Developing and maintaining solid relationships with current experience providers is a key component to a successful internship program. Many of the ideas listed here are general, blanket concepts. If you would like help brainstorming industry-specific tactics, please contact Career Services.
Recruiting Experience Providers Most experience providers want high-quality, hard-working interns at low-cost and usually want the best students to help their company succeed. Our goal is to keep experience providers happy through quality students and solid communications. Host a major-specific or department specific internship fair and invite current, past and potential experience providers to attend as well as all the students in the department. Target potential providers you'd like to work with and distribute a "Potential Experience Provider" packet tailored to demonstrate your department's individual strengths and uniqueness. Carry "Potential Experience Provider" packets with you on business trips, professional meetings, and other networking functions, which you may distribute along with your business card. Encourage students to seek out providers that may not have previously worked with SFA or considered an internship program.
Maintaining Experience Providers
Prepare students by addressing their role as a University representative. Stress the importance of performing well as their actions can encourage or deter an experience provider's future participation in SFA's internship program. The student could eliminate the possibility of future student opportunities with the employer. Establish a good rapport with the provider by meeting him or her in person or, at the very least, on the phone. Contact the employer on occasion during the semester to see how the intern is performing and see if there is anything you can personally do. Do everything possible to help the employer find a suitable intern for his or her organization.
Adapted from Brigham Young University’s Encourage Internship Involvement.
Rusk Building, 3rd Floor 936.468.3305 careerservices@sfasu.edu www.sfasu.edu/careerservices