What Your Manager Expects From You

Photo by Aman Upadhyay

For many interns, this is the first time in an official working environment. Not unlike school where you have teachers and lecturers to answer to, at the workplace you will have a manager to supervise you. Your new bosses do have expectations of you and it will be much easier to navigate your new environment once you know what they expect from you.

At Talanta, we conducted extensive research through surveys and interviews of what the managers in your new workplace will expect from you. Here is a list of what you as an intern can do to make your internship as successful as possible.

1. Proactivity-your manager will expect you to take initiative. Managers in the survey expressed the desire to have interns that asked to take on new challenges, who came up with ideas for the business in general or that would make the work procedures flow better or those who volunteered to take the lead in various tasks.

2. Enthusiasm- it is refreshing and delightful when working with someone who has positive vibes around them. Managers said that they loved working with and teaching interns that are enthusiastic about the job and are eager to learn new things.

Photo by Clay Banks

3. Communicative and responsive to messages- communication is the key to any successful relationship, including one between you and your manager. Communicate with your boss about anything that is happening to you that is relevant to the job. Tell them about any problems you may be facing e.g, technical difficulties, personal issues, as well as any issues you may have completing the assigned tasks. Also, make sure to respond to messages on Slack, WhatsApp or email in a timely manner.

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4. Attention to detail- have you checked all your work for grammatical or punctuation errors? Have you ensured all your projects are in line with the brand guidelines? Have you made sure that all the figures and statistics in the latsest report you have compiled are accurate? These are just a few examples of how you can pay attention to detail. Make sure to eliminate small and careless mistakes in your work.

5. Emotional intelligence- according to the Oxford online dictionary, emotional intelligence is “the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.” This means that your manager would like you to be in control of your feelings, and being able to express how you feel clearly and respectfully.

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6. Professionalism- in terms of remote work, this means that you have to have behaviour and mannerisms that will help you do your job well. Your manager expects you to know how to behave at what time. That means that you should know when to be serious and when you can joke around. Your manager doesn’t expect you to never smile or crack a joke, but the hope you understand when is the appropriate time to do so.

7. Take feedback well and implement changes- As Johanna Molina, cofounder and Head of Impact at Talanta once said, “When someone gives you feedback, they care so much about you that they want to see you improve. It is a gift.” Feedback is not a personal attack, it is an observation made of areas in your work that you can do better. Take feedback as the gift it is and use it to become a better version of you.

Feel free to speak with your manager early on into the internship to discover what expectations they have of you while in the job.