Most Common Types of Internship (2024)

When in college, you will be often told about the importance of internship in your career growth. However, in order to make the most out of your internships, you need to be aware of the different ways in which an internship experience can be structured. It will help you judge which internships will you enjoy and profit from the most.

To help you get started, have a look at the most common types of internship

Virtual interns are the interns who work remotely rather than from employer’s office. This option not only allows the company to find interns outside of their geographical location, it gives students from a small town and remote location an opportunity to intern with big companies. It minimises the requirement of office space as well as the need for the daily commute. Interns can set their own schedule and work flexible hours. This is a great option for someone who wants to continue college while doing an internship.

Internships are usually classified by an industry that corresponds with the course an intern is pursuing. However, there is no such rule and the candidate can choose to intern in an entirely different industry too! There are hundreds of internship types but most of them are broadly classified into marketing, advertising, finance, entertainment, legal, technology, fashion, PR, IT and content internships.

As the name suggests, paid internships are the ones where you will be paid a stipend per month whereas unpaid internship is where you work for free. There are blurred lines and disputes regarding whether it is legal to employ interns without pay. But this is also a truth that a lot many companies also hire interns without pay while many others pay excellent stipend and perks. Nevertheless, paid internships and unpaid internships are other methods of classification.

It is like a practical lesson for the theory you have been taught in the class. It is an opportunity that gives students, mostly from science, core engineering and sociology stream to develop skills by observing, mapping, recording and interpreting data. The best fieldwork experience includes a combination of supervision and education along with independent research practice. The research can be limited to one subject or can be a combination of different but related topics.

It is like internships but is way shorter than them. They usually last for 1–3 weeks where students spend a typical day at job learning and understanding the work environment. This helps you understand the career of your choice without giving any long-term commitment. Unlike internships, externships are mostly unpaid and are common among medical, legal and accounts students.

In part-time internships, the intern spends only a few hours a day working in the employer’s office. However, in full-time internships, the intern usually have to work like a permanent employee of the company clocking in time according to the office’s work hours. Most summer internships are full-time internships and are usually paid. Whereas part-time internships are available throughout the year and students can work on them while continuing university.

Apart from these, the internships can also be classified according to the location, time of the year, credit/no-credit, etc. It is important to understand and know about different kinds of internships so that you can focus your search for an internship and decide which ones would benefit you the most.

PS: This post was originally published on Switch Idea Blog