This is often a first professional job for our interns. As such, you may need to set clear expectations for their workplace behavior. We provide guidance and set basic expectations at the program level, but this does not account for your personal preferences or how your team typically interacts.

Communication

1. How quickly do you expect a reply to emails? Does this change when it’s chat such as Slack or Teams?
2. How quickly should they expect a reply from you if they ask a question or submit something for your review and feedback?
3. What is the level of formality for emails? Should they address you by first name or do you prefer Dr./Ms./Mr.? Does formality change between team communications vs external audiences?
4. What kind of greetings and sign-offs are appropriate or expected? Should they have a signature line identifying your department and their role?
5. What do you expect in the subject line of emails?
6. What do you typically do to check for grammar or formality of messages? Show them how to do that or use tools like Grammarly and ChatGPT.

Scheduling and Timeliness

1. Who should they contact if they will be late or need a schedule change? How much notice do you expect for scheduling changes due to things like exams or appointments?
2. If you’ve worked with others to made special arrangements to include them to attend a meeting or shadowing, share that it’s important to attend on time and not cancel at the last minute. When other people have changed schedules to accommodate an intern, they may not be willing to do it again if their time isn’t respected.
3. For timed experiments, what is the expectation on returning to finish the rest after starting? Or if you know it doesn’t work with their schedule to do a step, who should they work with to get it done?
4. Communicate task or project deadlines clearly. Are there sub-deadlines or milestones to meet along the way? If so, help the intern decide what those could be.
5. Account for a learning curve when estimating how long a task will take the intern. Share how long it might take, or have them practice to get a feel for the timing before working on it with less supervision.

Structure

1. Ensure the intern sets and sticks to a schedule, deadlines, and any sub-deadlines. Time and priority management is a skill to be learned, and interns may need more structure toward the beginning.
2. If your team is partially or fully remote, set a schedule with regular check-ins and ensure the intern knows who and how to reach out for help or questions during their shifts. Structure is more important if they are not working in person. Tell them if you have a space where they can work or if you have suggestions of quiet places on campus to work. Previous interns may be a good source of information!
3. While we appreciate flexibility, it’s difficult to learn to manage tasks and time without some structure to start. Be clear on expectations and timelines.

Also talk to them about topics like personal protective equipment and safety standards, dress code for meeting with patients, phone etiquette, and anything else relevant to your day to day work.