Introducing Interns from Home
We’re committing up to 50 spots for a 4-week, fully virtual internship. The experience is built as a learning program with multiple modules and does not involve work on client projects. Apply at internsfromhome.com.
A couple of months ago, we were getting ready to roll out our call for applications to Batch 02 of the very popular The Ad Fellows — an internship program for those from outside of advertising to get a look in. Batch 01 was a hit. While choosing the two candidates who ultimately made the program, the Dentsu Webchutney team also had the gratifying experience to get to know over a hundred applicants.
Internships are key to discovering & promoting talent in our industry. It’s how young talent readies themselves for future work, how they find contacts that last the rest of their career or even connect them to a big break. However, this internship season has left many students waiting for a compelling offer. We receive dozens of requests every week but when COVID-19 hit, agencies including us started rolling back internship opportunities. It’s understandable. But continuing to stay rolled back isn’t an option if we’re keen on moving our industry forward. In fact, we sought ideas on how to scale up.
The response from my colleagues has been phenomenal. While we initially aimed for 10–12 volunteers from the agency to help launch this, we ended up with five times that. That’s why today all of us at Dentsu Webchutney are proud to launch Interns from Home — a commitment to taking in upto 50 candidates for an at-home learning experience over a period of four weeks.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit. Making this worthwhile for 50 participants will need significant effort. Typically, we have a maximum of 2 interns at a time on our floor on ‘standard’ internships that allow them to work across multiple facets of our business and participate in existing client work. A lot about our current way of working makes this typical 2-month internship unfeasible. Interns from Home will hence be completely virtual, and for us to accommodate this many, we will also tweak the internship format itself slightly.
For starters, this internship will not involve any work on the agency’s existing client projects as during regular internships. Instead, every IfH participant will be introduced to an updated learning module from The Ad Fellows as the foundation of the internship and this time, they will also be working with each other in groups on the program’s Slack channel. Each group will be assigned their own team of mentors from Webchutney overseeing the work, encouraging discussion and replicating a creative work environment as close as we can.
Topic experts including our client leadership (thank you!) will also host multiple video sessions every week on subjects from across the advertising & marketing landscape. Participants will work with their group mentors to create fulfilling internship objectives basis each cohort’s interests and specific to their own needs — all culminating in final one-on-one sessions and presentations with senior leadership. We’ve worked hard on this new format and believe this could be a great way to scale our unique internship experience while also doubling down on learning possibilities and exposure.
If The Ad Fellows were anything to go by, we anticipate decent interest in this program. Preference will hence be given to advertising, media and comms students, especially those who have just passed out or are in their final year. Even though the program is built to be a series of learning modules overseen by Webchutney staff, all participants will be paid a stipend like regular internships. I also want to make clear again that there is no client work involved like usual internships. The idea is to make up for the lack of current exposure for these students by offering them shorter, accelerated opportunities and easy access to future mentors.
Internships are so much more important than we think. Our hope is to provide inspiration, resources and support to talented students and continue Webchutney’s legacy of investing in young talent. To our applicants, good luck, and we hope to see you on video calls soon! Visit internsfromhome.com to apply.
By Gautam Reghunath, CEO
