Avila 's Career Services offers you the opportunity to recruit highly motivated students in pre-professional internships. This section contains information and resources to assist with your internship recruitment needs. If you have additional questions, please contact Career Services at 816.501.2901 or by email at careers@avila.edu .

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an internship?

An internship is any carefully monitored work or service experience in which a student has intentional learning goals and reflects actively on what s/he is learning throughout the experience.  An internship is either directly related to a student's field of study or career interest.

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What does an internship look like?

• The duration can be from one month to two years, but usually lasts from three to six months.
• Generally an internship is a one-time experience.
• An internship may be part-time or full-time.
• It may be paid or non-paid (sometimes this is restricted by academic program).
• It may be part of an educational program and carefully monitored and evaluated for academic credit or may be part of a learning plan that someone develops individually.
• There is an intentional “learning agenda” built into the experience. Learning activities common to most internships include learning objectives, observation, reflection, evaluation and assessment.
• An effort is made to establish a reasonable balance between the intern's learning goals and the specific work an organization needs done.
• Internships promote academic, career, and/or personal development.

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What are the benefits to employers for providing Internships?

• An excellent source of highly motivated pre-professionals and paraprofessionals.
• Internships are proven, cost-effective ways to recruit and evaluate potential employees.
• Development of future managerial talent.
• Students bring new perspectives to old challenges.
• Allows freedom for current professional staff to pursue more strategic projects.
• Enhanced company relations with the university and the student.
• Your image in the community is enhanced as you contribute your expertise to the educational process.

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When are students available to intern?

Students are available to work throughout the entire year.   During the academic year students usually work part-time.  Due to their busy academic schedules, many students choose to intern only in the summer on either a part-time or full-time basis.

 
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Is academic credit available?

Some majors require an internship for credit as a part of the course of study. Students in other majors may be able to arrange for academic credit through an academic department.

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What are the steps I need to take to create an internship opportunity?

1. Set long-term and short-term goals for your organization regarding the implementation of an internship program.
2. Identify position(s) in which you can employ interns.
3. Develop a plan—part of this includes writing a job description, planning pay/benefits, duration of the position, determining academic background, and supervision.
4. Post the position on Avila 's on-line job posting system, CCN.
5. From the applications received, select the best qualified candidates and arrange interviews either on-campus or at your organization.
6. Final selection of the student employee is the responsibility of the employer. Decisions on salary and work schedules are made and based on a consensus by the employer and student.
7. Academic credit for an internship experience may be possible. In this instance the student initiates the process and establishes a clear understanding of the work position and his/her responsibilities in collaboration with the work supervisor and a faculty liaison.
8. Manage/mentor the intern—start with an orientation, provide resources, monitor and provide feedback, and evaluate performance.

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Do I have to pay interns?

The answer to this question lies in an analysis of the on-the-job experience that the individual will have in relation to the standard set forth under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a federal law which establishes the minimum wages for work performed.

Pursuant to this law, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has developed six criteria for differentiating between an employee entitled to minimum wage or above and a learner/trainee who may be unpaid. The criteria for learner/trainee are:

1. The training, even though it includes actual operations of the facilities of the employers, is similar to that which would be given in a vocational school.
2. The training is for the benefit of the student.
3. The student does not displace a regular employee, but works under the close observation of a regular employee or supervisor.
4. The employer provides the training and derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the student; and on occasion, the operations may actually be impeded by the training.
5. The student is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period.
6. The employer and the student understand that the student is not entitled to wages for the time spent training.

Not all six factors have to be present in order for the individual to be considered a trainee. The experience, however, should look more like a training/learning experience than a job.

Employers often question the fourth criterion -- that the employer derives no immediate benefit from the student's activities. This seems to contradict the contemporary practice of the use of internships by employers and colleges. To make the experience educationally valid, the same way that a student working in a college laboratory is expected to become actively involved in the work at hand, an intern is expected to participate actively in the work of the company. Several DOL rulings, while not directly addressing the criterion, seem to suggest that as long as the internship is a prescribed part of the curriculum, is part of the school's educational process, and is predominately for the benefit of the student, the fact that the employer receives some benefit for the student's services does not make the student an employee for purposes of wage and hour law.

An internship site should be able to answer "yes" to at least half of the following questions if an unpaid internship is being contemplated:

1. Is the work that you are offering an integral part of the student's course of study?
2. Will the student receive credit for the work or is the internship required for graduation?
3. Does the student have to prepare a report of his/her experience and submit it to a faculty supervisor?
4. Have you received a letter or some other form of written documentation from the school stating that the internship is approved/sponsored by the school as educationally relevant?
5. Will the student perform work that other employees also perform, with the student doing the work for the purpose of learning and not necessarily performing a task for the employer?
6. Is the student working and providing benefit to you less than 50 percent of the time and/or is the student in a shadowing/learning mode?
7. Will you provide an opportunity for the individual to learn a skill, process, or other business function, or operate equipment?
8. Is there educational value to the work performed, that is, is it related to the courses the person is taking in school?
9. Is the individual supervised by one of your staff members?
10. Is it clear that a job is not guaranteed upon completion of the training or completion of the person's schooling?

Source: Rochelle K. Kaplan, Legal Counsel, National Association of Colleges and Employers, 62 Highland Ave. , Bethlehem , PA 18017 , (800) 544-5272 Ext. 10

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Where can I get more information about internships?

Cooperative Education and Internship Association
800.824.0449 
www.ceiainc.org

National Association of Colleges and Employers
800.544.5272 
www.naceweb.org

National Society for Experiential Education
800.528.3492 
www.nsee.org


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