The ongoing pandemic has caused almost nothing but more stress and anxiety to everyone’s day to day routine. With the lockdown hopefully ending soon, making decisions which could affect future careers may become more significant and there may be some students on the fence about if they should continue their virtual work experience or switch to real life internships.

            People have most likely chosen to do a virtual internship or work experience because of the fact that their original plans were disrupted due to the pandemic and this was the easiest way to make up for the loss. The virtual aspect also means that people can get internships from all over the world, not necessarily just from local areas. This increases the possibilities available and also the diversity of people one is communicating with.     However on the other hand, one may have already started an internship with some company online and it may be difficult to end the contract. The extra experience interns get when they are in the actually workspace could sway their mindsets, making them rethink their internship. Skills such as team work and verbal communication are developed much quicker within a more optimised environment, which could play a big part in the decision making process.

There is also the ambiguity about when the pandemic will actually end, although signs are starting to show a positive outcome. With the possibility of the virus mutating again and the situation of the pandemic getting worse, it could just be a matter of time before the choice of getting a real life internship could be taken away. This could severely affect the number of people wishing to do face to face work experience, especially if the work requires people to be on site e.g. working within a clothing shop.

Of course both sides have their pros and cons and everyone is in a different situation. Whilst some have steady wifi, others do not and this could become a major disadvantage for anyone wanting to do online internships during lockdown. However it also means that commuting and transport will be less of a hassle, which could lead to more work being done.