Internship Information for Employers

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Western Carolina University is always open to partnering with new employers. These employer partners can be from all industries and encompass many different career paths and disciplines. Internships are vital to students' success in defining their career goals and learning necessary hands-on practical knowledge of their fields. Review the video above if you want to learn more about internship best practices and recruiting students.

Be sure to post your internship position in our online job board called JobCat. You can log in using the purple button on the top righthand side of the page. Use the job description template, listed in the helpful resources on the right, to create a job posting. Posting internships is cruitial to allowing all students equal opportunity to apply. You can also learn more about recruiting students on our recruitment page.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers defines internships as:

An internship is a form of experiential learning that integrates knowledge and theory learned in the classroom with practical application and skills development in a professional setting. Internships give students the opportunity to gain valuable applied experience and make connections in professional fields they are considering for career paths; and give employers the opportunity to guide and evaluate talent.

Western would like to see internship opportunities that fit the following framework but we are open to the discussion about best practices for establishing an internship program with any employer partners. We created this guide to help answer questions around best practices and recruiting Western students.

• The experience must be an extension of the classroom: a learning experience that provides for applying the knowledge gained in the classroom. It must not be simply to advance the operations of the employer or be the work that a regular employee would routinely perform.
• The skills or knowledge learned must be transferable to other employment settings.
• The experience has a defined beginning and end (usually following a semester schedule), and a job description with desired qualifications.
• There are clearly defined learning objectives/goals related to the professional goals of the student's academic coursework.
• There is supervision by a professional with expertise and educational and/or professional background in the field of the experience.
• There is routine feedback by the experienced supervisor.
• There are resources, equipment, and facilities provided by the host employer that support learning objectives/goals.

If your organization is interested in partnering with Western Carolina University to develop or market internships, please reach out. You can contact the center by calling 828.227.7133 or emailing careerservices@wcu.edu. Thank you!