Remote internship tips for employers

Tips from Career Services and recruiting professionals:

Structure/schedule

It’s important to have ground rules established, so everyone knows what to expect. If the hours are flexible, then make sure an intern knows that ahead of time and can plan for it.
A supervisor who doesn’t have specific hours, and would send a Zoom link an hour ahead of impromptu meeting times is difficult for an intern to plan their schedule around and anticipate when they need to be available for a meeting.

Project management

Inform you intern the process for projects, i.e. do they need to ask for projects when in need of new work?
Identify how projects will be selected, completed and reviewed. Project management tools, like a Trello board, are useful for interns to know what projects they can take on or see what’s been assigned to them, and allow their supervisor to see their process and where they’re at with each one.
When a supervisor/co-worker who is providing projects or working on a project with the intern leaves for vacation, give the intern a list of projects to work on independently while they’re gone.
Provide a company phone/email tree, to save the intern time when needing to reach out to different colleagues.

Intentional interaction

Weekly 15-minute video conference check-ins are important, even twice a week would be helpful. Especially since interns are missing out on in-person interaction and communication.
When face-to-face, supervisors can see the work interns are doing and provide more real-time praise. When virtual there needs to be more intention to check-in with students to offer feedback and support.
It’s helpful to have one person (this could be their supervisor) who keeps in touch and builds a connection with the intern so they have a point-person within the organization to go to for questions or check-ins.