Get the word out to applicants, and get Trinity students in the door. Employers and recruiting organizations may post jobs and internships through Handshake.
All postings are reviewed and approved by a Career Services staff member.
Students or graduates may respond directly to recruiters via Handshake or the recruiter may specify that applicants apply through the organization’s website, a specific email, telephone, fax, or mail.
Through Handshake, employers can:
- post available job and internship positions
- provide information to prospective recruits
- list contact information
- provide links to company websites
Intern Programs
At Trinity University, an internship is formal work experience that intentionally includes an educational component. Developing a good internship program—especially from the ground up—can be challenging. Trinity's Career Services can help you get meaningful results from your programs, beneficial to the student and to the organization.
Internships may be paid or unpaid and for credit or not-for credit; even in not-for-credit circumstances the student will have an academic adviser as part of the experience.
Why Internships?
Justifying any new program—and sometimes maintaining a program—can be a challenge. Quantitative and qualitative research can provide specific information about benefits of internships for both students and organizations, and will shed light on ways to set-up programs to maximize these benefits.
Internship Best Practices
Have a clear recruitment plan and define the critical skills needed and how they are to be evaluated in the recruitment process.
Be specific about the intern's role within the organization.
- Develop an orientation program for the intern(s).
- Assign specific projects
- Be clear on the intern's responsibility
- Review pertinent polices and procedures that will affect the intern's work especially safety and any confidentiality policies
Develop a system of feedback for the intern (it could be patterned off of a formal performance review, or it could be informal).
More resources are available online:
Develop a detailed program that fits specific needs.
- Determine level of compensation
- Create a workspace for the intern
- Insure that there is clear supervision
- Make sure that the program accounts for academic requirements if coordinated with a college or university.
Getting Started
Sometimes, the biggest obstacle to an internship program is the lack of clear planning. Here are some of the steps that will help to develop a clear program that will produce good results:
Research
Take the time to determine what the local market and practices are for internship programs. In addition, research internships within your industry. Best practices in a geographic location versus within the industry may not always match. It is important to determine who you will be competing with for talent and designing a competitive program is important.
Evaluate
Make sure you evaluate organizational and departmental needs with regard to internships. Often employers want to hire an intern but what they really need is a part-time worker. If the organization and department are committed to creating an educational experience that contributes to professional growth of the student then an internship is appropriate.
Understand
Understanding the requirements for setting up an internship from a human resources standpoint is important. Recent guidelines issued by the US Department of Labor may affect whether or not you can classify an experience as an internship, especially if it is unpaid. Further guidance is available from the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
Compensation
We highly recommend that internships be paid. Research indicates that employers who pay, even minimum wage, are able to recruit better talent and get more productivity from their interns if they are paid.
Course Credit
Trinity University has specific guidelines for awarding of college credit for a work experience. Please discuss this with Career Services.
Documentation
We strongly recommend that organizations work from a written internship plan that identifies the student responsibilities, reporting lines, job qualifications, pay structure, work term and the customary structure attached to any employee's position.
Recruitment
To maximize the effectiveness of a program having a structured recruitment plan in place will help to assure that you secure the appropriate student intern for your organizational needs.
Structure
Like any position within an organization an internship requires administrative and even philosophical structure to support it and create an environment that is conducive to productivity and learning. Before implementing a program make sure that you have these structures in place.