The pandemic pushed us all to adapt quickly – how can we still experience life-changing internships and cross-cultural understandings when we can’t travel or physically be in the office where the magic happens?
It was my first experience working from home, but it was one to remember. My first internship in the Netherlands happened to be at one of the largest multi-national consumer goods company in the world. Unilever’s commitment to building a better community and ambition for being a brand with a purpose spoke to my own values and I was fortunate enough to have been a part of the Sustainable Business & Communications team in charge of meaningful campaigns around the world.
At first, I thought it would be a bit strange to start to work with people I barely knew, let alone haven’t physically met in person, but jumping into the internship, I felt that it effortlessly became my reality where I didn’t need to think twice about the new way of working.
There are two main takeaways from my experience as a virtual intern:
- While you should definitely be an independent thinker, you won’t be expected to know everything, especially not during your first few weeks. The first piece of advice I received from my supervisors before officially starting my first day was “Ask a lot of questions”.
Questions show your enthusiasm about a particular subject, and your willingness to learn more and dive into the projects that are presented to you. I didn’t think I would have trouble asking questions, but the wave of information on ongoing projects and overall operations of the company overwhelmed me. I felt that there was so much going on, that I didn’t know whether it was okay to ask so many questions. I became worried I’d ask too much and went straight to overthinking mode. After mustering up the courage and structuring my questions in a way that makes sense and is relevant, I realized there was really nothing to be afraid of. So, if you have a question and are afraid you’re asking too much, you’re not. There are no stupid questions.
In a virtual internship it’s also important to find out whether your team has a default mode of communication. What belongs in online chats and what is best for emails? How quickly are you expected to respond to messages or is it better to set up a virtual video call?
Although this can transition smoothly and you will eventually familiarize yourself with how things work, asking this at the start of your internship will save you time to think about it later on. Since you may be in contact with people outside your team, or even outside the company, it’s important to understand the way of communicating in order to develop good connections with people.
- It’s important to identify opportunities within your virtual environment. You might find that the organisation is less busy than usual, and that gives you the time to create opportunities for yourself. Try to recognize prospects you can add value to wherever possible as your natural curiosity will give you the chance to widen your skillset giving you room to both personally and professionally. Unilever had a digital learning platform I spent most of my free time on and I was able to implement these new skills in several tasks that allowed it to stand out more than it would’ve.
Whatever your experience is like, reflection is highlighted every step of the way: What have you learned and what would you want to do more and less of in your next endeavor? Even during the process of your internship, it’s good to reflect on past tasks so that you can present an even better performance. Internships are about learning about yourself, your skills and your passion, and having been virtual does not change any of that.
Even though working from home stayed on until the very end, I was able to build meaningful relationships with my supervisor, colleagues and fellow interns. A virtual internship actually led me to meet people from around the world I wouldn’t have otherwise got the chance to interact with. This internship was one for the books and has shaped me to be a person more aware of my surroundings and I am grateful to have been part of a work environment as family-like as Unilever.