Internships getting challenged during COVID-19

The idea behind the students working in an internship is for them to gain practical experience; which cannot be found in books or could be taught by a professor. An internship is an opportunity provided to them in order to gain vital practical experience and evolve into full fledged professionals capable of working properly in an organisation. Although some opportunities may present themselves to them in their academia in the form of case studies, clubs and events; they are simply not enough for them to emulate an organisation and its environment.

Being in an organisation while working as an intern is a great opportunity for students, because they can learn about many things in the organisation in which they work as an intern, They learn about most demanded qualities needed in an employee, the structure of the organisation and processes occurring in the organisation. These experiences enhance the potential of the students; motivate them and making them a prospective candidate in the eyes of everyone.

COVID-19 has challenged this traditional way of internship in which the student had to work in the organisation physically while interacting directly and experiencing things the normal way. It has raised many questions in the minds of both the students as well as the organisations. Many questions about the flexibility of the internships and training processes are being raised. Ideas such as virtual offices, work from home and online mentoring/training are being promoted as a solution to the prevailing situations. Although by utilizing these concepts many companies are able to cut costs such as travelling allowances, perks and other major recreational and maintenance costs, many organisations are finding it challenging to train interns online, especially if the company wants to train operations interns who need direct supervision under an experienced mentor while interacting with various systems present in the facility, as many facilities are running under several restrictions; resulting in reduced production and devastated economies of scale which the companies have to tackle somehow, this in turn is affecting the general populous consisting of students and workers.

Many companies are terminating or delaying their intern recruitment process, thus making the interns turn to shady companies who are assigning odd tasks or demanding some incentives such as making them sell a minimum amount of their products in the name of internships. Although this process may provide students with a certificate to decorate their resume; it won’t provide them with practical knowledge which is necessary for the students.

The current situation requires great attention as it challenges an organisation to improve its work and training process’s flexibility. Organisations now need to find lucrative ways to tackle these issues by providing its employees and interns to work and train online; without compromising on the work and training quality. This is the right way to go as enhancing the work and training process’s flexibility will generate lower wastage of time and resources, while providing high quality work input.

https://content.techgig.com/tcs-launches-platform-for-student-to-find-virtual-internships/articleshow/75743264.cms