What Are Micro-Internships?

Are you a college student planning your post-college career? Or, are you already in a job, planning your advanced study to get a leg up in your career game? Either way, additional work experience always counts, right? Well, this is where Internships come in. In this blog, I’m going to talk about another innovative model known as Micro-internships. 

What Are Internships

First, let’s get some context. Internships have existed for decades. Before they were called that, freshers used to work alongside professionals, sometimes as ‘apprentices’ to learn the trade, gain experience, and move forward in their career journey to gaining expertise in whatever industry they were interested in. Internships typically meant working in person, in a specific work environment; or within a team to learn the best practices of that business or industry. Over two decades ago, technology changed all that. The pandemic further encouraged the growth of remote or cloud-based internships. No physical on-site presence is required! Today, it is common to do Remote Internships or Virtual internships. These are increasingly popular among students. The future of work, as we know it today, is all about more and more flexibility. So, along with Virtual Internships, there is now another option Micro Internships. 

What Are Micro-Internships

Micro-internships are short-term, professional assignments, sometimes paid; sometimes not.  They can range from 5 to 40 hours of work and can occur any time of year. They are highly specific, project-based positions. Students receive a fixed fee to complete their project or as per contract.

Are Micro-Internships Useful For Career Success? Who Should Do Micro-Internships? 

Absolutely! Anyone who wants to add credentials to their resume should look around for Micro-internships. Here is why : 

• Even if you are pressured for time, you can take on assignments that are for a week or a month. The short-term micro-internship can be related to one small segment of a larger project which a company is doing. This could be related to: 

• Data entry
• Research ( market trends; product competition etc) 
• HR ( compiling records or sorting recruitment applications for a company )
• Content Creation( marketing, digital or social media content)
• Sales; lead generation

• Since Micro-internships are short-term you can take up several virtual ones over a year, without any serious disruption to your degree program or even a job. All this will add up to a list of  ‘work experience’ in your resume and be great for any subsequent applications or job opportunities. 

Must Read: How to find Internships as an International Student

Micro-Internships Have Emerged as an Amazing Model For Students. Why? 

Because this innovative model cuts back on the minimum period required to complete an internship. This serves students who may be pursuing full-time college or university study programs and do not have a lot of time to commit for six months or a year. Micro-internships are not only a powerful alternative for students, but many companies also welcome this model. Businesses and organizations support Micro-Internships because they do not need to provide office space or continuous supervision of the intern. They can assign work, provide instructions, assign timelines for the completion of tasks and provide feedback for modifications upon the completion of the task. That’s it! All this is done using technology platforms. No meetings, commute, or physical dislocation is required.

Also, it helps companies to diversify their employee pipeline and find new ambitious young talent who may be located in a different city. Companies can also assess the interns and offer them more permanent positions in the future, based on their performance in micro-internships. Therefore, today there are many global micro-internships available. 

How Can You Find Micro-Internships? 

You can search for micro-internships using the same tools as you do for regular internships. Do several online searches on  Job portals and check on professional websites of companies you are interested in. Add your subject specialization to get better results.  

Pro Tip: Mix and match search keywords like: ‘Micro-internships; ‘Remote’, ‘Global internships’, ‘Short-term gigs’, ‘college internships’, etc. 

A Professor’s Advice

While teaching for many years at universities in India and the United States, I have met many students who don’t feel “job-ready” when they are finishing college. When asked, most students want more ‘professional experience’.  I believe that internships always help. This primes you for your post-college life by enhancing your credentials for employability. It’s amazing for confidence-building. Micro-internships are even better because they enable you to grab as many opportunities as possible within your available time – whatever that may be.  I recently came across an article in Forbes magazine on education, careers, and the future of work and it said “Micro Internships will be the next big thing”. I think this is true!

We will be back next Friday with another amazing blog from Dr.Maina Chawla Singh. Till then, if you have any questions or suggestions, just drop us a comment and we will get back to you. Want to study abroad? Our Leverage Edu experts are ready to assist you in narrowing down the best course and university options according to your interests and preferences.