This summer, LiveIntent was lucky enough to have four interns working with us on our Social Media Marketing, Product Marketing, Business Operations, and Product Management teams. This shift to a remote internship ended up being a wonderful learning experience for both the interns and their teams. We spoke with our four interns to learn more about how they made the most out of their time with us this summer, and how they managed their first real virtual working experience. Below are some of their tips and tricks on how to handle a remote internship.
1. Keep a designated workplace where you can be productive at home!
2. Try getting dressed up before work as if you’re leaving the house (shoes and everything) – it helps you be more productive!
3. Try to schedule drifting time/chat time with your team.
Since on a normal basis you would have been able to chat with them in the office. Just 15 min chats or a quick text to chat about what you’re watching or unload about the week or day.
4. When you have a lighter day, square away time in your schedule to work on specific projects at a time, and your workload will feel less daunting.
5. Keep a sign on your door (or make it known to whoever you are living with) that you are working remotely and will be on calls intermittently throughout every day.
Nothing worse than your siblings or parents marching in when you are presenting to your team!
6. Make sure you have a stable wifi connection and a personal hotspot just in case it fails.
7. Charge your laptop/phone overnight.
8. Keep to-do lists and check off each task as you complete it.
Not only is it personally satisfying to see a fully completed to-do list, but it continues to inspire you in being productive.
9. Invest in a good notebook, planner, headphones, whatever it is that will allow you to do your work to the best of your ability from home.
10. Try to create (as much as possible) a distraction free space.
Your college roommates or other family members may be working remotely as well, so maybe rethinking working at the kitchen table where other people will be using that space in the background. If you have a desk in your room, it helps to keep your calendar and to-do lists, and any other reminders taped to the wall where you can see.
11. Whatever your hours are (9-6, for example), do your work diligently during that time, but come 6:02, try your best to log off and sign off.
When we work in designated work spaces like the LiveIntent office, it is easy for us to switch from work mode to relaxing mode when you leave the office and get home. But when you are working from home, it can be difficult to distinguish boundaries between work life and home life, so make sure that you don’t allow the two to become jumbled up, leaving no “you” time for yourself when you are off.
12. Get to know your co-workers as much as you can despite the physical barriers between you.
Everyone is feeling deprived of in-person connection these days, so even scheduling a 15-minute coffee chat or lunch break together where you chat over Google Hangouts can be meaningful and bring your team closer, even though we are not in the office all together.
13. Write down what you are learning and have accomplished as you go!
10 weeks (or however long your internship is) is a long time and looking back, you might forget some milestones that you were really proud to have achieved. Marking them down helps you to recall significant achievements and new skills to add to your resume and conversation pieces in future interviews.
Interested in working at LiveIntent? Visit our careers page!
