PhD/PsyD Internship and PTO

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irishgoodbye

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Hi Everyone,

I will be starting internship in a few weeks (yikes!) and I am wondering if anyone has insight on what internships might think about asking for time off right when I get started so that I can book flights. I have a few weddings this Fall/Winter out of state and I am just curious about how supervisors may feel about being asked about PTO during our first supervision session. Also, in your experience, was it easy to use your PTO? I come from a job in the past that rarely allowed PTO use, even though I had the hours.

Thanks in advance!!

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My own experience on internship was that using PTO was very easy. I strongly encourage folks to plan ahead, rather than trying to rush it all in at the end of the year (which may or may not be allowed/problematic).

Depending on how early into the year the weddings are, you may even consider asking ahead of time (i.e., before on-site). I had to request off for a few days during the first month of internship for a friend's wedding, and did so by emailing the DCT a couple months before I started. Although you'll of course also want to let the rotation supervisor(s) know, once you have all that figured out.
 
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Thank you both!! Very helpful! How many days do people usually allot to post-doc interviews? I know others in my program have interviewed at approximately 3-4 sites.
 
I would safely try to say 2 days for each. Some you'll be able to do in 1 day (fly out in the evening, interview next day, fly home next evening), but some places could be tricky with timing. All depends on how widely you are looking as well.
 
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Agreed, 2 days is probably the best bet. So if you're anticipating 3-4 potential interviews, you may want to set aside 6-8 days. Although you may be able to do some interviews via phone/Skype, or combine them at a professional conference.

Also, depending on your site, you may not need to use PTO for all of your interviews. For VA internships, for example, you're able to use AA (Administrative Absence) if interviewing at a VA postdoc site.
 
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As a TD, I’d much rather you reach out before internship even starts to discuss the need for time off, if it’s feasible, and how to plan for that.
 
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You may want to hold off until you can double check this is okay with your training director. Our internship site only allowed a max of 7 professional and personal days per 4 month rotation, so we had to strategize how we could follow that rule and also make it to conferences, post doc interviews, holidays, dissertation defense, etc.
 
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How close to your start date are you thinking about taking time off? If your site has a lot of time at the beginning set aside for orientation and getting started, I would advise against missing that time.
 
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Hi Everyone,

I will be starting internship in a few weeks (yikes!) and I am wondering if anyone has insight on what internships might think about asking for time off right when I get started so that I can book flights. I have a few weddings this Fall/Winter out of state and I am just curious about how supervisors may feel about being asked about PTO during our first supervision session. Also, in your experience, was it easy to use your PTO? I come from a job in the past that rarely allowed PTO use, even though I had the hours.

Thanks in advance!!

Post doc interviews won’t require much time off if you skype; that’s how I did the bulk of mine and only did one interview in person.

Make sure you discuss the weddings with your TD as soon as possible. It shouldn’t be a huge issue, but if they have any weird PTO rules (some sites don’t want you to use it within the first 3-6 months), you might have to use sick days to travel instead.

Interestingly, I had so much PTO that I ended internship a week early (this even with taking off here and there; I think I had 3-4 weeks of PTO total beyond the holidays). My site allowed this and it wasn’t uncommon for interns to save their PTO and take off early. Not sure how common this is, but we couldn’t cash out if we didn’t use it (or maybe they discouraged cashing it out even though you could? Don’t remember). Not sure if my site was unique in that encouragement to use all PTO, but I never had problems taking days off when I needed to/wanted to, although I only took a few days off in the fall and used the bulk of it from Christmas time onward.
 
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Interestingly, I had so much PTO that I ended internship a week early (this even with taking off here and there; I think I had 3-4 weeks of PTO total beyond the holidays). My site allowed this and it wasn’t uncommon for interns to save their PTO and take off early. Not sure how common this is, but we couldn’t cash out if we didn’t use it (or maybe they discouraged cashing it out even though you could? Don’t remember).

Interesting. This is actively discouraged at some training sites. But 3-4 weeks of PTO plus holidays is unusual too. That's more than many junior faculty get.
 
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I second what MamaPhD has said: I would definitely check with TD ahead of time if you're planning on saving up your PTO to try and "end" internship early, as it may or may not be allowed. I also agree that 3-4 weeks of PTO is a LOT. Maybe that was the reason they didn't allow cashing it out.
 
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Hi Everyone,

I will be starting internship in a few weeks (yikes!) and I am wondering if anyone has insight on what internships might think about asking for time off right when I get started so that I can book flights. I have a few weddings this Fall/Winter out of state and I am just curious about how supervisors may feel about being asked about PTO during our first supervision session. Also, in your experience, was it easy to use your PTO? I come from a job in the past that rarely allowed PTO use, even though I had the hours.

Thanks in advance!!

I was an intern at a federal hospital so we had a lot PTO we could accrue. I had to take time off (2 weeks) before it was all accumulated for a surgery. It was allowed after I showed them information from my doctor explaining that I needed that recuperation time. Anyways, I would tell them that I had already booked these trips and ask for the PTO days. However, I would try to take as few days possible for the trip. If they say no, ask if they can advance the PTO days and that you would work longer hours to make up for it. Or you can tell them that you will take pay without leave.
 
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