Virtual Internships

What you get

Complete real-world projects to show employers

We’ve been operating in the international development and conservation sector for more than 20 years. We know what employers in this sector are looking for — project-based, practical experience. GVI Virtual Internships give you the opportunity to complete final projects to add to your CV or resume, highlighting your ability to apply skills in a real world context.

Endorsed Online Courses

Receive certificates from the University of Richmond and GVI, boosting your resume and demonstrating to employers the theoretical learning and soft skills you have gained on this internship.

Earn professional recommendations

A LinkedIn recommendation, especially from a manager, can be a real boost to your professional reputation in the eyes of employers. 

Once you’ve successfully completed the virtual internship, we guarantee you at least one LinkedIn recommendation. If you choose a longer internship duration, you’ll have a chance to build stronger connections with a wide range of professionals, often resulting in further professional recommendations and references.

Gain verifiable skills

Employers often find that technical skills, such as data analysis, mean very little on paper. Graduates also have a hard time demonstrating to employers that they have so-called “soft skills”, such as teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving. 

GVI Virtual Internships are designed to help you show that you can apply both technical and soft skills in practice. We offer training in both technical and soft skills through online learning, real-world projects where you can practice those skills and guidance about how to effectively demonstrate those skills on a resume or in an interview.

Access to thousands of international vacancies

We collate thousands of vacancies from employers in a range of conservation and international development fields from around the world. As a GVI Virtual Internship participant you’ll be able to access and browse our job platform and apply for roles at renowned organisations from across the globe.

Learn from a personal mentor

Having a mentor can do wonders for your career growth. Each of our interns are assigned a personal mentor who is a working professional with several years of experience in the intern’s chosen field. Throughout the virtual internship, you’ll have weekly one-on-one check-ins with your mentor to discuss your goals and your progress with your assigned projects.

Attend a masterclass lecture series

Solving critical global issues requires in-depth knowledge of how that problem manifests locally. Textbook descriptions provide only hazy overviews, and the contributors to a successful local impact-driven project are diverse. This is why we provide our virtual interns with weekly masterclasses delivered by a range of professionals, from those who run local NGOs to experts around the world. 

While some of these masterclasses are recorded, due to differences in time zones, we aim to do most live, giving our virtual interns the opportunity to ask questions and get relevant, meaningful feedback. 

Build your global professional network

Today, many jobs are filled through referral. Networking can seem incredibly intimidating, but, through a facilitated virtual experience, we make this much easier. Throughout your GVI internship you’ll have the opportunity to interact with over 400 established professionals and organisations in more than a dozen countries worldwide who are all passionate about the same thing that you are – making an impact.

Your schedule

A typical day

A typical day on a GVI Virtual Internship is varied. It will often involve the below activities.

• Attend a masterclass or get involved in a cultural immersion activity. 

• Meet with your dedicated mentor for a check-in or have a group discussion with like-minded fellow participants. 

• Learn about your potential career journey ahead from someone in your field of interest.

• Read case studies or other learning material.

Example week 

Your time on a GVI Virtual Internship will split between facilitated learning, cultural immersion, independent and group learning, and career development. See below for a more detailed breakdown.

Internship orientation and project briefing

This portion makes up around 4 hours of your week and is delivered via the learning management system and webinars.

• Introduction to your internship 
• Briefing on the project structure: including the overarching goal, how the project will add value to the partner organization and guidelines for getting started 

Guided and facilitated learning 

This portion makes up about 10 hours of your week and comprises the taught content. The below is delivered via the learning management system, webinars, videos and live chat.

• Insight and understanding of the local partner organization you’re paired with 
• Lectures on industry and environment issues and context - delivered by local and global industry experts 
• Podcasts and videos relating to career journeys and understanding a Day in the Life 
• Workshops and interactive sessions focused on skills building and ongoing career development
• Cultural immersion activities 

Independent and group learning

This portion makes up around 22 hours of your week and involves applying the knowledge you’ve gained from the briefing, taught content and supplied study materials to your project work. 

• Project research and studying of materials and resources
• Peer discussions and group activities 
• Independent work on project assigned

Mentorship

You will receive around two hours of dedicated support each week. 

• Project check-ins, coaching and support
• Project review

Support

Work and learning experiences are delivered online, through a combination of live interactions through video conferencing tools and of multimedia content. 

You’ll be supported on your GVI Virtual Internship journey by our international support network. These include:

• your mentor
• your internship support coordinator 
• your course instructors 
• your fellow interns.

Complete three online courses 

While most virtual internships only provide interns with remote work placements, GVI Virtual Internships include online courses offered in partnership with the University of Richmond.

GVI virtual interns will complete our flagship online program, the Foundations in Sustainable Development program, which includes three of our most successful online courses. After successful completion, you’ll have three certificates from GVI and the University of Richmond. 

The two core courses that make up this program are:

• Careers in Sustainable Development course
• Leading Teams for Emerging Leaders course. 

Plus you can choose one focus specific course from either:

• Introduction to Community Development

OR

• Introduction to Scientific Conservation Research

Should you wish, you will also have the option to do one of the below seven specialised courses, at an additional cost:

• Introduction to Environmental Sustainability
• Introduction to Global Public Health
• Introduction to Human Rights
• Introduction to Marine and Wildlife Conservation
• Making an Impact Ethically
• Project Fundamentals I: Strategy, Delivery and Evaluation
• Project Fundamentals II: Communications and Fundraising

Dates and costs

*The cost of each GVI Virtual Internship includes two weeks of introductory online learning material which interns complete before the internship. Additionally, it includes the cost of an optional, post-internship peer-reviewed final project.

*There is an opportunity for interns to join GVI and complete a one-week virtual internship without any pre- or post-learning. The cost of this is 1145€.