Virtual internships: Get on by logging on

For many students,finding the time and money for an office-based placement can often beprohibitive. So are virtual internships the answer?

• • Tweet this
  • reddit this
• Comments (…)

• Carlene Thomas-Bailey
• The Guardian, Saturday 16 January 2010
• Article history

Mira Khoury, 20, a final-year student at Royal Holloway,University of London, is doing an internship with an internationaldigital media agency. Except, instead of running around the officemaking tea, she is at home on her laptop, signing into her company emailaccount to find out her work for the week. Khoury is one of a risingnumber of final-year students and graduates undertaking virtual internships.

Shestarted working initially as an office-based intern with the digitalmarketing firm FabriQate in September last year having heard about theinternship via the website Enternships.com(a site where graduates can sign up for internship placements withsmall businesses). After an informal phone interview she was invitedinto the office to begin the placement. When her three-week internshipcame to an end, she wanted to stay on, developing her skills.

"Beinga virtual intern gives me flexibility around my studies; I couldn'tmaintain a full-time role like I did during the summer," Khoury says."Now, I intern by checking my emails and seeing what projects they needhelp with, from emailing clients to working on PowerPoint presentations,and researching new projects."

With office resources scarce,businesses are beginning to embrace web tools, such as Skype and instantmessaging, to seek out graduates willing to work for them from thecomfort of their own homes. Those keen to build up work experience arein turn signing up for virtual internships, using their PCs and mobilephones to gain entry into the world of work.

Journalism graduate Yazmin Malcolm, 21, runs an intern blog called I Was Just Thinking.She works virtually, writing for online magazines: "I sought outvirtual opportunities by replying to posts on [journalism newsmail] Gorkana and other media sites. Writing online is a great way to display my writing skills to potential employers."

Rajeeb Dey, Oxford graduate and founder of Enternships.com, believes that in the current jobs market, all experience is valuable.

"Graduatesneed to be innovative about how they gain experience," says Dey. "Also,thanks to the global economy, a company in India might want an internin Britain to offer company support, which would be a great opportunityfor a graduate."

Another benefit of this new trend is to make internships more accessible. As Becky Heath, chief executive of Internocracy– a social enterprise campaigning to improve internships – points out,virtual internships can be a useful way for graduates based outsideLondon to pick up new skills.

"In the past, if you were a graduatein Liverpool or Manchester wanting to intern in London, you would haveto find someone with a spare sofa," Heath says. "This is a practicalalternative."

Virtual internships offer benefits for the employertoo, such as cost-cutting on office space. Businessman Fabio de Bernardihas two remote interns working on social shopping site Wishpot.com. "Wearen't in a position to employ staff, so I advertised for virtualinterns who were self-starters, with an entrepreneurial spirit," hesays.

De Bernardi oversees a graduate who is studying for amaster's in marketing and sales based in India, as well as anundergraduate studying in ­Birmingham.

"I keep in touch with boththe interns via a weekly catch up on Skype," he says. "With the range ofonline collaboration tools available, communication is very easy."

However,De Bernardi admits there are also benefits to having an intern in theoffice. "Explaining the procedures to one when he was office-based was alot easier than doing it via a video conference," he says.

There are other reasons to be wary of virtual internships. Heather Collier, director of the National Council for Work Experience,fears the new trend could cause graduates to lose out. "They can learnbad habits because there is no one there to advise them. Also, how isthe intern being reviewed or assessed if the boss isn't watching?"

Thequestion of pay is another important factor, says Collier: "Ifgraduates are taking on any type of internship, they should be paid theminimum wage. Virtual internships may be another excuse for employersnot to pay."

Internship payment is still a grey area. A spokesmanfrom the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, says: "Weencourage employers to pay a wage that reflects both the value of theintern's contribution and the level of training and support offered bythe employer, but ultimately graduates will need to weigh up the­potential benefits of an internship ­offer."

Rosy Rickett, one of the founders of website Interns Anonymous,is worried that employers will see virtual interns as "an opportunitynot to spend money, rather than seeing the intern as an employee whosejob satisfaction should be viewed as a valuable investment. Also, therecan't be much chance of the intern learning new skills if they aresitting at home, isolated from the office working environment."

However,for Khoury, working virtually has been very successful: "It shows I'm aself-starter, focused and can apply myself even when I'm not in theoffice. It opens up a lot of doors and is a great learning experience."