An internship is an opportunity to work at an organization, sometimes with pay and sometimes without, that provides valuable real world work experience. It can help land coveted jobs in the technology industry. Given a choice between two qualified applicants, the one with hands-on job experience wins out. Research backs up the value of internships.1
But how does one get an internship? Some people have family or friends in high places and can score a great opportunity by having an “in” with an employer. But most people can’t depend on luck. GEOinterns helps students get the internships they seek, both on-site and virtual. GEOinterns uses its tech industry connections to help a wide-range of students from all over the world find an internship that’s a good fit for their skills and goals.
On-site internships are the traditional choice where the intern works at the company’s facilities. On-site internships can be the right choice for students who can travel away from home, afford costly housing options, and navigate visa requirements. But on-site internships tend to be a “one size fits all” proposition where students either take it or leave it. In today’s interconnected world, however, modern workplaces can offer flexible new opportunities through connectivity. One of these new opportunities is the virtual internship—interns perform tasks remotely for an employer without relocating. For many students for whom a traditional on-site internship isn’t viable, a virtual internship makes it possible to gain the real world work experience they need to help get the jobs they seek.
But it’s not just a choice between traditional and virtual internships—there’s a continuum; the right internship for a particular student might be some combination of both. A modern internship opportunity might be partly on-site and partly virtual. For example, a student might travel to a company’s physical location for on-boarding meetings and then work from home on specific tasks. Or a company might divide its internship into some time spent on-site and some off-site. Some companies send supervisors to meet with their teams in the countries where they live and work; others use Skype, Slack, Google Hangouts, or similar technologies to conduct “face-to-face” meetings.
GEOinterns works closely with our students and our corporate partners to create flexible internships opportunities that work for both. GEOinterns tries to match students to each opportunity, taking into account the needs, goals, and constraints of our students and those of our corporate partners. And GEOinterns takes full advantage of technology to help a diverse population of students secure the internships they desire.
GEOinterns is a free service for business. GEOinterns is underwritten almost entirely by universities and career development agencies to help students obtain tech industry internships—traditional, virtual, or a hybrid—matched to their skills, goals, and constraints. In some cases, students reach out directly to GEOinterns for assistance without going through another organization. In these rare instances, there are fees for the students, but only if they get a written offer they accept.
Traditional internships provide a proven path for career development. Virtual internships help our clients gain valuable career-building experiences on their schedule without having to absorb the cost of relocation. And our corporate partners get to expand their search and retain talent from beyond their zip code. It’s a win-win. We deliver first-rate talent to our tech partners. And we help our clients launch their careers and achieve their dreams.
This study shows the significant impact of internships on career outcomes. , Study Shows Impact of Internships on Career Outcomes, naceweb.org (Oct. 11, 2017), available online.
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