A virtual internship is a work experience program where the participant (

intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

) gains experience while working in a remote professional setting and is not physically present at the job location. Virtual interns communicate with their employer online through various means including email,

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

WhatsApp WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows us ...

, instant messaging, phone conversations,

webinars Web conferencing is used as an umbrella term for various types of online conferencing and collaborative services including webinars (web seminars), webcasts, and web meetings. Sometimes it may be used also in the more narrow sense of the peer-le ...

, project management tools,

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

messaging, etc. Virtual internships are undertaken by both students and

graduates Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is a ...

, usually some form of white-collar work, often within fields suitable to

remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...

such as

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

creative arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

, or

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

. According to career experts, although virtual internships are currently rare, they are growing in popularity due to improving

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

and the growth of

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

. A rise has been reported in virtual internships — most of which are unpaid — especially from small ventures and start ups seeking additional help. Larger companies are also starting to explore offering these types of internships. They are presently most popular among small to midsize companies and online businesses. Virtual internships have been criticized for not providing the supervision and guidance that internships are meant to provide. Despite this, virtual or remote internships are a viable option amidst the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic, where travel options are limited. They may rival and sometimes exceed what traditional internships offer.

Expertise

The most common virtual internships include information technology, software development, marketing, social media, research, writing, journalism, media, pre- and post-event planning, video creation and editing, human resources, graphic design, search engine optimization and marketing, non-profits and government internships, political internships, engineering internships, and public relations internships. Students who do internships online underestimate their contributions when employers rate them as valuable.

Programs

Africa

The West African Academy of Public Health operates a virtual internship program with mentoring cascade for recent graduates interested in working in

global health Global health is the health of the populations in the worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problem ...

. The "WAAPH VIP" as it is called, engages youths in health information advocacy to expand their health information literacy, core leadership skills and community engagement capacity to work in public health issues.

North America

The

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

operates the Virtual Student Foreign Service program. As of 2012, 343 virtual interns have worked with US diplomatic posts in 97 countries.

Europe

Preaсtum is the first company in Russia to do a virtual internship Currently, they have launched a program to train retail business managers for

Otkritie FC Bank PJSC "Bank Otkrytie Financial Corporation" or Otkrytie FC Bank (russian: Банк «ФК Открытие», translates as ''opening'' or ''discovery'') is one of Russia's largest full-service commercial banks. It has more than 440 offices of di ...

and an introduction to the various departments of

Russian Post Russian Post ( rus, Почта России, a=RU-Почта России.wav, ''Pochta Rossii'') is an Aktsionernoye Obschestvo (AO, private limited company)

. Also, a virtual internship for

Rosneft PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian Vertical integration, integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, Extraction of petroleum, extraction, production, refining, Petroleum t ...

will be launched in 2021.

References

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