Career Success Center Services

If planning to do an internship for academic credit, please meet with your academic adviser to learn more about potential credit hours and scheduling. For each credit hour earned, you, the student must work 45 hours at your internship. For example 3 credit hours require 135 hours worked.

Internships provide the opportunity for a student to integrate work and formal education with experts in his/her major field of study, to test the chosen career path, and to be involved in activities like those of full-time employees.

The University of St. Francis expects that the objectives of an internship be content based, skill related, academically substantive, value related, and integral to the students’ academic and career path. If you need assistance developing learning objectives that align with your Internship goals, please speak with your Faculty Supervisor.

Internship Learning Contract & Procedures

1. If planning to do an internship for academic credit, please meet with your Academic Advisor to learn more about potential credit hours and scheduling.
2. If a student needs assistance with internship leads or resume editing please visit the Career Success Center. To make an appointment, call 815-740-4295 or 815-740-3384, email careerservices@stfrancis.edu, or stop by the office in Tower Hall, N204.
3. After the student has been accepted by an employer as an intern, the student should request the Internship Learning Contract from the Career Success Center or download it here: Internship Learning Contract
4. The student is responsible for completing the information required on the first page and verifying the employer has completed all necessary information required of the Internship Employer section.
5. When the above information is finalized, the assigned Faculty Supervisor reviews the front page for accuracy and then completes the Academic Course Credit Information section.  It is important the ID number is listed, the number of credits and the course number information be filled out, if the internship will be awarded course credit. If you are completing an internship for non-credit but would like the experience to be indicated on your transcript please skip the Academic Course Credit Information section. Please note there is a $25 processing fee for non-credit internships.
6. After all signatures have been secured, the student takes the completed form to the Career Success Center and then to the Registrar’s Office for recording of the course number and credit hours to be officially enrolled for the internship credit.
7. After the student has been registered for the internship credit, the Learning Contract is forwarded to the Career Success Center by the appropriate deadline date either by the student or the Registrar’s office.
8. In addition to the Faculty Supervisor making continual contact with the employer, the Career Success Center will reach out to the employer after the internship has started to introduce our department. The Career Success Center will also send a final communication to the employer after the internship has ended.
9. The student weekly log form as well as midterm and final evaluation forms links are listed below:

• • Student Learning Log
    
  • Employer Midterm Evaluation
    
  • Student Intern Final Evaluation
    
  • Employer Final Evaluation

USF Internship Resources

Are you stuck on where to find an internship? Here you’ll find all the resources that the University of St. Francis Career Success Center offers to help you find and apply for internships in your field.

• Handshake:A field-focused database that helps you find internships based on your major, your interests, and other jobs and internships to which you’ve applied. Log in with your USF portal credentials. https://stfrancis.joinhandshake.com/login
• LinkedIn:LinkedIn is a great resource for job and internship searches as well as networking. You do not need an account to search for jobs and internships, but a quality LinkedIn account is a great asset to students of any major looking to enter the workforce. linkedin.com
  Click the jobs tab and search internships.
• Indeed:Indeed is a commonly used database for job searching.  You can also find internships on Indeed. Create an account to quick apply to positions and keep track of jobs in which you have an interest. indeed.com
• Your connections: Who do you know in the industry in which you are seeking an internship?  Reach out to them and ask who manages their internship program.  If they do not have a program yet, provide the name and contact at the firm and the Career Success Center will reach out with educational information on how internships work with our University.

If you need further assistance or would like to make an appointment for a resume review or mock interview, contact Betty Kohl in the Career Success Center at 815-740-3384 or bkohl@stfrancis.edu.

Thank you for your interest in a potential USF Intern, the Career Success Center is excited to assist you, here is some information to help get you started.

Overview of Internships

Internships are full or part-time, credit or non-credit bearing, short-term, supervised, work experiences. They can be established on or off-campus and may be paid or unpaid. Faculty members, collaborating with an on-site supervisor, monitor and supervise student progress, detail content, and evaluate final achievement. Not included in the internship category are field work, practica, student teaching, clinical experiences, and independent study experiences.

Internships provide the opportunity for a student to integrate work and formal education with experts in his/her major field of study, to test the chosen career path, and to be involved in activities like those of full-time employees.

The University of St. Francis expects that the objectives of an internship be content based, skill related, academically substantive, value related, and integral to the students’ academic and career path. If you need assistance developing learning objectives that align with your Internship goals, please speak with your Faculty Supervisor.

We offer on campus recruiting for employers both throughout the year and at our annual Career Fair. The Career Success Center can assist you in promoting job and internship opportunities. Please contact Betty Kohl at 815-740-4295 for more information and to book your recruiting table.

Pay, Course Credit or Both?

Think about if you can pay the intern, if not, you will have to offer course credit. The only organizations exempt from these requirements are government agencies and non-profits. Credit can be offered to students on a 1 credit hour basis. The number of semester hours of credit granted on an internship is dependent upon the expected learning experience, amount of challenge, exposure to the field, number and difficulty of oral and written papers and presentations, and contact or clock hours. The intern must meet the minimum requirement of 45 clock hours for each semester hour of credit.

Academic Credit Internships:

• Paid Internship/For-Credit– Partnership between student and employer. Students will gain degree related work experience while being paid from employer and receiving course credit from the University.
• Unpaid Internship/For-Credit – Experience strongly related to an academic discipline to be deemed credit worthy, a faculty is assigned to oversee credit issued.

Non-Academic Credit Internships: 

• Paid Internship/Non-Credit– Exist mainly in the private for profit employer sector – students are paid to learn specific objectives while they work.
• Unpaid Internship/Non-Credit– Focus on providing a service and gaining degree related on-the-job experience, opportunities are generally unpaid. Unpaid internships typically take place in the non-profit sector.

How to Post an Open Internship

Please submit a job description to our free online job database! Here is the link to our job board…

Join Handshake: The University of St. Francis uses the Join Handshake platform. To post jobs, please click here and register your information.

Employer Responsibilities

• Interview student intern, hire, and set contract dates for internship length and work schedule.
• Complete employer section on our USF Internship Paperwork, student intern is responsible for completing the entire form.
• Manage intern, teach and guide them, set objectives for internship, and introduce them to new skills and experiences within their field.
• Complete a mid-term and final evaluation on their performance. Student is responsible for providing it to you and turning it in to their professor.
• Every internship is supervised by a professor, that professor will oversee the student interns progress, and provide them with a final grade based partly on your evaluation feedback.