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Is your organization eager to give back to the community? Do you want to support underrepresented students’ career advancement and leadership development while diversifying your organization?
The Division of Equity and Inclusion seeks local and regional employers that share our mission to provide experiential learning experiences for students’ educational and professional advancement.
By hosting an internship, you will help students:
- Gain real-life experience in a professional workplace.
- Receive mentorship and supervision from industry professionals.
- Engage in professional & leadership development both on-site and outside of internship work.
- Network with professionals in their target field and/or industry.
- Gain clarity about their short- and long-term career goals.
Employer Benefits
- Employers participate at no cost – DEI will cover your intern’s wage! Interns will earn $15.70/hr.
- Diversify your team and gain an outside perspective to provide insightful ideas.
- Develop your team’s leadership capacity by having members supervise or mentor an intern.
- Build your early-career talent pipeline.
- Directly support underrepresented students’ professional and leadership development.
- Direct access to DEI staff as a resource to support you and your intern.
Employer Responsibilities
Intern Selection:
- Adhere to the application and selection timeline.
- Conduct interviews with candidates after DEI completes initial screening and send DEI your candidate rankings by the deadline.
- Notify DEI immediately of any changes to your application, proposed internship position, or ability to host an intern.
Supervision and Professional Development:
- Scheduling: Work with your intern to create a weekly schedule for 10-12 hours/week that aligns with their needs as a university student.
- Onboarding: Plan an orientation/onboarding activities to welcome your intern and ensure a smooth transition into the organization.
- Projects: Meet with your intern to jointly determine work projects and responsibilities. Assigned work should both leverage the intern’s existing skills and knowledge and help them develop new skills.
- Weekly 1:1 meetings: Establish a mentorship relationship through weekly check-ins to engage the intern in goal setting, review of work progress, and reflection.
- Supervision & feedback: Provide regular and ongoing feedback to help your intern grow. Be available to answer questions, debrief new learning, and overall support your intern in ways that ensure a mutually successful outcome.
- Community building and networking: Connect your intern with colleagues both on their immediate team and in the greater organization.
- Professional development: Help your intern enhance their leadership skills & workplace competencies to set them up for a successful career!
- Time tracking/attendance: Maintain an internal timesheet to track your intern’s hours. Each month, the LEI coordinator will verify hours with internship supervisors. Each pay period begins on the 16th of the month and ends on the 15th of the following month (e.g. February 16 – March 15).
LEI Events and Communications:
- Attend the LEI Supervisor Onboarding and Capstone Celebration events at the beginning and end of the program.
- Participate in a Midpoint Site Visit with the intern and LEI coordinator.
Employer Qualifications and Expectations
The LEI program seeks internship hosts who have:
- A commitment to advancing equity and inclusion in the workplace.
- A commitment to developing a diverse workforce and talent pipeline.
- A desire to provide mentorship and meaningful professional and leadership development.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
- The ability to work effectively with students from diverse backgrounds.
- An interest in helping students apply classroom learning and put theory to practice.
Does the LEI program align with your organization’s values and goals? If you answered “yes,” we would love to work with you!
The UO Career Center’s Guide to Internships offers tips and best practices for creating a meaningful internship experience. Click here to see student responsibilities and qualifications.