In 2021, I interned at an international company in Portland, OR for six months as a Project Management Intern. I absolutely loved this opportunity! For the first month of my internship, I was busy with onboarding, training, getting to know everyone, and everything else new hires have to do. However, as I started getting more comfortable with my new role I began becoming less and less satisfied as the days went by. By the end of my internship, I was so grateful for the opportunity, but was ready to be done.
However, even though I was dissatisfied, I made sure I was logged in everyday, attended all my meetings, and even continued to ask for tasks in my down time. This is the opposite than someone who is unfulfilled with their job would typically act; however, compensation kept me motivated. I was paid incredibly well by this company and felt as if I had an obligation to work as hard as I could, even if I didn’t want to. If I was getting paid less than what I was during my internship, I truly believe that my motivation would have lowered sooner and, by the end, I would not have been still asking for extra projects and attending all of my meetings (including the optional ones).