Being An Internship Director: Professionalism and Changing Views

Call me old-fashioned. I have certain expectations when it comes to the interns I accept into my program. I expect that I am approached in a professional manner from the very beginning of asking about the program all the way through the internship itself.

There seems to be a disconnect between what I expect and what others want to put out into the world, but I am not thinking that my expectations are overly rigid. Would you let me know if they are?

When a music therapy student is interested in being an intern at my facility, I want a personalized email. I want it to be more than "Dear Internship Director..." I want someone to take the seconds to write out my ENTIRE name. Yep, the name that I have on the National Roster IS MY NAME! Use it. Do not think that the name that I have selected to be published is not what I want to be called. Now, I understand some reluctance in using titles these days - it is difficult to figure out if a title is even something that we do in these days of pronoun use and all that. (I have given up my expectation of being addressed by my preferred title and no longer use titles when corresponding to prospective interns.) But, seriously, you can't type out my entire name when you are sending me an email?

 (This comes from an email that I got once that started, "Dear Mary. I am going to be your intern." Um, nope. RED FLAG!!! Reported that to the professor in charge of juniors and seniors at that inquirer's university program. Got a MUCH better inquiry from the same person a month later.)

I still want to see some effort on the part of the inquirer as to why they want to know more about my internship. It is very obvious when an email is a form email, ESPECIALLY when that email was personalized for another program and not carefully edited before being sent. I receive many emails that are intended for other programs or are completely generic and general. If they are not meant for me, I return them to sender. If they are completely generic, I send information.

Okay. I know that some of the expectations that I have for music therapy students are a bit old-fashioned (hence the first sentence of this post), but I still feel that there has to be some sort of way to approach a professional in a manner that indicates respect. Name usage is one of those ways of indicating respect. My name is not a common name at all, and it does include two separate names used together. It is, however, my name. It is how I represent myself in all areas of my professional life. No one in my life is allowed to shorten my name, so why would someone assume that I put an erroneous name out there as my contact information?

I also expect that applicants will give me what I ask for and ONLY what I ask for. (Man, I am using lots of capital letters today.) I have had many applicants tell me - TELL ME - that I forgot to ask for things that I did not forget - that I have no use for - and then send me those elements THAT I DO NOT WANT AND DID NOT ASK FOR!!! Red flag warning! Why would I want to spend time, money, and tons of energy training someone who cannot follow instructions?

So, what do I want from inquirers and applicants? 

Here's the deal. No assumptions. Use the name that is listed on the National Roster. It is correct and my selected name, and I will not be offended when you use it in its entirety. Follow directions on my application and my fact sheet. Do not assume that I have "forgotten" to ask you for something that another internship director has asked for. I do not want transcripts or resumes because they are useless to me. Seriously. They do not offer me any sort of information that I cannot see when you come to my facility to interview and audition. I do not want those things. DO NOT SEND ME ANYTHING EXCEPT FOR WHAT I ASK FOR! 

The last thing that I want students to know is that their timelines are not the same as that of someone out of school and working. So, if you do not get an immediate response to an email, do not panic, do not repeat your email nonstop until you get a response, and wait for a bit - I recommend at least a week between emails since people get busy, have to wait (at times) to do internship administration work at specific times during the week, and are not always able to respond to requests immediately due to client needs being a bigger priority.

I wonder if any of my expectations are inappropriate in the eyes of others. Are any of you internship directors out there expecting similar interactions? Are my red flag warnings things that you share? I'm curious about what happens in other internships out there. Let me know in the comments!