Online internships, also known as remote and e-internships, are conducted remotely via online collaborative tools such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom.  These internships can be cost effective for both company and intern – no relocation costs or requirements for office space or equipment, but are thought to be potentially more difficult to manage in terms of social communication and practical tasks.  Online internships have become an important avenue for student employability both in terms of the current Covid-19 crisis, and longer term for companies who employ a percentage of their workforce remotely and view online professionalism favourably.

The current research project was conducted as a summer internship project with two interns: Leah Hillari and Darja Wischerath, supervised by Dr Amy Irwin and Dr Joy Perkins.  There were two main aims: 1) conduct a literature review and develop a set of information leaflets to support online internship management (see leaflets below), and 2) conduct an online research study designed to examine attitudes towards online internships across three stakeholder groups – students, academics and employers (see link to paper pre-print below).

Is the future of internships online?

The world of work is becoming digital, a process accelerated by the recent COVID-19 pandemic and resultant remote working guidelines. Online internships have become more popular in this context, and yet there remains a lack of research investigating how these internships are perceived across stakeholders. The purpose of this paper was to begin to address this research gap by exploring academic, student and employer perceptions of online internships with a focus on employability. The research explored 156 stakeholders (53 students, 50 academics, 53 employer / professionals) perceptions via a mixed-methods online study encompassing quantitative responses to internship vignettes, alongside open-ended questions designed to explore stakeholder attitudes in more depth.

Stakeholder groups reported similar attitudes towards online internships. Overall, online internships were viewed as valid, flexible, work experience, linked to skill development and likely to enhance student employability. However, concerns were raised regarding communication protocols and development, intern isolation and a lack of organisational immersion. Based on our research we make three recommendations to continue to enhance and develop the online internship experience:

  1. Ensure multiple methods of regular communication between student and organisation
  2. Attempt virtual immersion in the organisation
  3. Assign each intern additional support beyond their immediate supervisor.

You can view the full paper as a pre-print here: https://psyarxiv.com/uawbs/

Iamge Description

Information leaflets (free to use and download)