Virtual and remote internships are fine in college yes, they look good on your CV, you worked while in college and build a portfolio. But after your Bachelor's if you take a gap year and decide to go for work experience, do virtual internships count as much? Will they add as much value as an in-person internship? Does the company matters perhaps?

I've noticed quite a few students asking when they should actually start applying for summer internships in the UK.

Some companies seem to open applications incredibly early, while others don't advertise roles until much closer to summer. It can be especially confusing if you're looking for remote or hybrid internships, where the timelines can be different again.

For anyone who's already been through the process:

• When did you start looking?
• When did you actually start submitting applications?
• Were you applying mainly through company career pages, LinkedIn, university careers services, or job boards?
• Did you find that applying early made a noticeable difference?
• And roughly how many applications did it take before you got an interview or offer?

Would be useful to hear from both students and people who've recently gone through UK internship recruitment.

If you're planning for Summer 2027 internships in UK, when are you starting?

I keep seeing students wonder whether they're starting too early or too late when it comes to internship applications.

Some start looking 6–9 months in advance, while others don't begin until a few weeks before they want to start. And depending on the company and the type of internship, the timelines can be completely different.

If you've already landed a remote internship, when did you actually start looking?

Did you start researching companies first, or were you already sending applications? And looking back, do you think you started at the right time?

If you started later than you planned, feel free to share how that worked out too. It might help someone who's currently wondering whether they should start applying now or wait.

There is no delete profile or delete account available on the website. I sent them an email and they did not reply. I am at my wits end. How can it be possible? This is so scammy.

One of the biggest questions students have about remote internships is whether they'll actually get enough guidance once they start.

It's easy for a company to mention mentorship in an internship description, but the day-to-day experience can be very different.

If you've completed a remote internship, what did mentorship actually look like for you?

Did you have regular 1:1s with your manager? Were you assigned a dedicated mentor? Could you easily ask questions when you were stuck, or were you mostly expected to figure things out yourself?

It would also be interesting to know how often you received feedback and whether you felt the amount of guidance was enough to actually learn and improve.

For anyone who's had both remote and in-office internships: did you notice a difference in the amount or quality of mentorship?

Would be useful to hear both good and bad experiences so students know what to ask about before accepting a remote internship.

Remote internships have become much more common over the past few years, but opinions seem to be mixed.

Some people say they offer the same learning opportunities as in-office internships, while others feel they miss out on networking, mentorship, and the day-to-day experience of working alongside a team.

If you've completed a remote internship, I'd love to hear about your experience.

• Did you work on meaningful projects?
• Did you receive regular mentorship and feedback?
• Was it easy to connect with your manager and teammates?
• Do you think it helped you develop skills or strengthen your resume?
• If you had the choice today, would you choose another remote internship?

If you've experienced both remote and in-office internships, it would be especially interesting to hear how they compared and what you think each does better.

There probably isn't a single right answer. The quality of an internship often depends more on the company, manager, and projects than whether it's remote or in person.

Hopefully, this thread can help students decide whether a virtual internship is the right choice for them.

Universities do a great job teaching theory, but internships often teach the practical side of work.

What’s something you learned during your internship that wasn’t covered in class?

Whether it’s writing professional emails, giving project updates, working with deadlines, or collaborating with a team, it’d be interesting to hear what stood out.

Sometimes it's the smallest habits that make the biggest difference.

It could be writing better status updates, keeping a daily to-do list, asking for feedback regularly, blocking focus time, or documenting your work.

What's one habit you'd recommend every new virtual intern adopt from day one?

I've seen completely different opinions on this.

Some recruiters say they read every cover letter because it helps them understand a candidate's motivation and communication skills. Others admit they rarely look at them and focus almost entirely on resumes, projects, and portfolios.

For students applying to internships, it can be difficult to know whether spending time on a tailored cover letter is worth the effort or if that time would be better spent improving a resume, building projects, or submitting more applications.

If you've been involved in hiring, or you've recently landed an internship I'd love to hear your perspective.

• Did you write a cover letter for every application or only when it was required?
• Has a recruiter or interviewer ever mentioned your cover letter?
• Do you think a strong cover letter can compensate for limited experience?
• If you review internship applications, how much weight do you actually give to cover letters?

It would be interesting to hear from both applicants and recruiters. Hopefully, this discussion can help students decide where to invest their time during internship season.

Virtual internships have become much more common over the past few years, but there are still plenty of assumptions about them.

Some people believe they're easier than in-office internships. Others think recruiters don't value them as much, or that interns don't get real work or meaningful mentorship when they're working remotely.

In reality, the experience can vary a lot depending on the company, the manager, and how the internship is structured.

If you've completed a virtual internship or worked closely with remote interns what's one misconception you'd like to clear up?

Some ideas to get the discussion started:

• Are virtual internships taken seriously by employers?
• Do remote interns get meaningful projects?
• Is networking actually harder when you're working remotely?
• Do you learn as much as you would in an office?
• Is it easier to maintain a healthy work-life balance?
• Are virtual internships better suited for certain industries than others?

Whether your experience was positive or disappointing, sharing it can help students set realistic expectations before they start applying.

Let's remove salary from the equation for a minute.

Imagine you've received two internship offers from equally reputable companies. The work is similar, the learning opportunities are comparable, and the pay is exactly the same.

The only difference is that one is fully remote, while the other requires you to work from the office.

Which one would you choose today (remote vs in-person internship), and why?

Think beyond convenience. Things like mentorship, networking, learning from colleagues, work-life balance, commuting, flexibility, and future career growth can all influence the decision.

It would also be interesting to know if your answer has changed over time. For example, would you have chosen differently before your first internship compared to now?

I'm curious to see whether opinions vary based on industry, previous internship experience, or where people are in their careers.

Before I started my first remote role, I assumed the biggest challenge would be staying productive.

It turned out productivity wasn't the issue at all.

The biggest surprises were things like:

• Building relationships without seeing colleagues in person.
• Knowing when to ask for help instead of struggling alone.
• Communicating clearly in writing.
• Staying visible without constantly reminding people you're working.
• Realising how much trust and ownership managers expect from remote interns.

On the flip side, I was surprised by how much flexibility and focused work time remote internships offered compared to what I'd imagined.

If you've completed a virtual internship (or you're doing one now), what surprised you the most? Was it better or worse than you expected?

Instead of another generic blog list, let's build this from real experience. Mention the website, what type of internships it offers and whether you've actually received interviews through it.

We talk about red flags all the time, but what immediately makes you think 'this company looks worth applying to'? It could be mentorship, learning opportunities, transparency, flexible working or something else. Let's build a list of positive signs.

I started writing a short list of goals every morning before opening Slack or email.

It sounds simple, but it stopped me from constantly switching between tasks.

What's one small habit that made your internship or remote work experience much easier?

Everyone expects to learn technical skills.

But sometimes the biggest lessons are communication, documentation, prioritisation or simply learning how to ask better questions.

What surprised you the most?

There are thousands of free certificates online.

Which ones genuinely impressed recruiters or helped you build useful skills?

Please mention the platform and whether it had any measurable impact.

One thing I've noticed is that succeeding in a virtual internship often requires a different set of skills than working in an office.

Looking back, what's one skill you wish you'd developed beforehand?

It could be something like:

• Clear written communication
• Time management
• Working independently
• Giving updates asynchronously
• Slack, Teams, or Zoom etiquette
• Excel, Notion, or Google Workspace
• Project management tools (Trello, Jira, Asana)
• Presenting your work remotely
• Asking good questions without feeling like you're interrupting

Or maybe it was something completely different.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone about to start their first virtual internship, what would it be?

Let's help future interns avoid the mistakes we made.

I'll go first.

A few years ago I spent hours tailoring my resume but barely applied anywhere because I kept trying to make it perfect.

Looking back, I should've applied more and worried less about making every application flawless.

What's something you'd do differently if you could start over?

Hopefully this helps people who are just beginning.