Business Students Find Ways to Continue Internships Remotely
March 30, 2020
The switch to online classes as a result of COVID-19 didn’t just alter students’ plans in the classroom. As Fisher students returned home, and non-essential businesses closed, many internships also came to an end. Luckily, technology allowed several students to continue their internship work, just with a much different backdrop.
Senior Jacob Thompson is not letting these changes stop him from finishing his marketing and communications internship in the Advancement Department at Bishop Kearney High School. Thompson says the move has been smooth so far and the strong foundation built on-site at Bishop Kearney has transitioned into clear and effective communication that has made it easy to work from home.
Email, texts, phone calls, and FaceTime have allowed Thompson to continue meeting, interacting, and collaborating with his co-workers just as he would if he was still in the office, and he feels that working remotely has many benefits. “In a remote setting I believe an individual can truly maximize their creative freedom and potential,” he said.
In addition to adjusting to remote work, Thompson has also had to switch gears at his internship to provide marketing and communication messages appropriate for the times we are living in. Thompson made a video that was posted on the Bishop Kearney Facebook and Twitter pages that showed pictures of students and staff working from home with #BKproud signs in order to portray the unity and tradition at Bishop Kearney while highlighting the strength of the students and staff during these unprecedented times.
Benjamin Bedosky, a senior accounting major and tax intern for Insero & Co. CPAs, has also had to make some changes. Bedosky fully transitioned to a remote internship and for him, the biggest challenge has been the inability to communicate in-person with his co-workers. He prefers face-to-face interaction, and communicating virtually has required him to adapt and move out of his comfort zone.
However, Bedosky does like the ability to work from the comfort of his own home. One benefit is not having to spend time or money driving to the office. As difficult as this whole situation is, Bedosky still feels that he is gaining valuable experience with remote work, something that may become the norm in the future.
Luckily, most of the work at Insero & Co. CPAs is done online and is in the cloud, so the transition to working from home was seamless. “I am very thankful to Insero for continuing my internship and providing the interns with a great experience. The fact that they are allowing the interns to continue has been a blessing,” he said.
As an intern at The Bonadio Group, Elizabeth Izydorczak enjoyed weekly lunches with her team and the ability to pop into her colleagues’ offices to ask a question. Through the work from home transition, she is learning to plan meetings with her supervisor in advance to ensure she has all the information she needs to work through her projects.
Fortunately, Bonadio interns are provided with a laptop at the start of their internships, and Izydorczak said that training helped her feel prepared to work from home. She is gaining experience using Cisco Jabber to message, call, and video conference with her colleagues.
“One of my coworkers shared their screen to cover this new project that I was just going to start. This allowed me to get a visual as to what I really need to do instead of not being able to see it,” she said.
Matthew Sciandra, who is also an intern at Bonadio, agreed that one of the biggest challenges working from home has been communication. However, Sciandra enjoys the flexibility that comes with working from home. He is also learning focus, self-discipline, and how to take on more. He has learned the importance of creating a schedule for himself in order to stay on track. Overall, he feels that this is a valuable opportunity because many companies are starting to be more flexible with work from home policies. “My best advice is to create a schedule for yourself, take a break every once in a while, and don’t be afraid to ask questions,” Sciandra said.
For the past two weeks, Anthony Silvanic has been working from home for his internship with Constellation Brands. He said he truly enjoyed heading into work each day, and misses seeing his colleagues around the office.
However, working remotely has offered some benefits. He has become more adept at video conferencing and messaging software, and is learning more keyboard shortcuts.
“I like the responsibility that comes with working from home. Because effective communication can be problematic at times, I have been forced to work through some of my questions individually,” he said. “I believe doing this has made me a better intern.”
These times may be unprecedented and unpredictable; but students say they are finding ways to carry on and overcome the challenges thrown their way.
“Most everyone has been affected in some way by the current requirements for social distancing that has temporarily moved many of us to safer locations for work,” said Assistant Dean Lori Hollenbeck. “This has unquestionably required significant adaptation for many, but Fisher students are resilient and will be even more skilled as an outcome of this transition.”