Essential tips for tact, diplomacy when chatting up the boss

Updated

Last week, I devoted this column to the reasons it is important to avoid slacking off during what appear to be slow times at an internship. It's a time to impress your supervisors.

But it's also true that in many cases, supervisors would like to impress you, too, at least to some extent. They want interns to have a worthwhile experience – both in terms of professional talents gained and workplace finesse. They want you to develop the skills you'll need to succeed in your particular career. And if they're impressed with you, they might want to hire you. The internship sometimes can be akin to a period of courtship between employer to employee.

A few days ago, a colleague phoned me to talk about a recent intern, concerned that the intern had had a less-than-positive overall experience in the workplace. This reminded me to stress to my students – and readers – that interns shouldn't feel the need to stay silent when their experiences turn out to be disappointing. While every situation has to be assessed on an individual basis, I often tell students who feel unfulfilled in their internship to speak up – in a respectful, productive, professional way – and to seek additional duties if they feel they aren't being challenged.

How to do this? With a lot of tact for starters. Don't rush in like a bull in a china shop. One of the main components of tact is thinking about what you are going to say before you say it, and this goes for email as well.

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