Guide to Remote Internships for College Students

Internships offer real-world experience plus a chance to start building your resume and professional network before you graduate. Even better, some internships provide compensation packages, and an increasing number allow you to work from home.

While remote internships are not the best choice for everyone, they can come with significant benefits, including staying closely connected with your community and saving money by not requiring you to relocate.

If you think doing your internship virtually could be the right choice, use our guide below. We look at how remote internships work, how to find and secure the best placement for you, which companies hire remote interns in popular fields, and how to decide between remote and in-person internships.

A remote internship — also called a virtual or online internship — is much like a work-from-home job. You complete your work without going to an office, relocating for the summer, or joining an in-office team. It’s just you and your laptop at home, in a coffee shop, or wherever you can find a reliable Wi-Fi connection.

While not having to find summer housing or follow an office dress code can sound enticing, an online internship demands robust self-discipline. You must be responsible for your daily work schedule, taking the initiative to communicate with your supervisor, and engaging with your team members virtually instead of in person.

However, remote internships can help you cultivate key professional skills in an increasingly digital world. If you plan to work remotely in your career, now could be the perfect time to see what it’s like.

Around 4 million American students find internships each year, but when you’re actively searching for your placement, it can feel like no one’s hiring remote interns. You will increase your chances of finding an opening by treating your internship search like a part-time job.

Diversify your exploration by using job boards, company websites, and LinkedIn. Also, remember to take advantage of in-person networking opportunities at your school or community.

Once you’ve identified around 20 possible placements, you can start to send out your resume. Make sure to customize your communication to each company. Don’t wait to apply, and don’t make the mistake of holding out for your golden opportunity. Apply early, often, and enthusiastically to all credible placements.

While many fields now work with remote interns, the following areas represent some of the most popular options.

Assist with account management, reconciliation, and analysis while contributing to significant reports and presentations for a company or government agency.

Take advantage of an array of internship opportunities in fields like people and culture, project management, business development, and business intelligence.

Dive deep into financial data, provide actionable insights, translate data into narrative, and assist with developing decision-making presentations.

Marketing interns may collaborate with cross-functional teams for social media management, influencer marketing campaigns, or branding initiatives.

Put your design skills to work on graphic novels, multimedia projects, UX design, or social media marketing. You might also work for an educational or science-related company, bringing complex ideas to life in a compelling and straightforward visual format.

Work in book, music, magazine, or digital publishing, doing anything from creating online banners for books to organizing literary festivals. These internships can open up the world of copyright, sales, marketing, and design for educational or entertainment products.

Sharpen the clinical analysis, writing, psychometric, and market research skills you need for a career in psychology. You can work in mental health, industrial-organizational psychology, or school psychology.

Conduct research, analyze data, and assess public health programs for at-risk populations. You may also maintain databases and produce reports.

Develop and analyze policy proposals or perform legal research for pay and college credit. Public policy, pre-law, and law students can intern at major law firms or public policy organizations without relocating to Washington, D.C., or New York City.

Work with artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, build data models, or participate in the entire life cycle of developing new software.

Gain experience with data privacy and protection, access management, and vulnerability management. You can also work under supervision to investigate and respond to security incidents.

Engineering isn’t always an on-site job. Aspiring software engineers, in particular, can access work-from-home or hybrid internships, coding and documenting cutting-edge projects at leading companies.

Once you have found and ranked your top choices for an internship placement, you can focus on securing your position.

Start by defining your unique advantage. What can you bring to the company or organization where you want to work? Your answer could include your unique mix of skills, strengths, or passions. These characteristics could do more to set you apart from your competition than the particulars of your resume.

Before you even create your application, research the company. Learn what they do, when they started, what their culture values, and who their competitors are. This information will help you draft a compelling cover letter and answer fundamental interview questions such as, “Why do you want to intern with us?”

Prepare questions for your interviewer, too. Make sure your questions dip below the surface and discuss what you want to learn during your internship. For example, if you are applying for a remote fashion internship, ask about fashion design trends, how the company is distinguishing itself from competitors, and how it is advancing sustainability in the fashion industry.

Working remotely requires you to establish specific goals, communicate clearly, solicit feedback, and maintain a professional environment — all without direct supervision. You’ll also need to manage your mental health and stay on top of personal responsibilities without getting distracted. To make an online internship work successfully, try the following tips:

Internships offer valuable experience and networking opportunities. By doing your internship remotely, you can save time and money, manage your own schedule, and possibly even complete two internships in a single semester.

However, working remotely brings distinct challenges. You have to manage your time carefully, steer clear of distractions, and keep your work on track. Most importantly, you must be creative and flexible to establish key professional relationships without the hothouse environment that an in-office arrangement provides. Whether the remote internship is paid or unpaid may also impact how worthwhile the experience is for you.

Only you can decide if the pros of an online internship outweigh the cons in your case. Still, it’s a good idea to talk with a professor, career counselor, and a professional in your field before committing to a placement.