Companies start with their Internship Program with some organisational as well as staffing goals. But internships are not same in all companies. Before starting with the internship programs, companies need to understand what all types of internships exist in the market and which ones will suit their organisation structure. By understanding the categories of internships, companies can hire the candidates accordingly.

Let us see below the categorization of internships on the basis of:

1.    Industry wise:
Internships differ on the basis of their industry type. There are so many industries in employment sector like finance, technology, banking, marketing and sales, creative arts, public relations, mass communication, and much more. As per these domains, the internship programs will have to be created. These all have different training requirements and serve separate purposes.

2.    Paid and Unpaid:
These are the most common ones because they involve a key component here -Salary. Based on the skills, overall behaviour, job description of the internship, these can be either paid or unpaid.
Most companies go for paid internships these days because money being the understandable motivating factor. There are some sectors that provide unpaid internships mostly focusing on industrial work or have short duration.
It’s a good practice to pay your interns to increase enthusiasm and productivity. It helps achieve organisational goals efficiently. It's also true that interns would prefer paid internships over unpaid ones. Paid internships also increase your brand value in the market.

3.    Assignment Credits:
A lot of students take up internships that are attached with gaining credits on their final year assignments. In such cases universities tie up with companies for having their students intern in their respective domains. As interns typically perform them to fulfil course requirements and gain experience, these internships may not pay. Companies have to create their internship programs based on certain training assessment methods.

4.    At Office vs Virtual:
Online internships are gaining acceptance these days, and they should. Reason? Current times and technology makes it possible for interns to complete their internships while staying at their place. It offers flexibility, more productivity, better accessibility of talented lot. Employers are embracing virtual internships for ease of work, and saving costs too.

Internships that take place at the office usually have interns who live nearby or can easily get to where their office is.
These internships are certainly useful because they give the candidates an actual job experience, which makes it easy for them to join their teams afterward.

Companies are creating better interning platforms, training them from scratch to later on become a full-time employee. The various types of internships cater to the company needs and should be worked upon before starting any such program. Whatever suits your company the best, train your team as well for the same, so they are able to handle their departmental internships better.