How Internships have changed due to Covid-19

Many different activities have changed in our lives due to Covid-19, most notably it has disturbed our working environments in many ways.

We rarely see the gathering of people around us when we look outside. Social distancing and travel restrictions (because of the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide) are forcing the companies and organizations to reconsider the method of apprenticeships and internships for university students.

Due to the safety threats, many internships have been postponed or even worse cancelled this year, which has caused a great deal of disruption to student goals impacting their career choices. It is a real challenge for the last year university students who have their internships periods during Covid-19 to reassess their career decisions and graduate prospects.

Many organisations have started internships abroad where students can participate by staying at home. The Charted Financial Analyst Institute (CFA) has recently announced that they are starting a Virtual Internship programme for summer 2020. While staying at home, the CFA Virtual Internship program 2020 will give a special chance to students to learn global and professional experience.

CFA realizes that students’ plans of internships have been disrupted; therefore all the motivated students can avail that opportunity to explore International learning and can continue their careers.

Similarly, NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) is going to shift internships online, taking advantage of remote working capabilities, but are also limiting the duration of internships. Some organizations are condensing a 10-12 week internship into one to two weeks as a result of the pandemic.

In light of Covid-19, some of the companies are taking the following steps for internships.

• Moving their internship programmes to remote working only.
• Some of them have delayed and cancelled their internship programs.
• Many organisations have reduced the length as resources are now limited.

Hang in there though, as time is moving forward lots of companies are adapting quickly to be able to work in a new way and thus internships are also being moved to online and at home. If you have a summer internship planned for this year and it has been cancelled have a look at the Remote Section of Careersaas to see where else are providing remote internships this year.

Make the most of all the extra time that you have free and plan for your career after you graduate by researching companies and careers that you would be interested in when you start applying for full time role. Research the companies and look at articles that could help better understand the industry that you are looking to enter. Check out our other blog posts on ‘Industry Insights’ to learn more about possible career paths.