The joy’s of having a fully virtual internship are evident.
In January, we brought on our first fully virtual intern with the hiring of Taylor Copas. She is an international business student at Illinois State who joined the marketing team to scale our campaigns and prospecting efforts. With our last intern, we managed a hybrid model where the internship started virtually but converted into a trip to the office at least two times a week. Since then, we have been working with Taylor for the past three months on a purely virtual basis.
In a recent conversation, I was surprised to hear that this was already her third purely virtual internship. With that, I asked her to write on her key take ways she observed in participating in a fully remote workforce. A tell all confession in other words. Here they are:
The Pro’s
Flexibility & Accommodation – Being a purely virtual intern, working an in-person job, taking 15 credit hours, and actively engaging in my on-campus organizations while gearing up for graduating in May has been an equally rewarding and challenging experience. Having all my meetings, messages, and tasks just a computer screen away has really helped me adapt to the virtual environment, not to mention the availability and flexibility of the team I work with.
Internship Variety – I have had 2 previous internships, all of which have also been virtual (thank you COVID). My first virtual internship was with an international insurance firm, so not only did I have to adjust to the purely virtual environment, but I also had to get accustomed to meetings at unconventional times to allow my overseas coworkers to participate. The second virtual internship was with a large company, and my days were packed with meetings from 9 to 5, with little time to complete individual assignments. My current virtual internship with ASI has been a good mix of meetings throughout my week, with most of my time spent working on my individual tasks. The amount of job experience variety was in part due to the virtual nature of the roles.
The Advantage of Small Business – Having worked for a larger organization, I got used to constantly shifting my priorities. I would have plans for meeting deadlines for the day that would change less than 5 minutes later because I had 3 new meetings come up unexpectedly. Working with ASI and getting used to the small business environment has been a breath of fresh air. I can spend time working towards deadlines without the threat of last-minute mandatory meetings and there are a lot more opportunities to see the inner workings of a business.
The Cons
Not Being Too Available – One caveat to working virtually is not being able to go fully “offline” at the end of the workday. I have set hours that I will be working through my Outlook Calendar, so that way the ASI team knows when I will be actively working and able to respond to messages. However, I have quickly gotten into the habit of constantly checking Msft Teams, even when I have been clocked out for several hours. The flexibility of being online is great, but it is oftentimes difficult to navigate. Being on the same page about working hours with your team is imperative.
Getting the Vibe of the Office – Because I have only had virtual internship experiences, it has been quite easy for me to adapt to new teams in a virtual environment (remembering to unmute is one of the hardest obstacles). However, I do think that there are opportunities and connections forgone by not being present in the office. I also think it is harder to gauge company culture virtually, and it takes longer to adapt to it. Despite not seeing everyone in person, I do look forward to my ASI meetings throughout the week because one of us usually has an interesting story that gives everyone a good laugh.
One tradeoff: Taylor does miss out on the juicy office gossip. Ben said what??
Virtual vs. Onsite – I think there is value in being purely virtual, especially now that so many companies are allowing their employees the option to work from home indefinitely. While I do enjoy the flexibility of being virtual, I think that the benefits of in-person work outweigh the flexibility of virtual work. With my current on-campus job I am in-person, and I can do a much better job working with students face-to-face than I would virtually. However, I do think some jobs can be done better virtually, and hybrid is always a great option as well. I think that within the next couple of years job seekers will be looking for positions that allow a hybrid work structure, with a good mix of in-person and work-from-home opportunities.
There you have it. Straight from the fingers of a current intern on some of the pros and cons of having a purely virtual internship. Mask mandates are dropping, employees may be coming back to the office, but the benefits that can come with a virtual worker should still be considered by businesses, especially small ones.