Why you should consider hiring a remote intern

As of today, I am nearly nine months into my internship with Pierce PR. During that time, I have only met with the team in person for business-related purposes a single time. Despite the limited amount of time I’ve spent sitting at a desk with my co-workers discussing strategy or implementation, there has been no shortage of opportunities for me to contribute to our goals and objectives and experience the professional enrichment every intern hopes to gain.

Why? Because remote internships are an excellent way to connect a hardworking intern with a company looking to add a new voice for the summer – or for much longer!

The rate of internships going remote has increased significantly since 2020. Many companies – Pierce PR included – opted to shift to fully remote work for their full teams, from the top down. According to data collected in 2021 by employment website Indeed, rates of internships being offered remotely had stabilized at around 1 in 5, up from only about 1 in 30 a year before the pandemic hit.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Remote internships were not invented in 2020, yet the idea of needing to be in person to be an efficient, high-performing company has certainly been reimagined since then. The necessity of working from home during the pandemic led many to realize we could invent new ways of reaching our goals, and offering remote jobs and internships is one way our company has found continued success.

My internship with Pierce PR is the second remote internship I’ve held as a college student. Of course, Pierce PR stands above all my past internship and student organization experiences if for no other reason than my co-workers’ outstanding dedication to my continued involvement and learning opportunities, as I outlined in my blog on lessons from my internship. But, there are two important and practical reasons for any organization anywhere to consider hiring a remote intern:

The college lifestyle works well when not confined to an office space

Now that we’re well into summer, I have experience in all seasons interning at Pierce PR, and I can confidently say that being remote has worked to my and my company’s advantage. Working remotely meant I could choose hours that worked with my class schedule and avoid interrupting any of my work shifts to attend class. On Fridays in the spring semester, for instance, I attended our weekly meeting until signing off around 10:45 to go to my 11:00 class. After class and lunch, I’d return at 1:00 in the afternoon to complete whatever work needed to be finished by the end of the week. Reporting to an office for a morning meeting only to trek back to school and then back to the office all over again wouldn’t have been practical; however, being remote opened up a world of flexibility.

And it’s not just during the school year that working remotely is advantageous to college students – the summer is an important time to work remotely as well! With a girlfriend who spends her summers 900 miles away from Nashville at home on the Atlantic coast, plus friends and family scattered all throughout the southeast, I expect to spend time in at least six different cities this summer. As any intern with remote work experience can attest, being on the road does not preclude us from being effective members of an organization. Additionally, hiring remotely allows companies the opportunity to train and invest in interns over a longer period of time since they’re not going home after only a semester or restricted to living in their college towns year-round. 

Hires can be made from anywhere you choose

With remote work being so viable for everyone, why not cast a wide net when searching for your next intern? Generation Z’s collective childhood spent online combined with our unique experience as high school or college students during the pandemic means we’re well-suited to working fully online. Best of all, looking all around the country (or even beyond if your company is international) gives an organization the chance to find the best intern the workforce has to offer with no regard for time zones or state lines.

The city of Nashville is full of excellent young PR practitioners, but so is the entire country. Our next intern hails from Alabama, and my immediate predecessor was based in New York. It’s clear that no matter the industry or the task at hand, companies that offer truly enriching internships (read: no coffee runs or mindless file sorting) can benefit from hiring interns anywhere in the world and without confinement to an office near a college campus.

Evan Dorian is an intern at Pierce Public Relations.