7 intern scam techniques you obviously won’t use

When you’re an intern, there are two possible scenarios.

The good scenario: your internship is exciting. Your team is dynamic. Your tasks make sense. Time flies and you’re never bored.

The other scenario: your days drag on forever. You make photocopies. You’re seriously bored. And yet you still have to look busy from morning to evening.

We wrote this article for the second case. With a good dose of humor and an underlying message: never end up in this situation.

Here are the 7 scam techniques used by struggling interns. Read with a knowing smile.

The myth to forget: “all internships are the same”

This is the number one mistake made by students in a hurry to sign their internship agreement.

A bad internship means 3 to 6 months of surviving instead of progressing. You leave with a CV that is not really stronger, zero new skills, and the desire to change paths.

In short: these 7 techniques are funny. But the real goal is for you to never have to use them. To avoid that, choose your internship abroad carefully before signing.

Rule number 1: always look like you’re listening

As an intern, you’re supposed to listen to every member of the team. Except Valérie has been telling the same story about her cat for three days.

The tactic

• Nod at regular intervals.
• Place a convincing “hm-hm” every 20 seconds.
• Use the classics: “Oh really?”, “I see”, “Interesting”.
• Slightly frown to look focused.

If you wear glasses: guaranteed double effect.

Serious note: Wikipedia has a whole article on active listening. Just in case you actually want to improve.

Rule number 2: obsessive organization

Every good intern is organized. Everyone knows that.

The program

• Tidy up your Windows or Mac desktop: easily 15 minutes.
• Create folders, subfolders and sub-subfolders.
• Do the same thing on Google Drive: 10 minutes.
• Sort your emails by category, color and client: 15 minutes.
• Reorganize your Notion, Slack or Trello: 20 minutes.

Total: 1 hour of pseudo-productivity. You look like a project management pro. You have produced nothing.

PS: expert level? Arrange your folders so they form a geometric shape on your desktop. No one is judging you.

Rule number 3: hydrate very, very regularly

Hydration is important. Especially during an internship abroad, in hot countries like Malta, Spain or Greece.

The plan

• Drink 2 to 3 liters of water per day.
• Keep a very visible bottle next to your screen.
• Glow with health.
• Also glow with the need for bathroom breaks every 30 minutes.

You can’t help it: you have a small bladder. No one can argue with that.

Rule number 4: the art of the justified break

Speaking of breaks… Smokers have understood everything. They go out every hour, get some fresh air, and no one says anything.

The lesson? Set the tone from the moment you arrive

• “I have back problems, I need to walk for 10 minutes every hour.”
• “I get migraines, I need to go outside for fresh air regularly.”
• “My physiotherapist prescribed stretches at the beginning of meetings.”

Serious reminder: smoking remains one of the leading causes of preventable death in most European countries. If you smoke: you should stop. If you don’t smoke: don’t start, not even for the breaks.

Rule number 5: the art of setting the context

Do you want a 4-day weekend? You need to plan ahead.

The action plan

• Monday: you discreetly sniffle.
• Tuesday: you cough lightly in front of your manager.
• Wednesday morning: scarf and thermos of herbal tea.
• Wednesday at 2 p.m.: you break down. You go home to rest. You come back on Monday.

Of course, you’re only doing this to protect the team from infection. You’re considerate, it’s noble.

Note: if you actually do this, your manager is not fooled. And trust takes a long time to rebuild.

Rule number 6: competitor analysis

In business, it is crucial to monitor the competition. Which channels do they communicate on? What tone do they use? How often?

Your days as a clever intern

• Open Instagram: competitor analysis, obviously.
• Scroll TikTok for 45 minutes: trend monitoring.
• Reply to 3 DMs on LinkedIn: professional networking.
• Take a look at X, formerly Twitter, for industry news.
• Check your own notifications: analyst reflex.

Result: you have perfectly organized your weekend with friends. Such productivity.

As Indeed Career Advice reminds us, real competitive intelligence is done with dedicated tools: alerts, dashboards, professional accounts. Not by scrolling Instagram.

Rule number 7: post-its, the ultimate weapon

Post-its are the intern’s secret weapon.

Advantages

• They add visual rhythm to your workstation.
• They impress people walking by.
• They suggest that you have 100 tasks in progress.

How to use them

• Write lots of things on lots of colors.
• If you have nothing to write: illegible handwriting and abbreviations.
• Stick them around your screen, under your keyboard, on your mug.
• Add priority symbols: 🔥 urgent! ⚡ quick! ⭐ important!

Combine with rule number 1, frowning while writing, and no one will disturb you all day.

Small eco downside: physical post-its are not great for the planet. As a real intern, and a real human, consider replacing them with Notion, Trello or Asana. And with real content this time.

Be the other kind of intern instead: the one who makes a difference

Let’s be honest: these 7 techniques are funny, but they make you lose 3 to 6 months of your professional life and give you zero skills to add to your CV.

As Harvard Business Review explains, the interns who leave a mark on a company are those who make suggestions, take initiative and ask smart questions.

Be that intern.

• Ask for concrete tasks.
• Present one idea to your manager every week.
• Learn one tool or skill per month.
• Build your network, not just your Google Drive folder tree.

Why get support from Stud&Globe?

Because we check every mission and every work environment before sending it to you.

With Stud&Globe, the goal is simple: to offer you a useful, formative and truly enriching internship abroad.

In practical terms, we make sure that:

• The missions are real and formative.
• The team is dynamic and welcoming.
• You have a real tutor on site.
• You leave with solid skills on your CV.
• You live a real international experience, not 4 months of photocopying.

In short: with us, no scam techniques needed.

Ready to avoid the internship that would make you bring out the post-its?

7 funny techniques. 0 reasons to ever need them.

The best internship is the one where you don’t even have time to get bored.

So, what are you waiting for?