Virtual internships and the Zoom skills you don’t learn in college

“This is the future of work,” Sadeghi said. “People don’t need to put on a suit, go to a cubicle, or wait until summer to [do an internship.] We’re preparing people for what work looks like now.”

A survey of more than 400 companies conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that around 80 percent of employers were making some kind of change to their internship programs, which included things like pivoting to remote work or shortening the length of the program. (Other programs have been canceled or postponed.)

For most students and recent grads, though, a loss of internships might be just one of several other concerns. Young people entering the workforce right now, whether as graduates of the Class of 2020 or as current students, are encountering a job market in which more than one in five Americans are unemployed. (Analysis from payroll platform Gusto found that those under 25 are experiencing a job loss rate 93 percent higher than those 35 and older.)

By Natasha Piñon