, others challenged and for some, the jury might still be out. Unfortunately, disappointment might be part of the equation. Perhaps the opportunity an intern thought sounded so appealing isn't turning out to be quite what they expected. Maybe the tasks at hand aren't what was anticipated – or even described.

But just because the work itself is less than helpful, the experience as whole has a lot to offer interns.

A conversation this week with Donna Farrugia, executive director of The Creative Group recruiting firm, reinforces the idea that there are positives to be gained from nearly every internship experience, and that perhaps the most valuable things to be gained aren't the ones you go in expecting. This is a great thing to keep in mind when facing a scenario where expectations aren't meeting reality.

The Creative Group, a division of Robert Half International, is a specialized staffing service that places professionals into a variety of jobs, both full-time and project-oriented, focusing on marketing, advertising, web and creative positions. It conducted a national survey of advertising and marketing executives released last year and found the value of internships might in fact lie more in their intangible benefits than, say, the technical skills involved.