Ever Wonder What an Internship During a Pandemic Looks Like?

Once the decision was made to move forward with our summer internship program, we got to work developing a Virtual Internship Program Guide for Managers, University Champions, Peer Mentors, and interns. If students didn’t know how to use Microsoft Teams before starting at Jacobs, they certainly do now and even taught the full-time professionals a thing or two.  

The resiliency of these students has been nothing short of amazing. From some delayed start dates, reduced hours and mission critical roles remaining onsite, they were inundated with changes and responded with understanding and gratitude. We heard time and time again, “so many of my friend’s internships were canceled, I’m just thankful for this opportunity.” This contagious attitude brightened all our summers and set us up for a successful virtual intern program.  

We kicked off the virtual intern program with our Global Call Series, featuring executive leadership speakers from multiple lines of business and our employee network groups. The topics on these calls included sustainability, innovation, inclusion and diversity, and business acumen. The interns also had the opportunity to attend several virtual lunch-and-learns facilitated by our University Champions to provide an intimate learning experience at the local level. Our Champions also organized virtual social events afterhours where interns had the opportunity to join a range of virtual happy hours, trivia nights, and bingo.  

The fun didn’t stop there. We upped our virtual game to celebrate National Intern Day this year kicking off the day with an “Intern Rap” performed by our very own Senior Vice President – Chief Strategy and Communications Officer, Marietta Hannigan! The day also included a virtual intern photo contest, a virtual site visit and the opportunity to participate in our first ever, “Intern Connect and Reflect” program where interns from different lines of business and regions were matched up with each other to connect and network.  

We rounded out the summer internship program with a series of virtual presentation competitions. As usual, the interns blew us away. Despite the lack of in person connection and exposure to teammates, projects and clients, the interns made the best of it and it showed. As one of our Project Managers, Chris Sorrell, stated at a local presentation competition in Greenville, SC, “Really impressive work by all of the interns. Our company got better this summer with your participation in our projects.”  

At the end of the summer, we surveyed our interns to get feedback on their virtual internships. One of our interns shared, “I was a little skeptical about a virtual internship, but my supervisor, champion, and mentor did an awesome job making sure I was still able to have a great experience. Even with the internship being virtual, I could still see that Jacobs really does uphold their values as a company. Especially with all the different things that have occurred in the past few months, it really showed that Jacobs truly cares about its people.”  

If you’re interested in learning more about our internship and graduate programs, check out our virtual career fair lineup this Fall on the Jacobs Events page and stop by our Virtual Booth! We hope to see you soon. 

At Jacobs, we’re always looking for dynamic and engaged people to join our team. Bring your passion, your ingenuity and your vision. Let’s see the impact we can create, together.