Placing a Paid Internship
If you wish to post a paid internship, please call the Student Employment Office at 831.479.6413, or go place your job online.
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Placing an Unpaid Internship
If you wish to place an unpaid internship, please review the formating of the internships that are currently listed in the categories in "Non-Profit Volunteer Opportunities Documents to Download." Please format your internship in a similar manner and email it to Lyn Hood at the email on this page. Pleased send the wording in the text of the email, not as an attachment, and indicate which caregory you feel is most appropriate in which to have it posted.
If you are a For-Profit business, please read the information toward the bottom of this page prior to sending us an unpaid internship listing.
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What is an Internship
The term “internship” is loosely defined in today’s work world. The National Society for Experiential Education defines an internship as a “carefully monitored work or volunteer experience in which an individual had intentional learning goals and reflects actively on what he or she is learning throughout the experience.” At the Cabrillo College Student Employment Center, we view internships as learning opportunities, whether paid or unpaid, which are designed to fulfill the dual purpose of reality-testing and skill-building. Reality-testing is the process of clarifying a student's choice of career direction. Skill-building is the chance to gain valuable experience in a specific career field or work environment. If learning is the emphasis, it is an internship.
The FLSA defines an employee as “any individual employed by an employer.” 29 U.S.C. 203(e)(1). Similarly, the FLSA definition of “[e]mploy’ includes to suffer or permit to work. ” Id. The Supreme Court held over fifty years ago in Walling v. Portland Terminal Co., 330 U.S. 148 (1947), that the FLSA definition of “employ’ does not make all persons employees who, without any express or implied compensation agreement, may work for their own advantage on the premises of another. Whether student interns are employees under the FLSA will depend upon all the circumstances surrounding their activities. For example, where certain work activities are performed by students that are simply an extension of their academic programs, we often would not assert that an employer-employee relationship exists for purposes of the FLSA. Thus, provided the six criteria listed below are met, where educational or training programs are designed to provide students with professional experience in the furtherance of their education, and the training is academically oriented for the benefit of the students, it is our position that the students will not be considered employees of the firm to which they are assigned. The six criteria, derived from the Supreme Court’s decision in Portland Terminal, are as follows:
- The training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to that which would be given in a vocational school;
- The training is for the benefit of the trainee;
- The trainees do not displace regular employees, but work under close observation;
- The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees and on occasion the employer’s operations may actually be impeded;
- The trainees are not necessarily entitled to a job at the completion of the training period; and
- The employer and the trainee understand that the trainees are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training.
The Department of Labor has consistently applied this test in response to questions about the employment status of student interns. See, e.g., attached opinion letters dated May 8, 1996, July 11, 1995 and March 13, 1995 and WH Publication 1297 (“Employment Relationship Under the Fair Labor Standards Act”).
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What is the Difference between an Internship and a Job?
Volunteer opportunities and unpaid internships for non-profit organizations and public sector employers are generally not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Volunteer opportunities and unpaid internships for for-profit emplouers may be covered by the FLSA.
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How are Interns Compensated?
Compensation comes in many forms. In some cases internships are paid at or near the prevailing wage for an entry level professional. Compensation at this level helps attract students and ensures the internship site can pick the “cream of the crop”. This also helps the students to focus on the internship because they do not need to work a second job and possibly attend school at the same time. These “internships” are usually listed on the Off Campus Student Job Board. In other cases, interns are paid a “training wage” that is at or above minimum wage. Some employers offer a stipend, a set amount of money that is awarded without regard to the number of hours completed in an internship. Before offering a stipend, however, employers should check with state regulations concerning stipends to ensure that all appropriate regulations are being followed.
Non-profit groups often cannot afford to pay an intern, and so compensation in other forms should be considered, For example, an arts agency may provide the intern with free ticket to performances or events. A social service agency may pay the registration and other expenses to send an intern to a professional conference.
For many students, the most important compensation is the opportunity to learn real skills and contribute to the mission of the internship site. However, internships without pay (particularly for for-profit businesses), must have an identifiable learning component or the employer is at risk for violating the Fair Labor Practices Act. The U.S. Department of Labor has identified specific criteria for identifying a learner/trainee who may be unpaid. (The DOL does not use the term internship).
for an example, go to:
http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/opinion/FLSANA/2004/2004_05_17_05FLSA_NA_internship.htm
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