Build Your Internship Program
Quick reference for internship guidelines and tips.
How To Build an Internship
- Consider logistics (compensation, workspace, equipment, onboarding, management)
- Create project-based tasks
- Write a clear job description
- Create community building and development opportunities
- Develop methods to track progress and provide feedback
Intern Supervisor Best Practices
- Set clear expectations, learning objectives and goals
- Host onboarding meetings/trainings and weekly check-ins to ensure progress
- Share communication preferences and office culture and attire guidance
- Be a resource and available for questions via preferred communication method
- Provide mentorship and development opportunities
Supervising Interns (PDF) Supervising Interns (Recording)
Typical Hours and Salary
- Local part-time semester interns: minimum of 10 hours, up to 20 hours, 12 weeks
- Full-time summer interns: 40 hours per week, 6 to 12 weeks per college
- Engineering Co-ops: Students complete at least one summer and one long semester of full-time work with the same employer
- Unpaid internships must meet the Department of Labor Unpaid Internship Test
- The National Association of Colleges and Employer Salary Survey is a great guide for national salary comparison; to request college-specific salary statistics, please see the Career Center Directory below
Internship Guidelines
Per our Recruiting Guidelines and Procedures, we want to make sure the student intern is in a professional atmosphere, gaining experience relevant to their major, and being supervised by an expert in the field in which they are interning. We evaluate each internship according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Internship Guidelines. Learn more about NACE Internship Best Practices.
Academic Credit
Decisions regarding whether a student will be able to receive academic credit for an internship are made at the academic departmental level, not at the university level. T he student is responsible for initiating the application for academic credit with their academic department. It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure eligibility for credit by adhering to the above guidelines.