Earlier this year, virtually all high schools, hundreds of thousands of high school students and small and large businesses were forced to change the way in which they worked due to the quick onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic. With high schools, students and businesses dealing with COVID-19, many have transitioned classes and work online as a response to the global health crisis.

For many high schools, classes transitioned quickly to online learning in virtual classrooms.

For high school students across the country, it meant leaving campus in the Spring to continue the rest of their studies online and from home.

For businesses, it may have also meant cancelling in-person internships previously set up with college students as an attempt to cut losses in times of economic hardship caused by the pandemic.

As the pandemic continues, students can now turn to the possibility of Online Internships.

Remote Internship, Virtual Internship, Online Internship, Tele-working, Telecommuting—whatever name you call it by, it means that you will be completing your internship experience completely ONLINE from your own home computer or laptop, without any physical commute necessary!

An Online Internship allows you to work with a company—local, national or perhaps even international—completing whatever online tasks are required of you, all from the comfort of your own home. 

Online tasks can and will change depending on the type of internship and the company you work for online. Online Internship tasks may include, but not be limited to, running social media accounts, working on online business projects, designing websites, creating marketing reports, putting together financial assessments, designing code and much more!

Online Internships are completed remotely which means you will not be meeting with your work team in person. However, this does not mean you will be alone during your online internship! Online internships will often come with daily or weekly meetings with your supervisor or work team. 

Omar Lopez, a sophomore at Hamilton College, shared more about his experience in an Online Internship with U.S. News & World Report: “I would say that the biggest difference between an online internship and a face-to-face one is that deadlines become a bit more flexible and the time you work on things can be almost whenever.” According to U.S. News & World Report, Lopez was completing an online internship with WhiteCliff Wealth Management. 

Lopez shared that instead of having to log into from 10:00am to 3:00pm for a somewhat typical part time internship schedule, he would sometimes start his day earlier and end by noon. He decided to take advantage of his internship flexibility by completing his online responsibilities at the time frame of his choosing.

Try looking at job boards for specific career fields and also using network contacts and LinkedIn to see what’s out there!

Another way to find internships is by brainstorming a list of local, national and international companies that you would be interested in completing an online internship with! Consider sending a polite email and attaching your resume in order to inquire about online internship availabilities!