June often marks the start of internships for Penn students, many of whom typically live near their work locations during the summer months. After many internships were canceled or shifted online due to the coronavirus pandemic this year, students are coping with the new virtual formats of their work while at home.
Students wish their internships had not been shifted online due to the lack of face-to-face interaction and the many challenges that virtual formats create with developing workplace relationships.
Rising College junior Daniel Jai, who is working at a small venture capital firm, said his remote internship lacks the community and connection that an in-person internship experience would typically offer.
“It feels very isolating, and it doesn’t feel like I’m working as a team,” rising College sophomore Eric Hoang, said. “It really disrupts the work experience.” Hoang is working in a virtual sales and market research role at T-Mobile.
Rising College and Wharton sophomore Alan Chang, who is at home coding support software for a biopharmaceutical company, agreed with Hoang.
“You lose by chance interactions with people, which I think go a long way,” Chang said. In the past, he said many of his relationships were formed when he talked to someone in the hall or grabbed lunch with them.
In addition to experiencing a lack of connection with other interns and the company itself, students participating in remote internships said it is harder and more time-consuming to reach out to the company's full-time employees.
Rising Engineering junior Daniel Like said one of the reasons he chose to work at Bloomberg as a software intern this summer is because of the company’s emphasis on receiving mentorship from their employees. Now that his internship is remote, Like said it is more difficult to receive help when navigating a project because people have to communicate through direct messages online.
Jai is also experiencing challenges in virtually communicating with the other employees at his firm. “When you're in person [it's] super easy to schedule a five-minute chat, now it has to be super intentional,” he said.
Although some companies that students are working at this summer have attempted to alleviate feelings of disconnect between their employees, students say the virtual internship format continues to fall short compared to the in-person work experience.
“We have these networking things, where [Human Resources] tries to get six, seven people to gather together on a combined call but it's really awkward,” Chang said.
“It's hard to talk. Usually when people talk, you see their emotions, or whether or not they want to talk," he said. "In Zoom, sometimes three people try to talk at the same time. Sometimes no one will talk. It just doesn't work.”
Students at smaller companies, however, are having more positive experiences connecting with their co-workers.
Rising College sophomore Rebecca Wirtschafter, who is working at a small clothing startup, said she has formed a close relationship with everyone at the company.
“Constant communication is helpful. When we do video calls, the conversations we’re having are that much more real,” Wirtschafter said. “We spend time talking about where we are, our families, how we’re feeling.”
Despite the technological and interpersonal challenges of remote internships this year, students said there are benefits as well, particularly the flexibility and the lack of daily commute.
“I can bike during my lunch break and not have to waste any time in passing,” Like said. “I also don’t have to commute."
Regardless of their experiences, students said they believe remote internships will continue to be popular in the coming years.
“I definitely don’t welcome it. It’s nice to have the option, but I would actively seek out in-person internships,” Like added.
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