The prized summer internship for college students can be considered their first taste of the "real world" and a jump on possible future employment after graduation. Competition for coveted internships at top investment banks, media companies and brand marketers continues to be healthy. However, with that said, if you take a look at this nation's workforce and some of the massive changes that have occured over the past ten years with the advent of technology and communications, the trend of telecommuting and working remotely has started to spill over to the world of college internships as well. I just read a story about a 24 year old student who completed an internship last summer for a small financial services company in the comfort of his own residence. Of course, there are pros and cons for students participating in virtual internships. I am one of those people who beleive the cons far outweigh the pros. For one thing, the next generation of this nation's workforce needs to witness firsthand what it's like to be in an office environment. They need to understand how to communicate effectively in-person, in addition to communicating over email or the phone. Say all you want about how Gen Y is so adept when it comes to communications via technology, but to simply swap one for the other doesn't seem kosher at the end of the day. There is clear value to know that you have to wake up and be at a certain location five days a week for a certain period of time. There is value to learn and witness firsthand how certain office environments work and discover what a company's culture means. I have to think a lot of these characteristics are difficult to comprehend if you are working remotely. I hope this trend ends up turning out to be more of a fad than a long lasting event, because quite frankly, it just doesn't make a lot of sense.
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