Every team has different expectations and it’s your responsibility to ask questions to understand what’s expected of you as an intern. Here are some ideas on what to ask early on.

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 I expect a reply from you if I ask a question or submit something for your review and feedback?
3. What is the level of formality for emails? Should I 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 I have a signature line identifying your department and my 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? Could I use tools like Grammarly and ChatGPT to check my writing?
7. Bring the startup worksheet to your first week of work and gather the appropriate contact information.

Scheduling and Timeliness

1. Who should I contact if I 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 your team worked with others to made special arrangements to include you to attend a meeting or shadowing, it’s important to attend on time and not cancel at the last minute. When other people have changed schedules to accommodate you, they may not be willing to do it again if their time isn’t respected. This can also stop you from getting more responsibility or more interesting tasks.
3. For timed experiments, what is the expectation on returning to finish the rest after starting? Or if they know it doesn’t work with your schedule to do a step, who should you work with to get it done?
4. Ask about task or project deadlines. Are there sub-deadlines or milestones to meet along the way? If so, ask for help deciding what those may be.
5. Account for a learning curve when estimating how long a task will take. Ask how long it might take, or ask if you can practice to get a feel for the timing before working on it with less supervision. As you learn, you’ll get faster!

Structure

1. Ask about parking or transportation. Students are generally not eligible for employee parking passes and student parking is sometimes closer than employee parking anyway. If you plan to drive, ask about the closest student parking options. We recommend familiarizing yourself with campus Jagline shuttle or IU Health shuttles even if you plan to walk. Shuttles can be faster if you get out of class late, or easier if there is cold or rainy weather. You will not be reimbursed for parking by LHSI if you pay to park in visitor areas.
2. If you’re working partially or totally remote, ask for more structure. Set a schedule, deadlines, and check in meetings. Know who you can contact (and how to reach them) if you have questions during your shift.
3. Ask for more structure to your schedule, additional check-in meetings, or instructions on your work as needed.
4. Seek out trainings for your work. Do you use certain technology a lot such as REDCap, Excel, or Powerpoint? Or need to learn how to do a literature review and find information in the library? The university has free technology trainings and library research trainings to help you go from good to great. Find a training and ask your supervisor if it’s ok to do it as part of your hours to improve your work. This will help you gain a valuable skill and shows you can learn without your supervisor training you on every detail of the process.

Also ask 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.