What can be the new arrangements of Internship during COVID-19 Pandemic?
May 11, 2020
“A few months of delay may be fine. Please do not complicate the lives of these brightest children in an already complex environment. If at all, they are capable of getting you out of recession faster than you can imagine.”
-V Ramgopal Rao, Director IIT Delhi
Unemployment has reached a record high due to business closures and social distancing measures brought about by the new coronavirus. Students, too, have been severely impacted due to rescinded internship offers and lessened opportunities. More than ever, students require a specific mindset that allows them to adapt to the changes and get creative. Companies are also unable to help students since the coronavirus has adversely affected the Indian economy. Companies that once were a major source of growth to the economy are now among the hardest hit in the coronavirus pandemic. Naturally, as a consequence, companies are seeking options to reduce their cost. The victims of this rearrangement are mainly the members of the new workforce who were going to join an organization this summer. In some cases, recruiters are withdrawing the offers they have made to the students a few months back.
-V Ramgopal Rao, Director IIT Delhi
Unemployment has reached a record high due to business closures and social distancing measures brought about by the new coronavirus. Students, too, have been severely impacted due to rescinded internship offers and lessened opportunities. More than ever, students require a specific mindset that allows them to adapt to the changes and get creative. Companies are also unable to help students since the coronavirus has adversely affected the Indian economy. Companies that once were a major source of growth to the economy are now among the hardest hit in the coronavirus pandemic. Naturally, as a consequence, companies are seeking options to reduce their cost. The victims of this rearrangement are mainly the members of the new workforce who were going to join an organization this summer. In some cases, recruiters are withdrawing the offers they have made to the students a few months back.
Students need to introspect to figure out their most urgent priorities. Most students have already joined organizations that offered them a reduced stipend. Students are required to view circumstances through a lens of empathy and understanding, as companies are also under severe stress, being made to navigate through various difficulties and tackling unprecedented situations. Slowly but surely, organizations are redesigning their internship program. The management team, too, has had to restructure itself to allow interns to work remotely from within the confines and safety of their own homes.
Scenario so far
As India approached lockdown, students across the country received notifications to leave the campus as soon as possible. The first bad news they could hear during lockdown turned out to be the ambiguity around their much-coveted summer internship.Some organizations allowed interns to work from home. This emerged as somewhat of a silver lining, as an intern could effectively join an organization without delay. But for most students, delay in joining an organization was unavoidable.
By mid-April, News of the extended lockdown was confirmed. By then, some recruiters asked students to commence their summer-internship. However, the situation set to worsen for some who subsequently received news of the revocation of their internship. Though a significant proportion managed to bag other internships, some are still struggling to find one.
Through conversations with students, we realize that many companies have reduced stipend. Students with revoked offers ended up joining a different organization with a much lesser or zero stipend.
Companies are Revoking: Why?
Our country’s economic performance was struggling to keep pace even before COVID-19’s entry, which has further compounded the situation.Companies that deal with non-essential goods, cab service, hospitality, and many more, haven't done any business for the last few weeks. Many start-ups are succumbing to the circumstances created by Covid-19. This situation is making the organizations restructure itself.
To cut the cost, companies are looking for alternatives. Employers are slowing down the hiring rate, cutting down the salary and stipend, laying off the employees, actively revoking internship offers, and so on.
Another reason for the revocation of internships, in most cases, is also the inability of a company to work remotely. Many companies find it somewhat difficult to communicate or assign tasks to interns while working remotely. Tasks that require inputs or information from several members of the workforce can easily become delayed or indefinitely extended. If a company had hired an intern for an in-office project, then the company has no other option than to rescind the offer.
The shutting down of the aviation industry is another reason that led to the revocation of the cross border offers to students.
Stress on Students: Direct Feedback from Students
If you have worked hard in the past to get an internship and all of sudden you find yourself stuck in a ‘limbo’ or a situation of deep uncertainty about whether you will be continuing with the internship or not, then definitely there will be a severe psychological strain on your brain. SIP (Summer Internship Program) plays an enormous role in the career of B-school students. The SIP is also necessary because many eventually get job offers from the same company.Students who were taking the first step to becoming financially independent have suffered a temporary setback. Many of them had had to take education loans at the time of their admission. So you can imagine what is going on in their mind.
Aman (name changed to protect identity), a BTech student in his third year, shares, “Most hit (sic) are the folks who were going out of India. Going abroad for Masters, Ph.D., or internships now seems highly difficult, even impossible. We all are badly hit. It’s going to take some time to come out of this slump."
What to do now?
A CV which has a mention of SIP will be favored more as compared to the CV, which doesn’t have the same. So the students with the revoked offer should look for new opportunities to start over as soon as possible. Look for those companies which you think can help you to grow in your career. Most start-ups are capable of giving you great exposure to the problems which are being faced by them. You can also go with a virtual internship. An internship is necessary because this prepares you for the corporate world.The corporate sector will see many changes after this pandemic. But one of the major changes will be the possible openings for freelancers in companies. Employers will go with the most skilled people for a short period of time. So everyone should focus on upgrading their skills.
The key takeaways from ‘COVID-19 Is Likely To Give Freelancing A Major Growth Spurt’, published by Forbes is that
1) Upskilling remains critical to do
2) More companies are likely to access freelancers both for cost efficiency and to supplement critical skill sets
3) Freelancers are a critical resource to more industries
4) More areas of freelancing will grow in importance.
Therefore, it makes sense to utilize the plethora of online courses and MOOCs which are available online. Udemy and Coursera are two such popular platforms for digital learning and certification (follow the links for free courses complete with certification).
Covid-19 brought along with itself great uncertainty, especially in the corporate sector. Though we were technologically advanced, the pandemic still altered our very lifestyle and the way that we operate.
It seems that this process of adjusting to alteration will remain with us for a long time.
On that note, we would like to conclude with the following words from the Ancient History Encyclopedia, “Heraclitus...took the ideas further in his famous assertion that ‘Life is Flux’ (Panta Rhei in Greek, meaning everything or all things change)." Indeed, change is the only constant in life.
Here we are bringing some opportunities for you...
2) More companies are likely to access freelancers both for cost efficiency and to supplement critical skill sets
3) Freelancers are a critical resource to more industries
4) More areas of freelancing will grow in importance.
Therefore, it makes sense to utilize the plethora of online courses and MOOCs which are available online. Udemy and Coursera are two such popular platforms for digital learning and certification (follow the links for free courses complete with certification).
Covid-19 brought along with itself great uncertainty, especially in the corporate sector. Though we were technologically advanced, the pandemic still altered our very lifestyle and the way that we operate.
It seems that this process of adjusting to alteration will remain with us for a long time.
On that note, we would like to conclude with the following words from the Ancient History Encyclopedia, “Heraclitus...took the ideas further in his famous assertion that ‘Life is Flux’ (Panta Rhei in Greek, meaning everything or all things change)." Indeed, change is the only constant in life.
Here we are bringing some opportunities for you...
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