In a layman’s language virtual internship is ‘Work from Home’ internship.  It is working with people whom you would never meet in person. Mostly virtual internships have flexible work environment. You can do the tasks assigned as per your convenience but within the deadline given. Despite remote working areas and time zones, the timings for the daily meetings are fixed well in advance.

My major takeaways from the virtual internship

I was interning with a startup in South Africa, so working and connecting with people from different regions, understanding their demographics and culture gave me exposure. I got to know and implement new concepts like SWOT Analysis, Golden Circle, Competitive Analysis. Also, scheduling virtual meetings on different platforms, giving the presentations online was a crucial learning that I takeaway from this experience. This will help me to work remotely with some finesse in the near future.

Since ‘Work from Home’ will be a new normal in time to come, I would suggest you to be tech savvy and learn the nuance of business communication during ‘Work from home’ mode. E.g. during the virtual meetings you need to sit in such a place in your house where there won’t be any network connectivity issue and noise disturbances.

My advice to aspiring interns

Whether in person or virtual internship, you should be flexible and open to learning. Try and make as many new connections as possible.

All the best to everyone!