Build a High-Impact Internship Program
When you provide students with meaningful experiential learning and work experiences, they become your greatest ambassadors on campus. Providing internships allows your organization to involve students in your company culture, exposing them to meaningful and productive work, while energizing your organization with fresh, new, creative ideas and diverse perspectives. Student interns are often first on the scene with the latest industry trends, theories and patterns and can help bring exciting change to your company. Internship programs are also a cost-effective way for employers to recruit and evaluate potential new full-time employees from their pool of interns. 
The Link Center serves as a liaison between our community and our university by supporting collaborative partnerships between employers, students, and instructors and staff. We can help employers develop a successful internship program for their organization, post their internship opportunities in Handshake and connect with UW-Superior internship coordinators in academic departments/majors.
Recruiting/Hosting Interns Best Practices
We encourage organizations to adhere to the following best practices when recruiting/hosting interns:
- Encourage and support the learning aspects of the student’s internship experience.
- Designate professional staff members to serve as advisors/supervisors responsible for:
- Helping to orient the student to the organization and its culture.
- Assisting in the development of learning objectives.
- Conferring regularly with the student to monitor progress.
- Provide adequate supervision (we recommend one meeting per week or every other week) for the student, and assign duties that are progressive, challenging, and related to the student’s area of interest.
- Make available the necessary equipment, supplies and space for students to perform their duties.
- Provide an evaluation of the student’s performance at the end of the internship (and other identified milestones).
- Agree to adhere to the U.S. Department of Labor’s guidelines for internships.
- Follow the UW Extended Campus guidance on establishing a successful internship program.
Employer Benefits for Hosting InternsÂ
- Identify potential new talent
- Meet short-term and special project needs
- Support the university community and increase your company’s visibility on campus
- Reduce your recruitment and training costs through potential retention of interns
Intern CompensationÂ
Internships are coordinated with employers who offer both paid and unpaid internships. We strongly encourage paid internship whenever possible as an important effort in diversity, equity, and inclusion in employment practices. In some high-demand fields, employers will find it necessary to offer paid positions in order to attract candidates. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Labor has outlined criteria for unpaid internships. Employers should consider the following criteria when considering unpaid internships.
Academic Internships (For-Credit)Â
Currently, several UW-Superior majors require students to complete structured for-credit academic internships. These include Social Work, Business, Health and Human Performance, Legal Studies, Criminal Justice and Education.
It is each student’s responsibility to work with their department and/or academic advisor (or the internship coordinator within their major) to determine whether they can receive credit for their internship. As an employer, you can support the student in pursuing an internship for credit at your organization, but you cannot offer or guarantee that credit. Typically, if a student is able to pursue an internship for credit, the department will outline and coordinate any required forms and processes, including learning goals and intended outcomes of the internship. There may be requests for documented supervision of the student and evaluations during and at the completion of the internship.
Resources/Guidelines for Employees
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) connects campus recruiting and career services professionals and provides best practices, trends, research, and professional development. We encourage your exploration and adherence to the professional standards found here: