Host an Internship
Thank you for your interest in designing an internship experience in collaboration with App State. We look forward to the opportunities that working with your organization will provide for our students, and vice versa.
Interns can be valuable assets that give you an opportunity to mentor someone new to your field and gain innovative ideas from a fresh perspective. The following information is designed to assist you in navigating the process of designing, posting, and hiring for your internship experience. You can also use this sample internship description as a guide when creating your internship.
Design your internship
To begin, define the structure of your internship by thinking through the following questions:
- What skills and competencies will student interns gain and/or practice during their time with you at your site?
- Do you have time to supervise and evaluate your intern’s performance?
- How will you demonstrate a strong commitment to your student’s goals and learning outcomes?
- What kind of training will you provide the intern?
- How many hours may the intern be on site each week?
As you determine responses to these questions, consider the following to further shape your internship:
- Academic credit: Would you like the intern to be earning academic credit?
- Pay/stipend: Will you pay your intern or offer a stipend? Paying interns offers significant benefits from both the employer’s and intern’s perspective, including attracting high-caliber talent, higher engagement, focus, and productivity from interns, and an effective pipeline for full-time hiring. Appalachian State adheres to fair labor laws (Fair Labor Standards Act), requiring all for-profit organizations to pay interns.
- Academic majors: What academic majors would be a good fit for your internship? View a full list of academic majors at App State.
- Qualifications: What qualifications, skills, and previous experience does an intern need to have to learn best at your site?
- Site supervisor: Who will serve as your site supervisor for your intern?
- Application materials: What application materials do you want to collect? (Resume, cover letter, class schedule, work examples?)
- Academic semesters: In what academic semester will your internship occur? Look at the latest Academic Calendar for dates.
Post your internship
Once your internship is designed, it can be posted for students to begin applying. Be sure to include as much detailed information as possible when creating your posting to receive the best-qualified candidates. Follow these instructions for posting your internship.
Select an intern
As you review internship candidates, first look through their application materials. Requiring a resume and cover letter works well to measure students’ maturity and readiness for an internship. You may also consider collecting writing samples and other work examples that can also serve as strong predictors.
After you have reviewed candidates’ application materials, consider inviting them for an interview as part of your selection process. Involve several team members to ensure a clear perspective on the best match for your site. If distance is an obstacle for an in-person interview, utilize phone interviews or applications such as Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet as effective substitutes. Below are some examples of interview questions you can ask candidates:
- Why did you choose to attend Appalachian State University?
- Talk about your interest in this internship.
- How does this internship align with your career goals?
- How has your academic coursework prepared you for this internship?
- What other experiences have prepared you well for this internship?
- Describe an accomplishment in college in which you are most proud?
Have questions?
If you are a current internship host and have questions about an internship you are hosting or if you are interested in designing a new one, contact Dana Sumner, sumnerdf@appstate.edu, 828-262-2180.
If you’re a prospective internship host, we invite you to connect with Appalachian State University through Handshake and begin posting your internship opportunities.