Graduate and intern programs are often strongly confronted at the departmental level. This is especially true in commercial and HSE areas, and less so in engineering areas. A situation can arise where an intern is simply ignored by their immediate managers, with no meaningful work allocated even when requested. Attempts to gain deeper hand-on experience are often curtailed by the approach 'who is going to pay for that?'. Virtually no feedback is received in the course of internship, and a strong message is explicitly sent to the intern that they are not needed in the department and their presence is a 'whim' of top management which line managers should endure. At the end of internship, many interns faced unexpectedly low and non-specific feedback, such as 'there is not enough fire in your belly', with the line manager failing to produce any specific examples or recommendations. A lost time, and, if you had offers from other companies, - a lost development opportunity. The company promotes curiosity, inventiveness, and continuous self-development. Line management often promotes the 'don't bother me' attitude and requires 'do something that I would like but I don't know what' approach.
