Our virtual internship program began in May with 17 interns from 10 educational institutions working in eight states. By the time the program was set to wind down in late June, it had become clear that the interns were gaining valuable knowledge and experience. Likewise, clients were experiencing added value. As a result, we extended the program from a shortened six weeks to the originally planned 11 weeks — after which most of the interns received formal offers to continue on with AArete as analysts starting in 2021.

The program was — by both pandemic and pre-pandemic metrics — a resounding success. Interns were able to succeed on the same day-to-day tasks virtually that they would have had in-person, including pro-bono work for Mercy Home for Boys and Girls to assist them in their annual fundraising in a virtual environment, as well as a number of other projects involving strategic cost reduction, procurement, data and analytics, technology implementation, research, and data gathering. 

“The interns achieved success despite, or maybe even because of, the program’s unconventional format. In fact, by some metrics, this was our most successful intern class,” noted AArete’s CEO Loren Trimble. “We had our largest team of interns yet, with broader geographical diversity than would have been possible had we met in-person in Chicago.” 

Concentrating on Communication

In past years, interns were able to pick up on the company culture simply by being in the office, meeting new people every day, or being on client locations, working side by side with their teams. Team leaders quickly realized the importance of keeping these qualities in the remote experience, so they established proactive touch points between interns and people in many different roles throughout the company. 

To “bring our culture” to the interns, we scheduled more formal interactions with more people at all seniority levels of the firm. The interns probably had more exposure with more leaders than in other years. We felt we were able to further demonstrate company culture with events like virtual breakfasts and other social events like mentorship and buddy programs. 

Determining the right amount of communication, involving everyone — including interns, intern buddies, engagement teams, managing directors, senior leadership, and clients — was critical and required some initial adjustments. If we had known at the start of the program that the interns would lean heavily upon their peer group of other interns for support, to ask questions, compare notes, and build relationships — and if we had known the internship would be remote — we would have made introductions among the interns much earlier before the formal program started. 

Additionally, when we started back in May we thought the program would only last six weeks, so we accelerated their formal training in the first week rather than trying to intermix it throughout the normal course of the internship’s 11 weeks. With the knowledge that we would actually have more time, we would have provided the formal training more consistently through their entire experience...

Source: ERE