Virtual Interns Set a New Standard

Every summer, the offices, substations, and service centers of Southern California Edison are brightened by the addition of smart and enthusiastic interns. But not this year. The 2020 class of 144 SCE summer interns are having an experience like none before them. They are writing a new playbook for how to parachute in, add value in a giant company in a complex industry, build new relationships, and have a meaningful experience – from their homes and through video calls.

Recent and soon-to-be graduates are facing a cratering economy and extreme uncertainty in the job market. Their schools are struggling to figure out how to deliver the education and college experience students were promised, and in a virtual environment. Can you imagine being in your early twenties and thrown into this situation?

This year’s summer interns have every reason to be frustrated with the hand they’ve been dealt – but you wouldn’t know it from talking to them. I connected with more than a hundred of these bright, young minds through video conference this week, and I was blown away by their positive energy, boundless curiosity, and eagerness to make a difference.

Be bold.

We talked about career paths, leading through crisis, solving climate change, and much more. My main message was to be bold – with the ideas they develop and the enthusiasm they bring. Especially not shrinking away from sharing their unique and important ideas.

It can be intimidating to be the least experienced person in the room – or these days, on the screen – but there is inherent advantage in being new and bringing a fresh perspective. Even when working with seasoned veterans. I shared an example from my career when I launched a social media strategy at the New York Power Authority, while leading the Corporate Communications group. This was not an expected role for an engineer, but I dove into Twitter when others weren’t sure if we needed a presence on social.

Interns this year have an opportunity to help shape a dramatically different way of doing business, and one that has just begun. They have the technology aptitude to best leverage our existing tools and help identify what new tools we need. Interns are unburdened by decades of experience with the old normal, and the pre-COVID way of getting certain work done, that holds such little relevance now.

Many of us who spent decades in the B.C. (Before Corona) business world are still uncertain how we are going to accomplish our goals without the physical spaces and ways of connecting we so recently depended on. Uncertainty can cause some to retreat and look for safety, staying below the radar. But at a time when many people seem inclined to pull back and take fewer risks, we need people willing to be bold, bring new ideas, and innovate. Interns this summer can help us stay focused on the promise of change and let go of what we miss about the past. They can inspire us with their creativity and we can be bold together to build a new and better normal.