As companies look to the future with a hybrid lens, the concept of internship may have been changed forever
The pandemic didn’t completely kill the internship, but it has fundamentally changed how it operates. With more hybrid work, interns are having to adapt to new environments and dynamics; with the cost of living increasing, fewer new grads are necessarily willing to take a low- or no-pay internship.
The internship game has evolved, and both sides of the equation ― employers and interns ― are learning to adjust.
One obvious difference might be sheer quantity. Around half of all internships were cancelled when Covid hit in 2020, according to some estimates, and not all of them have come back. Across the board, internship participation rates are lower than pre-pandemic, with only around 22 per cent of students completing one, according to one study. Those internships that remained became “hypercompetitive,” according to students.
But the biggest shift is almost certainly the hybrid workplace, and managers are grappling with how to adjust their offerings to this reality.
“One thing that suffers in remote environments is the ability for students to learn about roles besides the one they were hired to do,” said Sarah Tatsis, a senior VP at Blackberry, in an interview with Canadian Business.
But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to adapt. Ana Rita Morais, chair of George Brown College’s School of Design, advised that while remote work means that employers now prefer strong communicators, the same basic rules of a successful internship apply.
“When you bring on an intern, you have to make sure they’re not just floundering in a cubicle [virtual or not],” she said. “Go out for lunch with them once a week, set up a buddy system, talk about what’s working and what’s not working.”
But both still see immense value for both parties in internship programs, even as hybrid work changes them. “Bringing in fresh perspectives generates innovation and creativity ― and that’s really what we’re after when designing new products and services,” said Tatsis.
“Just like before the pandemic, internships are an opportunity to network, understand structures and frameworks in places of work and learn how to collaborate and engage with colleagues,” summed up Morais. “Training the next generation of talent and drawing on their experiences is a tremendous way to add value to the organization.
Content written by Kieran Delamont for Worklife, a partnership between Ahria Consulting and London Inc. To view this content in newsletter form, click here.