Virtual Internship – Blog

Real-World Industry Experience Through a Virtual Internship Program – Part 2

ArchTam Editors — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 17:59:50 +0000

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, our University Relations team adapted our internship program in the United States and Canada through enhanced virtual collaboration, learning and mentorship opportunities. In the first part of this series, we shared how the program was reshaped to provide a valuable experience to the interns, even while participating remotely. This second part focuses on the program’s future, what our interns learned over the course of the summer and the impact the program had on their career planning.

Where do you see the program going from here?
While we look forward to returning to an in-person workforce soon, we are dedicated to finding the smartest and most innovative thinkers from across the U.S. and Canada. Our plan at the moment is to continue hosting a virtual program as part of our larger internship offering, even after in-person meetings return.

To stay on top of all that ArchTam has to offer, we invite students interested in interning to participate in our weekly speaker sessions and maintain an active network of discussion via ArchTam social media channels. You can also find out more information by visiting https://www.archtam.com/careers.

Hear from several of our interns about what they gained from the program:

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my internship experience at ArchTam. Despite completing the internship virtually, I am honored to have been supported and guided by a team who care deeply about my personal development and growth. Over the course of my summer at ArchTam, I contributed to a broad swath of projects and got a good sense of what it is like to work at the world's premier infrastructure company. Moreover, through weekly intern webinars and socials, I was able to learn more about ArchTam's global initiatives and business lines. By the end of the summer, I had the opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects, home in on technical and soft skills, and network with professionals throughout ArchTam professions. I highly recommend this internship program!” – Sean Adibi

“I am grateful to have had the opportunity to intern with ArchTam this summer. Through leadership, mentorship, and active involvement, I’ve gained industry experience despite the challenges due to the global pandemic. My team was very helpful in providing guidance and making sure I was able to obtain a well-rounded experience on various projects. I was also impressed with ArchTam’s overall flexibility to adapt and accommodate all interns to the best of their ability to ensure we had a purposeful experience. I look forward to working with ArchTam in the future and using the knowledge I’ve learned so far to become a better engineer!” – Myles Greer

“I thoroughly enjoyed my summer internship in the Cleveland, Ohio office with the Environmental Remediation group. My internship was completely virtual, similar to most interns; however, I was still able to gain a lot experience within this program. I greatly appreciate ArchTam’s commitment in providing interns with the experience of working at the company, despite the global pandemic. It proved to me how dedicated they are with their internship program. I also had a wonderful experience with the University Intern Program and team that did an amazing job involving all of the interns in many informational sessions and also fun activities. I am excited to apply what I learned during my summer internship to my future career.” – Alicia DeRoia

The post Real-World Industry Experience Through a Virtual Internship Program – Part 2 appeared first on Blog.

Real-World Industry Experience Through a Virtual Internship Program – Part 1

ArchTam Editors — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 15:50:15 +0000

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, our University Relations team adapted our internship program in the United States and Canada through enhanced virtual collaboration, learning and mentorship opportunities. In this two-part series, we’ll share how the program was reshaped to provide a valuable experience to the interns, even while participating remotely, and highlight what they learned over the course of the summer.

Tell me about the University Relations team and how the ArchTam Internship program has been adapted around the coronavirus pandemic.

The University Relations team is comprised of a diverse team spread across the U.S. that focuses on recruiting marketing and branding, leveraging technology and new applications to enhance the efficiency and success of our programs, and creating internship and entry level programming and career development resources. We also have a team of recruiters who are experts in their various segments/industries and cover the geographic regions across North America.

When offices began to shift to a remote working environment at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the University Relations team quickly pivoted to figure out how we can run a successful internship with the new government advise, mandates and regulations in place. We worked with executives and leadership across the business to confirm that they would still be able to sustain their commitments to their interns, and an overwhelmingly large number enthusiastically confirmed their support. We hosted virtual trainings and lunch and learns from sectors across the company, and also had several “social” activities, including a performance by a comedian, a virtual scavenger hunt, and a geographic trivia game.

What are the goals of the program?

Our virtual internship program offers participants the opportunity to:

Learn about ArchTam, our various lines of business, operating model, mission, values and our unique history
Contribute to meaningful work assignments aligned to interns’ course of study
Create goals and be provided a final performance review at the completion of the internship

Over the course of the program, the interns gain real-world industry experience through opportunities to network with peers and leadership and by gaining a greater understanding of ArchTam’s business objectives, the services and solutions we offer our clients, and the impacts our work has on local communities.

What is the duration of the program?

The formal program ran from June 8 to August 14. There are some interns who will stay on and hopefully many interns will convert to full-time employees over the course of the next year.

What does the virtual summer internship curriculum consist of?

The program is divided into four parts:

On the Job Experience
- We offer work assignments that align with the interns’ course of study
- We ask that the interns contribute to various projects and client requests
Knowledge Acquisition
- Throughout the course of the internship, we’re continuously teaching the participants about ArchTam, including the firm’s history, operations and clients.
- In addition, we highlight the impact of the work that we do. For example, we explain how our company’s mission, vision, and values not only impact the communities in which we work, but also influence the firm’s bottom line.

Networking
- We placed a heavy focus on ensuring we supported the unique emotional and social needs of the interns during this unprecedented pandemic. We offered a variety of helpful resources by way of the “work from home” kit, virtual social events and dedicated internal platforms to connect and build relationships with other ArchTam interns.
Performance and Evaluation
- To help our interns get the most out of the program, we worked with them to develop and submit goals to their managers at the beginning of the program.
- At the completion of the program, managers completed an evaluation for each intern to assess their performance.

How are the interns and their assigned teams staying connected?

Beyond the typical ways of working remotely – email, conference calls, message platforms, etc. – teams regularly hosted virtual social hours and lunch and learns through Microsoft Teams, we also had a dedicated internal digital employee group to drive collaboration, and each intern had a mentor to guide them throughout the internship. Interns were also encouraged to familiarize themselves with our internal resource tools found on our intranet. This allowed them to be fully embedded on their teams and at the company.

How many interns and employees/teams participated?

The University Relations team, which is a part of our Design and Consulting Services Americas and Construction Management talent acquisition teams, along with several hiring managers and over 350 interns participated in our virtual internship program in the U.S. and Canada.

Aside from conducting the program digitally, what were the main differences between the virtual and in-person internship programs?

Due to the impact of COVID-19, we designed the virtual internship program to place a heavy emphasis on the emotional and social networking part of the program. It was very important to us to prioritize supporting the unique needs of participants in this time of uncertainty. Several components of the program included a remote-working kit, virtual social hours and lunch and learns, dedicated internal digital groups, and a virtual mentor throughout the duration of the program.

To learn more about the future of the ArchTam Virtual internship Program and hear directly from our interns about what they gained from the program, read the second part of this blog series.

The post Real-World Industry Experience Through a Virtual Internship Program – Part 1 appeared first on Blog.