Finding paid internships for your students

Susan Sandberg

As the recession drags on, more and more financially strapped students want and need to have paid internships. Fortunately, more and more organizations are finding funds to pay interns. Although the compensation might be small, a paid internship boosts student morale as well as income.

The following tips offer new directions for paid internships:

• Sponsorships at nonprofits:  Traditionally, nonprofit organizations have not offered many paid internships. But that’s changing. The Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, has received support from the Tucker Foundation since 1997, funding between 3 and 5 interns each year. Summerfield Johnston, whose family operates the Tucker Foundation, believes the fund supports work that benefits both the institution and the intern. Through their research, programming, writing, and other activities, the interns’ work benefits not only the museum, but each student’s life work as well. When exploring paid internships in nonprofit organizations, look for sponsorships that fund internships.

• Paid internships with low number of applicants:  If students haven’t selected a major, you might guide them into fields where internships are paid, and they can sample potential concentrations based on their qualifications. Cal State Fullerton’s College of Engineering and Computer Science and concentrations in the College of Business and Economics have a large number of paid internships that are available and a low number of applicants. These  areas of study have a low number of applicants because they do not require students to complete an internship to graduate. There are currently 22 interns in engineering, three in accounting and four in finance. Engineering, accounting and finance seem to have the highest paying internships.

• International internship sites:  With a shortage of experienced IT workers in New Zealand and the competition to recruit them increasing, Sky City Entertainment Group is hoping its new internship program will help it secure young IT talent while providing interns with much needed real world experience. The internship will involve a year-long, paid position in the Sky City IT team, with candidates being provided internal and external training in system management, system support and delivery, and systems integration. Sky City has 5 locations across Australia and New Zealand. Employment by Sky City at the end of the internship is not guaranteed, but the work experience will benefit the interns in securing IT jobs in the future.

Internships.com search:  There are now over 56,000 internships in nearly 30,000 companies in 7,500 cities listed on the site. Instruct your students to enter Paid under Compensation when searching for an internship and see what comes up. For example, InfoScroll in New Jersey offers 18 part-time, paid entry level Account Manager Internships with Residual Income. This virtual internship requires fewer than 10 hours per week. Interns assist in setting up local restaurants and other businesses with Free Advertising on InfoScroll. In Redmond, Washington, a paid Journalism Intern will perform multiple tasks for a condominium association, including writing a monthly newsletter that goes out to 770 homeowners.  Tell your students that the word is out:  Paid is in.