Internships are an excellent way for students to begin to network with professionals and learn basic job skills. For high school students, they are one of the best ways to explore career fields, and explore academic and extracurricular interests further. Given the current Covid-19 situation, many physical internships have been cancelled or delayed for the summer. However, this should not deter motivated students from exploring virtual internships where all or most of the work would be conducted from home, while interacting with employers/organizations online or via phone. Even beyond Covid-19, the availability of virtual internships are especially welcome opportunities for students who may not have the time or modes of transportation to physically attend an internship multiple times a week. Students can intern anywhere in the world, within the comfort of their own home. Many of these internships are part-time, and many offer flexibility in how and when work gets done.
Based on each student’s interests and abilities, they can look to work within the following five major categories.
- Healthcare
- Government
- Business/Technology
- Education
- Nonprofits (Volunteering/Social Impact)
Keep in mind that it is relatively difficult for high school students to get paid for remote internships. It is also important to note that despite these categories being very different, a lot of them require similar skills such as communication, data analysis or computer/coding experience. These skills should be well displayed within your teen’s resume, which you can learn more about here. When contacting organizations or interviewing with them, your teen should be prepared to offer useful skills or express how they would like to learn/master those skills. Rather than simply asking for an internship, they should be able to emphasize why they want it, what they can offer, and what they want to learn. Even if a student does social media work for a healthcare company, the student will still gain important experience in the healthcare industry that will help them decide whether a career in the field makes sense for them. The internship does not need to be the “perfect fit” for the student to have a good experience.
Finding internships is most easily done though search websites such as Indeed, Chegg Internships, and LinkedIn. Your teen may create an account and search key phrases such as “remote high school internships” or “virtual high school internships” to narrow down search results. They may also search for their fields of interest to get results for companies they want to work with. These online platforms provide an incredibly large database of options, but as a result, they receive large numbers of applications - hence, it is a challenge to break through and get a reply back to interview. Before applying, your teen can message hiring managers or specific employees on LinkedIn to ask questions and network. If a family member, teacher or other acquaintances can connect the student to anyone in the organization, even better.
Perhaps a more effective approach to finding online internships is to directly contact interesting organizations and businesses that may not even have any official applications open. The best way to start is locally. For example, many high schoolers contact local businesses and send out an email or phone call, asking if they would like help with digital marketing. They teach themselves the fundamentals of content marketing, social media marketing, or search engine optimization (SEO). SEO actually requires knowledge of HTML, a coding language, which your teen can teach themselves using online resources that we have detailed in our Best of Online Learning: Coding blog post. Digital marketing is the most accessible internship opportunity for high school students and a necessity in nearly every career field. It can teach your teen more about the industry they are interested in, and also teach them hard skills, such as coding, to list on their resume. If successful, digital marketing internships may involve pay. Right now, there are many local small businesses that are hurting from Covid-19 and the right student with some good ideas may provide much needed help.
Healthcare
The recent Covid-19 pandemic has re-emphasized the constant demand for healthcare. Pre-med or nursing students can look to intern remotely by contacting private practices, clinics or hospitals and inquiring about remote secretary positions, medical paperwork/filings, or any other work they can do that will help them learn about the medical field and network.
Research internships are another excellent option for students interested in the life sciences, but are more difficult to do remotely. As opposed to lab work, your teen would likely be doing data analysis, computer science or reading published journals. Students can contact university professors, pharmaceutical companies or other research organizations and inquire about remote opportunities. Your teen should make sure each email/phone call is tailored to the recipient and show that they have done research on them. They should also attach a resume that includes contact information and follow up to demonstrate interest. Even if the research internship does not involve pay, your teen may make connections or earn experience that will be valuable later on.
Government
Government internships are difficult to do remotely, but much like healthcare internships, your teen can contact organizations. Law firms sometimes take on paralegal interns, and students can also email district offices, local townships or state representatives to accumulate experience online. Campaign election interns are widely sought after. Most accept high school students and offer work that can be done remotely.
Another valuable resource is the US Department of State, which offers a wide range of internships. The only virtual internship program they have at the moment is for college students, and you can find details for that here. However, they also have several programs that high school students can apply to. Your teen can reach out to your local branch to inquire about any remote or virtual opportunities, especially as a result of social distancing measures.
Business/Technology
Technology-based remote internships are the easiest to find, for obvious reasons. Many large companies, such Chegg, Google or Facebook all have remote opportunities, but the real challenge is to find one that accepts high-school students. Your teen is more likely to land one at a large company if they apply equipped with skills such as coding or from previous internships at smaller companies. They can start by finding start-ups using websites such as LinkedIn and send a message of interest and a resume. Software and tech companies are obvious choices, but your teen should not be afraid to reach out to companies in various fields. Technology is used in every industry. Digital marketing and graphic design internships are an excellent choice, as long as your teen is able to navigate the necessary software, whether it be social media or Adobe InDesign, for each job description. Students can either apply to listed positions at start-ups or reach out to local businesses. The latter, which we discussed in the introduction of this article, is far more efficient for high school students.
Education
Education refers to not only teaching internships at schools K-12, but research internships as well. We briefly discussed research on the topic of healthcare, but realistically, research extends to every subject. From social sciences to humanities, your teen can contact university professors or local media outlets and inquire about remote research and reporting opportunities.
Public libraries often offer volunteer and internship positions, from teaching community classes to book reviews, and your local ones may also have online opportunities. If not, your teen can propose and start their own online program or blog.
They can even teach lessons. Students interested in arts and music can contact local dance, art, or music studios and inquire about being mentored on how to teach the skill. Given the current times, more studios have begun to offer online classes. If your teen has trained for years, they can be mentored on how to teach and potentially turn it into a part-time job offer.
Non-Profits
Several nonprofits offer remote volunteer opportunities. Some are research oriented, have remote internship programs, or are in need of bilingual volunteers. Below is a short list of large nonprofits your teen can look into. If these don’t strike their interest, they can research nonprofits on their own, contact smaller nonprofits that match their career goals, and personally inquire about remote internships. They can do so using search websites such as Volunteer Match and Volunteer to find local opportunities. If your teen has a specific cause they are passionate about, starting their own initiative is an option that exemplifies motivation, drive and leadership skills.
Boys and Girls Club lets your teen record a video right from home to share with youth. Some content ideas to consider: Reading a book to the members, demonstrating a skill that they have, teaching a craft, teaching a sports skill or yoga routine.
Paper Airplanes is a non-profit that recruits English tutors to work via Skype with conflict-affected students in the Middle East. They look for volunteer tutors to assist with their efforts in addition to recruiting for virtual internships for people who have experience in social media, video editing and/or photoshop.
Zooniverse gives people of all ages and backgrounds the chance to participate in real research with over 50 active online citizen science projects. Projects include helping comb through data tackling antibiotic-resistant disease, searching for gravitational waves, and counting penguins.
Translators without Borders translates more than ten million words per year for non-profit organizations by working with thousands of volunteer translators worldwide. Their work focuses on crisis response, development, capacity building, and advocacy.
People Power is the American Civil Liberties Union's platform for grassroots action. Their volunteer teams help mobilize and organize communities all across the country in defense of our civil liberties by making calls, sending texts or translating materials into Spanish.
If your student could use guidance on summer internship options, please schedule a time to speak with us HERE.
For additional insights, check out our blogs:
Are Pre-College Summer Programs Worth It?
Most Prestigious Summer Programs
Do High School Students Need a Focus?
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