You Know You Need a Virtual Intern When...

Virtual interning can be a great, inexpensive way for young people (as well as non-traditional students/career transitioners) who may not be in metropolitan cities to gain experience with companies. It also is an effective way for companies and solopreneurs to minimize the expenses of workspace and hands on supervision. Virtual internships can be paid or unpaid and include anything from more mundane tasks like data entry and web research to internet branding/social media strategy and grant writing. Virtual interns tend to be self-motivated, thrive with minimal supervision, and can communicate well using non face-to-face mediums (e.g. email, Skype, Twitter, G-chat, etc.)

As a prospective virtual intern or supervisor, you want to be clear on the intern's primary and secondary tasks and make sure that there is enough variety to keep the intern engaged so that it's a mutually beneficial relationship. In successful virtual internship relationships, it's important for both parties to co-create the internship agreement (e.g. discuss expectations, how training will be conducted, supervision/support, medium(s) for communication, grounds for evaluation, how conflict will be negotiated should it arise, and possible next steps). Virtual interns want to walk away from the experience having provided value to the company or person and with a good reference, ideally placed on the intern's LinkedIn profile.

I love the concept of a virtual internship, although I've been reticent to take a virtual intern on. Yet, I know it's time because...

1. I have uttered the words, "When I have a virtual intern I'll launch..." half a dozen times over the last month.
2. Each time I speak with a motivated college student I envision him or her as my virtual intern.
3. I find myself increasingly speaking about the benefits of virtual internships to young people, professionals, managers, and media.
4. When an intern butchered my name and bio at a recent speaking event, I thought to myself, "My intern would never do that."
5. I spent part of a day off (Thank you Nevada for Nevada Day!) writing about my need for one!

Okey dokey. By the end of 2009, I will have a virtual intern in place to make 2010 Catalyst for Action's best year yet.