Thinking of hosting a remote internship? Here’s 5 valuable lessons we learnt

When we (EmailOctopus) first signed up to the UCL 2020 summer internship programme, we didn’t plan on it being a remote one. This was back in February when the full impact of Coronavirus and global lockdowns was still a little while away.

We’ve run internships in the past. And they’ve been the perfect opportunity to get our remote team together in one spot for away days and planning sessions.

But this year was different. And as the UK brought in restrictions to limit the spread of Covid-19, we soon realised we’d have to move the internship online.

After eight weeks of hosting a remote internship, here’s what we learnt in the process.

1. Create plenty of opportunities for social interaction

Remote work can be lonely. Especially if you thrive on human connection and social interactions. For uni students who have spent the past few years working on a degree surrounded by classmates and tutors, the transition to remote work can be a challenge.

Which is why it’s important to schedule fun team activities during the internship. This could be online game tournaments. It could be online icebreakers. Or even better, team lunches or coffee breaks held on a video call. A mix is even better.

2. Regularly check in with your intern

Online communication is by its very nature impersonal. And it’s no substitute for the organic exchanges that take place in an office environment.

Sending a direct message to a new manager that you’ve not met in person can be intimidating. So to remove this barrier to communication, schedule regular check-ins. A morning call to discuss the day ahead is a must. And an afternoon call to catch up on progress is a good idea too.

Even if you don’t have anything in particular on the agenda, stick to a daily call. It will create the opportunity for more organic conversation and things might crop up that wouldn’t have otherwise.

Oh, and always use video calls – it’s much better at building rapport than a voice call.

3. Set deadlines and keep track of progress

Getting deadlines right is a bit of a balancing act. You don’t want to impose rigid deadlines when an intern is just starting out, as they’re still learning how to do things. And so they’ll be a little slower.

But conversely, being too lenient with deadlines means you end up with tasks dragging on for much longer than anticipated.

The best course of action is to keep deadlines loose at the beginning. But start tightening them up once your intern has completed a few tasks and you’ve got a sense of how long other tasks will take them.

Then set specific deadlines. And don’t be afraid to follow up on these tasks to make sure they’re on track. That’s where your daily catch up calls will come in handy.

For many of us, university is often our first experience of scheduling our time freely. Yet time management can still be a challenge for remote workers. So as a manager, it’s your responsibility to provide structure with deadlines. And to provide tips on how to manage workload with productivity tools and hacks.

4. Introduce your intern to all aspects of your business early on

Your intern will get the most value out of the internship if they’re exposed to a variety of roles and responsibilities within your business. It will give them a chance to figure out what they’re most interested in and expose areas where they might be lacking in skills or knowledge.

So set aside time at the beginning to explain how your business operates – provide an overview of the answers to these three important questions: what we do, why we do it and how we do it.

Arrange for each member of the team to spend time with your intern and explain their role and responsibilities. Allowing time for a Q&A will give your intern an opportunity to find out more about the different aspects of the company, whether that’s HR or product development.

And expose your intern to the various tools and platforms you use. This will provide them with valuable experience for future jobs.

5. Give them a project to take ownership of

When people enjoy a sense of ownership, it helps them to feel that they’re playing an important role in the success of your business. And giving someone a project to own also taps into the need for autonomy, one of the three key areas Daniel H. Pink identifies in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

So when planning your internship, pull out any ideas you’ve had sitting on the back-burner. And task your intern with launching one of these ideas. Get them to do the necessary research, ask them to pitch it to you, and have them launch it.

Create mini projects with a specific goal – something that your intern can own from start to finish. And something that will sound impressive on their CV. After all, this internship is meant to help with their future job prospects. So give them a chance to claim a particular success within your business.

Final thoughts

Hosting an internship is a great way to bring a fresh perspective to your business. And the “new normal” of remote working doesn’t change that. In fact, it’s an opportunity to assess how well you work as a remote team. And to consider ways in which you can improve. Whether that’s hosting more virtual social events or encouraging more banter on the company Slack.

And that is ultimately good for your business.

While for interns, a remote internship provides the experience they need to adapt to the job market in the era of Coronavirus. Which is certainly valuable while many companies are still encouraging their employees to work from home.

So if you’re thinking of hosting an internship, but are a little put off by the thought of a remote version, we say do it! You’ll learn and grow from the experience. As will your intern. And that’s the real value of an internship.

This post is an adaptation of an article originally published on the EmailOctopus blog.