How To Ace Your Remote Internship
Remote work is increasingly becoming a part of regular work life - whether it’s full-time or a few days a week. Working your first full-time professional job remotely may sound like a bit of a learning curve, but we’re here to help. Here is our tried-and-true advice to help you ace your remote internship or placement!
Structuring your week
At the end (or beginning) of the week, it is useful to carefully schedule your time.
Using an online or physical planner, block out all the hours that you will be working during the week (for some roles, this may be less flexible and pre-designated). Be sure to include breaks!
Prioritise your projects for the week. This will likely be something you discuss with your manager during a 1:1 meeting. Within the work blocks, create 30min - 1hr blocks dedicated to each project you’d like to complete (adjust this based on how long you can stay focused - usually about 40 minutes).
Set a recurring reminder for yourself, if there’s a task that needs to be completed at a specific time each week or month, so you can anticipate it in advance.
Try your best to stick to the plan. It might take a month to do so - you may find that you have set aside not enough/too much time for particular tasks. That’s okay, you can use this information next time you schedule!
When working remotely, the ‘clocking out’ line can feel a bit blurry, but it is important to be disciplined with your working hours. Be sure to communicate your availability with your team. This way when they email or message you out of your hours, they know you're ‘out of office’ until the next business day - and vice versa.
Managing distractions at home
Focusing on work for eight hours a day at home can be difficult, especially if this is your first time working in a professional job. Setting up your home office is a good place to start, as it’s important to have a space where you are able to get work done effectively.
Try to find a spot that’s quiet and away from distractions like family or flatmates. If you have to set up your home office in your bedroom, try to establish a morning routine that gets you out of the house before you begin work.
If you live with others, let them know when you have meetings in order to avoid background noise or awkward ‘I didn’t realise your camera was on’ moments!
Most of all, remember that you are likely talking with team members who are in the same boat - while it’s important to keep things professional, everyone is doing their best with the home setup they have.
There are also lots of productivity tools available to help you focus on work. Our personal favourites - Trello for collaborative to-do lists, Toggl for recording your hours and learning how long particular tasks take you to complete (remember the time-blocking strategy earlier? This helps), Pomodoro timers for sluggish days and Forest if you’d like to grow trees while you focus!
Your team has your back, even out of the office!
During the first week or so of your role, your manager or team will most likely spend a week or so teaching you the specific tools that your company uses. This would be the same if you were working in the office - no employer will expect you to have a complete understanding of every platform/tool they use before you start! For remote internships, it is likely that you’ll also have an introduction to Microsoft Teams, Slack, or whatever team communication platform your company uses, alongside the more technical training.
If you get stuck, don’t hesitate to ask your team for help. They are likely to be expecting more questions than usual considering the unusual circumstances. You might find it useful to write questions down as they occur - this way you can save them for 1:1 meetings with your manager to talk them through all at once. Most of all, don’t suffer in silence! If you are struggling to get work done, there’s probably an underlying reason for it. Reach out to your manager/mentor if you are feeling overwhelmed - they probably know the feeling, and will want to do what they can to replace the usual cool-down walk outside the office.
Most companies that offer remote internships will also have plans in place for the well-being and support of their employees. Often there will be virtual ‘standups’ where teams will meet online to talk about what work they have completed and work they are doing that day. There are lots of ways that companies incorporate team bonding into remote working environments, including online daily quizzes and virtual Friday drinks. Chances are, if a company is prepared to offer a remote internship, they’ll have support systems set up to help you throughout your time with them.
We hope these tips will help ease your anxieties about remote internships this summer. It’s a time of uncertainty and change for everyone, so remember that asking questions and feeling nervous is absolutely fine and completely normal! Employers will be understanding that you are not only in a new job but in a strange situation as well and they will do their best to help you.