For Employers and Recruiters

Here's how an internship for a typical Butler student plays out:

• You post an internship opportunity on Handshake, our online employment portal. You include as much information as you can, including the anticipated number of hours spent on-site by the student, the nature of the work, and to whom they'll report. (Please see the following "How to Create an Internship" dropdown.)
• A Butler student finds it as they're preparing for the next semester or summer term.
• If the student is looking to receive college credit for completing the internship, they take the posting to Butler faculty/staff members to petition that it count for credit in a specific area of study (e.g., "CH" credit for Chemistry, "JR" credit for Journalism, etc.).
• If they're not looking to receive college credit, they might not consult a faculty/staff member at all.
• Regardless, the student goes ahead and applies to the internship either directly in Handshake or by clicking through to your external application site.
• If you offer the position to the student, they're seeking credit, and Butler faculty/staff feel the internship is missing elements, then they and the student will reach out to you to see if the opportunity can be adjusted. (If not, then the student could in theory still complete the internship—they just wouldn't receive college credit along the way.)
• Whether you want to pay student interns is up to you. The compensation rate must be stated clearly in the internship posting. A typical Butler student earns a minimum $12–15 per hour at their internship. You may find it helpful to read the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) guidelines for unpaid interns in for-profit companies.
• If the internship is for credit, you should anticipate being contacted during the term by Butler faculty/staff to gauge the educational experience for the student and how they're developing professionally.
• At the end of the term, if the internship is for credit, Butler faculty/staff will determine a grade for the student's transcript, taking into account your opinions and observations.

As you think about the qualifications of an ideal intern, consider factors other than GPA, grade level, and total years' experience. Overly strict criteria could cause you to miss out on the perfect applicant. Read IndianaIntern.net's tips on what to look for in an intern.

Internship Guides

IndianaIntern.net has great resources when it comes to building/improving an internship program:

• Read the article "Building a Quality Internship Program."
• Download Indiana Intern.net's free Employer Guide.

Best Practices

• Read an article detailing 15 best practices for internship programs from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
• Read how to provide professional development opportunities to interns.

FLSA Guidelines

You can read the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) guidelines for unpaid interns in for-profit companies.

Documenting ROI

Your internship program can't achieve return-on-investment if you don't have a clear road map. Read what aspects of your internship program to document on an ongoing basis to help you clarify what you do, how you do it, and why you do it.

What Butler Faculty are Looking for in an Internship

Below are some examples of information needed by faculty and staff in order to approve an internship for credit.

College of Communication (CCOM)

• The name and address of the company/organization.
• What the student would be doing in the internship.
• What skills would the student need for the internship? Writing? Video editing/shooting? Design?
• If technical skills are necessary, what kinds of software or equipment are already in place at the internship site? Our students are not allowed to use our cameras or any other CCOM owned gear for internships. That equipment is only used for class assignments and projects.
• Approximately how many hours per week would the student be interning?
• Does the internship pay? If so, how much?
• What materials should a student include in an application? Resume' and cover letter sufficient?
• Name and email address of the contact person.

Project-Based Learning Experiences (PBLEs) bridge academic theory and professional development, affording students the opportunity—while acting as consultants to your organization—to solve real problems being faced internally or in the community.

It's an innovative style of student-professional collaboration that ultimately allows you to dip into the brain trust of student groups, with the potential for future internships or full-time positions.

Building Upon Success

Facilitating the creation of PBLEs is where we come in.

Butler students have already been involved in PBLEs through Summer Fusion, an initiative funded through our office by a grant from the Lilly Endowment called "Butler Advance." As part of the curriculum, Summer Fusion had a community-based project attached to it. In recent summers:

• Students worked with Renew Indy, a nonprofit organization focused on alternative uses for abandoned houses, conceptualizing and designing a response to a real challenge in the city.
• Students also worked on behalf of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) to engage neighborhood residents living near 16Tech, identifying community assets and liabilities that might inform funding for the innovation district.

The participants' engagement with various stakeholders informed their teams' responses, which they presented to the community.

Students expressed in end-of-term surveys that the experience was both beneficial to their career development and meaningful. And, community partners expressed their appreciation for and the continued need for ongoing projects that could be mutually beneficial.

Creating a PBLE

Project-Based Learning Experiences can be short (e.g., 2–3 weeks) or last up to a full semester. The teams involved could be a group of students, a student organization, or all students in a particular course.

Students are chosen through a rigorous process that best matches them with an organization.

Possible PBLEs center around:

• Data science/analytics/gathering
• Human resources
• Event planning
• Research
• Strategy consulting for nonprofits
• Web development and technology 
• Quick video production for social media

This is a new field in career services and we're just getting started.

Join us.

Please email our Senior Director, Gary Beaulieu, to discuss creating a Project-Based Learning Experience. Or, call him at 317-940-9624.