What not to do when applying for an internship

I was at work today and my phone rings, and it's an outside call. It's not a number I recognize. I answer and on the other end of the line there's a student from one of the universities where my internship was posted.

He tells me that he's supposed to be interviewing with me but he can't get his appointment confirmed. I tell him that he needs to call our HR department, that I cannot confirm any appointments. He tells me that the HR department isn't moving fast enough and he needs an answer now. I re-iterate that he needs to talk to one of the people in our human resources department.  He argues again that he needs an answer, I give him the number to the woman who was in HR today and hung up.

Even if I wanted to I cannot confirm my interviews myself. Until they provide me a complete schedule I do not know my own availabilities. It's HR who schedules the interviews and also knows what interviews are planned but not yet confirmed. I know nothing of this.

I called HR to advise them of what happened and that when he called to confirm his appointment that he should be told his interview was canceled and he should be told why.  The HR lady, who's a total sweetheart understood too. She said "You don't want this student because when you assign him work and show him what you expect, he'll be cutting it in half because it took too long".

Sometimes the bureaucracy of a company is painful but without it, chaos would ensue.