10 ways to be a terrible intern

Hopefully, these young professionals had an internship that taught them how to succeed in the competitive working world.

This column, however, isn’t about how to gain meaningful experience at an internship. It is meant for the careless type, who wishes to merely fulfill an internship credit and gain absolutely no professional experience.

For that guy or gal, I offer these tips:

1. Ignore criticism and continue doing things your way. Why listen to professionals who are successful and know what they are doing? Instead, do things the way you—with no professional experience—think they should be done and assume everyone else is wrong.

2. Sit around and relax while you wait for your next assignment. Hurry and finish a task and then avoid your supervisor until he or she notices that you aren’t doing anything. That way you can get by with doing the least amount of work and have nothing to show in your portfolio.

3. Give half an effort—it’s only an internship. You might be an unpaid intern, whose work isn’t expected to be perfect. So why try? Sloppily get things done and show your supervisor you couldn’t care less.