The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to recruit interns to work remotely. | Unsplash
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to recruit interns to work remotely. | Unsplash
Despite the economic crisis created by restrictions related to COVID-19 and the challenges of working effectively during a pandemic, many businesses still have opportunities for interns, and the success of virtual internships may make them a permanent fixture.
Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of StartUpNation, recently shared information about what is available for business interns during an installment of WJR's Business Beat, a portion of "The Paul W. Smith Show."
“Last spring we featured how important internship programs are, both to young people wanting to learn from real-world work experience, as well as to the companies, who benefit from the contributions the interns make,” Sloan said on the radio show.
Jeff Sloan, CEO of StartupNation
| LinkedIn
But even then, concerns were growing that the coronavirus pandemic would put internship programs in jeopardy.
“However, just as we saw business meetings go largely online, so did we see interns joining companies and doing their work -- and their learning -- online,” Sloan told Smith.
Sloan said that having internships move completely online worked surprisingly well, according to most of the companies that tried it. In fact, it actually presented some benefits, such as the ability to choose interns from a national pool rather than a local one.
Additionally, companies were able to take on more interns than they may have otherwise, since they didn’t have to make space for them in an office.
“And just like the increased benefits for the businesses, the interns felt their experience was really effective as well,” Sloan said on the radio program.
As an example, Sloan said interns reported that working virtually meant they had access to sit in on high-level meetings they wouldn’t have had access to in an in-person internship. It also meant they had access to meetings they may not have been part of simply due to geography.
The success of the experiment resulted in many companies now expecting to continue having virtual interns even as restrictions ease, according to Sloan.
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