Traditional Internship

Through the traditional internship, we seek to provide a student with meaningful, relevant, practical work experience which complements classroom activity and career interests.  In addition, we seek to support the pipeline of talented, qualified, and career ready students needed to support our regional workforce.

If your organization is interested in hiring a student full-time for the summer or part-time during the academic year, we can help you customize that internship for your business and help recruit the student to participate. Let our career professionals help you create a work experience that will be benefit both the student and host.

 HIRE A TRADITIONAL INTERN

Objectives

This experiential learning model will typically include approximately 120-130 hours of work completed on an employer worksite.  While the internship tasks and actual experiences may vary, the internship will be structured to support the students career development including USG's College to Career Ready: 9 Skills for Success:

Benefits For Employers

• Completion of designated projects or “deliverables” for employer
• Spurring of interest in a particular industry among future generations of employees
• Development of a potential pipeline of candidates from qualified applicants
• Marketing and name recognition 
• An opportunity to collect new perspectives and ideas from students regarding processes, organizational branding, and more

Benefits For Students

• Explore a particular industry, career, or employer site
• Gather information on an industry culture, lifestyle, norms, and expectations
• Industry-specific experience
• Resume development
• Career mentoring, guidance and support
• Professional development
• Networking and “face-time” with potential employers
• Expert insights regarding strengths, challenges, and potential career trajectories in a particular field

Sample Project Approach

1. Employer develops a job description for a traditional internship experience to include one semester, or approximately 120-130 hours of work to be completed on site at the employer.  This job description should include deliverables related to current employer business-related opportunities for “practical experience” utilizing a variety of skill sets, and should include no more than 25% administrative tasks.
2. The Career & Internship Services Center [CISC] will actively market this internship to targeted student populations at USG. The CISC will recruit and refer all qualified candidates to the employer for an interview.
3. The employer will interview and select one student for the traditional internship experience.  The employer and the student will work together to develop an agreed upon work schedule and process for logging all hours worked.
4. The employer will provide all on-boarding and training activities as needed for the internship.  The employer will also designate a professional supervisor to manage the student intern.
5. USG’s CISC may conduct a site visit during the semester to ensure meaningful practical experience is taking place in a proper work environment.  During this site visit, USG’s CISC will address any questions or concerns of the employer or intern.
6. USG’s CISC will conduct reflection, evaluation, and assessment of the internship experience (outlined below).

SAMPLE JOB DESCRIPTION

Sample Timeline

Compensation

Internships should be equitably paid based on hours worked and may qualify for academic credit. See additional Best Practices for Internship Programs.

Learning and Development Outcomes

As a result of participating in this traditional internship experience, the participating student will enhance their knowledge and skills; including:

Knowledge Acquisition, Construction, Integration and Application

Relating Knowledge to Daily Life – Ability to understand how skills utilized through internship will apply to professional experiences in the future. Ability to utilize what is learned through experience to make future career decisions.

Cognitive Complexity

Critical Thinking – Demonstrates ability to prioritize and organize designated work load. Shares innovative ideas during staff meetings and in staff interactions. Provides detailed research in line with designated research tasks.

Interpersonal Competence

Collaboration – Recognizes the value added of working as a team with internal and external constituents of Montgomery Moving Forward.

Humanitarianism & Civic Engagement

Social Responsibility - Recognizes social systems and their influence on people; articulates the values and principles involved in personal decision-making; affirms and values the worth of individuals and communities

Practical Competence

Pursuing Goals – Completes a realistic self-analysis to understand personal interests in line with newly obtained experience and strategically align these interests to future career goals. Ability to understand disinterest in sector functions in order to make appropriate career decisions for the future.

Demonstrating Professionalism - Completes tasks by designated deadlines.  Demonstrates accountability and ownership for assigned task work. Dresses professionally in line with organizational codes of conduct.

Success Metrics

Quantitative:

1. Pre- and Post-Test on Learning and Development Outcomes
2. Student Evaluation of Internship Experience
3. Employer Evaluation of Internship Process
4. Student Performance Evaluation

Qualitative:

1. Project Deliverables  
2. Student Reflection
3. E-Portfolio
4. Student Evaluation of Internship Experience
5. Employer Evaluation of Internship Process
6. Student Performance Evaluation

SAMPLE EVALUATION FORM

Additional Links

Best Practices for Internship Programs

NACE Article: THE POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS OF INTERNSHIPS ON EARLY CAREER OUTCOMES

NACE Article: INTERN OFFER, CONVERSION RATES REACH NEW HIGHS

NACE Article: KEY STRATEGIES FOR CONVERTING INTERNS

Students at USG. 
The next generation of your workforce.
Train them today to be your new hire tomorrow.