For organizations offering virtual internships, figuring out how to manage your offsite interns is a challenge in itself - and creating a great onboarding experience for your remote interns is no small feat. After all, the onboarding process is one of the first and most important aspects of your program, and will set the stage for a successful intern experience overall.
After getting the scoop from several leading internship program managers, we’ve put together a great list of ideas on how to create a dynamic intern onboarding experience, even when it’s all remote!
Your managers are likely not familiar with managing remote teams, let alone interns who often need a bit more guidance than more seasoned professionals. Draft a best practices document for your team that includes feedback from your pre-intern surveys including any concerns your incoming class has, and ideas to address those concerns proactively.
For example, you could do a virtual meeting for all of your interns, give a brief presentation on your company and answer any questions your interns have. Make sure to invite the managers so they can introduce themselves to the group as well. To take this a step further, consider inviting mentors and past interns to share insights and help get your incoming class excited for what’s to come.
The first day is the true launch of your internship program - make sure to welcome your interns right away, and try to think outside the box to get them involved and engaged. Our experts say to keep the first day light, fun, and engaging rather than immediately hitting them with a ton of admin tasks and training sessions. Here are some great ideas for the first day of onboarding:
You can also do an “end of first day” intern welcome session, or a happy hour, where interns can get to know the team and each other. You could have every intern introduce themselves individually, or use breakout rooms for smaller group interactions.