Can you get an internship at the age of 15?

1. Finding a job
2. Internships for Teenagers: 15 Opportunities To Explore

By Indeed Editorial Team

Published April 13, 2021

When people think of internships, they likely think of college students preparing to start their careers. However, college students aren't the only ones who benefit from the opportunities of internships, like networking and testing out different career paths. Teenagers, too, can use internships to learn about what they want to do later in life and get real-world experience in job environments. In this article, we review 15 types of internships for teenagers, including the primary duties of each job and their salaries.

15 internships for teenagers

With remote work becoming more common, high schoolers have more access to internships than ever before. Even without a remote option, many students can use summers, weekends or after-school time to complete internships like the following:

1. Child care assistant intern

A child care assistant intern works with child care professionals to provide infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children with care and guidance. The lead child care professionals expect interns to help with feeding and changing young children under adult supervision, as well as cleaning up toys and disinfecting surfaces. Interns may also help with playtime and after-school activities. This internship typically takes place in the summer or after school.

Related: Learn About Being a Child Care Provider

2. Teaching assistant intern

A teaching assistant intern helps in elementary school classrooms under the supervision of a lead teacher and any other adult assistants and aides. Responsibilities for this role include monitoring children as they do schoolwork, watching for safe play at recess and possibly leading brief lessons for the class. High schoolers who take on these roles typically work during elementary summer school or make a plan with their own teachers to visit a nearby elementary school for part of the day.

Related: Learn About Being a Teaching Assistant

3. Production assistant intern

Production assistant interns work with production teams to create video and audio material for a company. Interns do research about the topics the company wants to address, shoot photos and videos and edit the content they've created for distribution. Depending on the company, the intern can learn about many topics in addition to PA responsibilities. Local production companies may host after school internships for teens, but many are summer programs during the day.

Related: How To Get an Internship

4. Editorial intern

An editorial intern typically works with an editorial team under the editor-in-chief of a publication. These interns may do research and planning, practice editing on published and non-published writing and assist in fact-checking pieces for accuracy. Employers usually require good writing and editing skills when accepting students to these positions. Internships like this might take place at the office of a publication, like a newspaper or a magazine, or they might be remote.

5. Social media intern

Social media interns create social media content and posts for an organization while under the direction of a social media manager. The intern may research marketing techniques, help establish social media campaigns and create relevant graphics to post for the organization. The goal of this internship is to learn about marketing and increase followers. Teenagers can complete these internships remotely throughout the school year, but may need to work with their teachers if the employer requires daytime hours.

Related: Learn About Being a Social Media Intern

6. Graphics design intern

Graphic design interns assist graphic design teams with creating content for their clients. This includes editing images, making graphics and drawing digital art that fits the client's brand and style. These internships may require experience with graphic design software and a design portfolio. Many of these internships are remote and can be done throughout the school year for students with computers at home.

Related: Learn About Being a Graphic Designer

7. Marketing intern

A marketing intern supports a company's marketing department, with responsibilities like researching market trends, brainstorming promotional events and creating marketing materials. Since marketing is vital to many job fields, a student can choose which field they want to learn about, like book publicity or retail stores, for example. These internships can be remote or local, but employers typically hire during the summer months when students can work with employees during the day.

Related: Learn About Being a Marketing Intern

8. Fashion intern

A fashion intern works with fashion designers and marketing teams to design clothing or accessories, stage photo shoots and study market trends. Interns learn about different aspects of style and how to sell the products they design and create effectively. The employer may be a large company that sells apparel or it might be a local fashion designer looking for extra help, but these internships are almost always in person. However, fashion interns may work after school and on weekends during the school year.

Related: Courses To Pursue for Fashion Designing

9. Administrative intern

An administrative intern works with the administrators of an office to ensure a smooth workday for employees. These interns typically learn about the duties of an administrative team, like answering calls, resolving front-desk issues and scheduling appointments. Depending on the career field, the intern could work with many people, like doctors and patients, businesspeople or hotel guests. Employers typically want these interns on site during the workday, so they may only hire students in the summer or on weekends.

Related: Learn About Being an Administrative Assistant

10. Communications intern

Communications interns work with communications managers to regulate how a company presents itself. Similar to marketing or social media internships, communications interns may create press materials, write brief public relations messages on social media and help develop a company's message to present it positively to the public. These internships usually take place in person in the summer, but could be completed remotely at other times of the year.

11. Research intern

Research interns work with researchers, like scientists and historians, who work in their field to discover something new. Many career fields in the sciences and histories hire research interns, so there are a lot of interested for a candidate to choose from. The basic duties of the role include helping lead researchers study their discoveries, conducting experiments or excavations and writing papers on findings. Because of the type of work this internship requires, teenagers usually complete these internships on site in the summer.

12. Business development intern

A business development intern helps a business manager do research, collaborate with marketing and public relations teams and brainstorm creative projects to increase the profitability and visibility of a business. Employers expect these interns to be detail-oriented and quick-thinking, but rarely expect prior experience. High schoolers can take part in these internships in person during the summer or, possibly, on weekends or during the school day for local businesses.

Related: How To Build Business Development Skills

13. Congressional page intern

Congressional page interns, or just congressional pages, work directly with legislators as assistants during legislative sessions. Responsibilities include distributing materials before a session, bringing refreshments and information to Congress members and deliver documents to officials. Legislators hire pages throughout the year, but they require pages to work the full day that Congress is in session, which can conflict with school schedules throughout the year.

14. Curatorial assistant intern

A curatorial assistant intern works with a museum curator to ensure each exhibit runs smoothly. These interns may correspond with art dealers or historical societies, help with exhibit layout and maintain exhibit schedules. Curatorial assistant interns can work in art or history museums, which both have their own intricacies that an intern needs to learn to succeed. Students interested in this type of internship should reach out to local museums, which may have summer or after-school programs.

15. Software engineer intern

A software engineer intern works with other software engineers and team leads to learn about coding languages and help create or maintain products. The responsibilities for this internship could be to research bug fixes, analyze data and complete projects. As this career gains popularity, these internships are becoming more readily available to students all year through remote opportunities. Sometimes, no experience with coding is necessary, but employers may require good computer skills.