Getting Started
- Develop a job description for your internship position, identifying learning objectives and clear goals for achievement. Keep in mind that 50% or more of the intern’s tasks should be career-related. Follow UTSA’s Guide to Hosting a Student Intern for step-by step instructions on creating a program plan, hiring, and supervising interns.
- Create a Handshake profile and post your internship for UTSA students to apply.
Frequently Asked Internship Questions
To ensure that an experience— whether it is a traditional internship or one conducted remotely or virtually— is educational, and thus eligible to be considered a legitimate internship by the NACE definition, all the following criteria must be met:
- The experience must be an extension of the classroom: a learning experience that provides for applying the knowledge gained in the classroom.
- The skills or knowledge learned must be transferable to other employment settings.
- The experience has a defined beginning and end, 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.
Internships may be paid or unpaid, but MUST follow the U.S. Department of Labor’s Fact Sheet #71: Internship Programs Under the Fair Labor Standards Act. We strongly encourage employers to arrange, at minimum, some kind of stipend for an unpaid internship to cover students travel and lunch expenses. This will help increase your applicant pool.
NACE provides the gold-standard benchmarks for paid internship wages, but Payscale and SeekUT Career Insights are free, public tools where you can compare your internship compensation to current market ranges by industry, location and degree level.
We invite you to share your internship opportunity on Handshake, our online job and internship database serving UTSA students. Check out how to Create an Employer Account and How to Post a Job if you are new to Handshake. We ask that you include learning objectives in your internship description. In addition to sharing your internship virtually, we invite you visit our Employers page for more opportunities to engage students. If you'd like to meet with our employer engagement team to discuss a more tailored recruiting plan, send an email to employer.engagement@utsa.edu to set up a recruiting consultation.
Internship
- Completed for possible options: credit/no credit
- Learning objectives reflect the goals of the student, the outcomes expected by the employer, and the requirements of the course
- projects or ongoing work that is purposeful and of a professional nature
- Duration/Hours: typically part-time (10-20 hours/week) in a semester or a summer (2-3 months); occasionally extended into next semester or a year
- Supervisor serves as a mentor figure to aid the student in the learning process
- Allows for learning of transferable skills that you do not yet possess
- The opportunity to obtain "real world" experience in your field of interest and learn first-hand about companies, careers.
Part-time Jobs
- Completed for monetary purposes
- Learn tasks of job in order to complete the work adequately but not necessarily for personal gain
- Assigned work that needs to be completed, not necessarily professional in nature
- Duration/Hours: no specific start/end date or designated time frame
- Supervisor serves as an authority figure to whom the employee reports
- Serves to fill a basic position within the place of employment
Academic credit for an internship is arranged directly with a student’s academic department. In order to qualify as a credit-bearing experience, the experience must fit the NACE internship criteria, as well as the academic department requirements. To confirm that your experience aligns with the department, identify the academic program of interest at the UTSA academic programs site and contact the department directly with your request. Some departments have an Internship Coordinator identified under Faculty, however if you are unsure of who the department contact is, contact employer.engagement@utsa.edu for assistance.
See additional resources below to support the creating of your new internship program.
Additional Experiential Learning Opportunities
- Host a group of students for a half-day or full day externship. This is a great way to expose students to your company culture and open a pipe line for internship recruiting. If you're interested, contact the Employer Engagement Team.
- Sponsor a short-term project through our Micro-Internship program. These are 4-6 week projects where students can help tackle problems that you are facing within your business or organization.
- UTSA Alumni—serve as a Career Mentor through our Roadrunner Network.
For more information on getting involved in experiential learning opportunities, contact the Employer Engagement Team.
Micro-internships
Get more information about paid, real-world experience through micro-internships on the Parker Dewey recruitment platform.
Recruiting and Branding
The University of Texas at San Antonio is committed to offering our employer partners comprehensive recruiting services to help connect with our students and alumni.
If you are interested in learning more about the corporate partnerships available check out the breakdown of each level.
Virtually Connect with UTSA
The University of Texas at San Antonio will be utilizing Handshake to connect companies with UTSA students and alumni. If you have not created your free account on Handshake, you can learn more with some tips from Handshake.
Recruitment Overview
Promote your job opportunities to students at UTSA. The University Career Center Employer Engagement team will arrange for you to have a table in a high-traffic area of the campus to ensure maximum visibility for your recruiting team. You may distribute company job applications or collect resumes in addition to promoting your organization. All organizations must have an active profile and open position on Handshake. Table Recruiting is available for the Fall and Spring semesters. Please send an email to employer.engagement@utsa.edu with your request.
The University Career Center provides private interview rooms and will assist in the coordination of scheduling UTSA students. Your organization can schedule your virtual interviews on Handshake to connect with students across UTSA. If you need assistance in creating a virtual interview schedule contact us at employer.engagement@utsa.edu
Introduce your company or organization to UTSA students and alumni at Career Fairs and Expos. These events are ideal for recruiting UTSA students, prospective graduates, and alumni from diverse academic and employment backgrounds for your full-time degree, part-time, and internship opportunities. A full list of events can be found on our Events page.
