How Do You Deal With Competitive Interns?

Hey Edsters! 

Things are still going well at the Lifestyle Mag. I have a much better idea of what to do so I can stay busy, and with a couple of long-term projects passed to me by editors, I've been staying busy. 

Here at Lifestyle Mag, there are 4 summer interns, and there is one in particular that I work closely with on a daily basis. For the sake of this blog, we'll call the other intern Annie. So far I've really loved working with Annie. She's really cool, hard working, and has great goals for her future career in magazines. However, Annie and I have been getting closer lately and for the first time this week she referred to me as the dreaded "C" word I've been trying so desperately to avoid.

Annie called me her competition.

Intern Invasion: Sizing Up the Competition

In the beginning, I prided myself on being the first intern this summer at the magazine, especially since my supervisor mentioned they hadn’t had any interns in quite a while. Although not all the staffers knew my name, they identified my status based on the location of my desk, in the isolated middle section of the office.  Over the past couple of weeks, they’ve solely relied on me to complete their research or transcribing tasks.  My supervisor has even recognized my willingness to go the extra mile, whether it means working through my lunch break or staying well past the time I’m supposed to leave.

Just when I’ve started to feel more comfortable in my role at the magazine, I realized I wasn’t the only new kid on the block.  Evidence in the form of new post-it notes tacked to my bulletin board and past issues strewn on my desk was proof that other interns have arrived on the scene.  It was inevitable that others would have to pick up the slack on the days when I wasn’t scheduled to be in the office, but I could rationalize that it was OK since I didn’t interact with them.  Out of sight, out of mind…right?

Boy was I wrong.