In the era of social media, Skype, and GoToMeeting, many professionals
are able to accomplish multiple tasks without ever leaving the comfort of their
homes or offices. Improving technology
has made working remotely and the virtual office a trend of resource
conservation and convenience. But do
these benefits extend beyond the skilled worker to a student? Can a virtual internship develop the skills
and provide the same quality of experience as a traditional internship?
According to NACE’s 2012
Internship & Co-op Survey, 8.6 percent of employers anticipate hiring
virtual interns in 2012. It is
understandable why the virtual internship is appealing. It allows an employer to tap into a much
larger candidate pool. Internship
recruiting is no longer limited by geographic location, but instead students
from literally anywhere could complete an internship without leaving their
residence hall room. The need for office
space and time spent directly supervising an intern would also diminish. The virtual internship can also benefit the
intern by allowing projects to be completed when it is convenient, thus eliminating
class schedule conflicts. In addition,
most students are quite comfortable utilizing the technology needed to
communication at a distance, so this experience taps into their established
skill set.
Our current
policy does not allow remote or virtual internships to be completed for
academic credit. While there are obvious
benefits to both the employer and the intern, we feel that a virtual internship
can make it difficult for a student to build those much needed professional and
interpersonal communication skills which are core competencies of our
internship curriculum. And
perhaps some employers agree, as the number of virtual internships is down 3.9
percent from 2011.
What do you think? Are
virtual internships the wave of the future, or just a passing fad?
Originally published on LinkedIn.
