Here Are Some of the Coolest, Craziest Internships Out There Not everyone has to sacrifice a fun summer vacation to get valuable career experience.
By Lydia Belanger •
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Forget fetching coffee, staring at spreadsheets until your eyes glaze over and sitting in a cubicle during the gorgeous summer months. Today, with so many young aspiring professionals completing multiple internships before they finally land their first full-time gig, the market is competitive for businesses and applicants alike.
Companies are offering more than just a desk and grunt administrative work to lure tomorrow's workforce. And they're paying cold, hard cash.
Related: Interns at These Companies Make More Than the Average American Worker
Whether you're looking for a summer gig or are looking for a serious case of FOMO, read on to learn about some of the coolest internships out there.
Harley-Davidson
If you're torn between spending the summer traveling and grinding away at an internship, Harley-Davidson is offering the best of both worlds in summer 2018.
The motorcycle company's 12-week #FindYourFreedom paid internship for college juniors, seniors and recent grads provides the chance to ride a Harley across the country. Applicants have to explain what freedom means to them in the medium of their choice, from an essay to a video.
Their objectives? Learn to ride a motorcycle, discover "motorcycle culture," collaborate with Harley-Davidson's marketing team on real content and attend meetings and events.
Interns who pass a H-D Riding Academy course and obtain a motorcycle endorsement even get to keep their bike.
Days Inn
Speaking of travel, hotel chain Days Inn is paying people to take vacations and sunset photos in "America's sunniest cities," from San Diego to Miami.
The company is "seeking a bright, aspiring photographer with a passion for the outdoors to travel across the country and capture the sun in all of its glory" for what it's dubbed a "summer sun-ternship."
The internship lasts one month, and each intern will receive a $10,000 stipend for use during that time. Days Inn will feature photos the "sun-tern" takes on its website, social media channels and even the walls of its hotels, the listing explains.
Amateur photographers over the age of 21 were eligible to apply prior to the May 20 deadline.
The Points Guy
Meet the Points Pups: Miles, Hootie and Swisher. The adorable canines are part of the in-office team at travel tips site The Points Guy, and their shared Instagram account has more than 11,000 followers.
In summer 2018, the company is looking for an intern to hang out with the team while helping to develop and post traveling pet content, curate tips on the best hotels and airlines for pet travel and grow the site's social audience.
"You'll be tasked with helping us research first-hand what it's like to travel with pets in today's day and age," the listing reads. "So yes, there will be some travel involved." Not to mention $20 an hour pay and the ability to set a flexible schedule between 25 and 40 hours a week.
But jet-setting pooches won't be the only thing this social media intern will have the opportunity to cover. They'll get to write for TPG about points and miles, too.
World of Beer
If you thought $10,000 to take photos of sunrises and sunsets sounded like a plum gig, what would you say about getting paid $12,000 to fly around and drink beer?
During summer 2017, craft beer bar chain World of Beer employed four "Drink It" interns to travel the world, drink beer and post about it on social media.
They attended beer events and festivals, such as the London Craft Beer Festival, the U.K.'s largest beer fest.
"There was a celery pretzel farmhouse ale, a lobster gose, peanut butter porter, a blueberry/peach berliner weisse, the list of flavor bombs went on and on," interns Quinton and Bobby gushed in one blog post.
Check out year's interns adventures, from Shanghai, China, to Lexington, Kentucky, on WOB's website.
Chance the Rapper
Today, it's not just companies that are posting internship listings. Twitter's reach gives anyone with a large following to get the word out about a temporary gig, and last summer, Chance the Rapper did just that.
The Chicago native does a lot of philanthropic work in his hometown to support arts programs for students, including a $1 million donation to Chicago Public Schools.
In March 2017, Chance posted a tweet that read, "Looking for an intern, someone with experience in putting together decks and writing proposals."
A few days later, he followed up with more specifics: "I want intern resumes formatted as creative decks, pitches or proposals," along with the email address trinternsubmissions@gmail.com, according to Levo.com.
