How to Identify a Potential Position

Students seeking an internship may get information from their advisor, Career Services, the Department’s Internship Coordinator or their own search.  The Department is not a clearinghouse for internships and, thus, does not retain a listing of available internships.  In most cases students, through their own initiative, identify opportunities.  The Career Services Office is a valuable on-campus resource to assist students in this process.  Once an opportunity has been approved as qualifying for academic credit by the Department, the student then progresses through the application process.

·         Identify a host organization that offers an internship or qualifying job that is relevant to the student’s major.

·         Negotiate terms of the position with the host organization (e.g., pay, work hours, tasks to be performed, learning opportunities, performance expectations).

·         Determine the compatibility of the opportunity with Grove City College’s requirements for earning credit (see guidelines for qualifying positions below).

·         Determine the willingness of the host organization to participate in the internship program and to carry out its specified functions to enable the student to earn credit.

Many internships and jobs qualify for academic credit; others do not.  Below are guidelines for those that do and those that do not qualify for credit.  Those that may qualify for credit are characterized as follows:

·         Responsibilities involve the intern’s performing substantive business tasks that require decisions and independent work.

·         Positions provide direct experience in one or more business functions, such as accounting, sales, marketing, human resources, finance, or production.

·         Interns are encouraged to take initiative and be creative.

·         Positions offer opportunities for progression in responsibilities and authority to make decisions.

·         Positions offer the opportunity to learn via close working relationships with experienced supervisors and co-workers.

·         Positions provide exposure to multiple business functions through direct contact with personnel in those functions.

Characteristics of positions that probably do not qualify for credit are:

·         Repetitive work with little opportunity for decisions, initiative, and independent thinking.

·         Narrow focus with little opportunity for a broader understanding of corporate operations.

·         Entry level with little potential for advancement (e.g., janitor, short-order cook, fast-food server, lifeguard, full service gas station attendant)

·         The College does not grant internship credit for any experience in which a student is paid by the federal government, for whatever reason.  Conversely, if credit is granted by the College for an internship, then a federal stipend may not be accepted by the student.  In no situation may a student accept federal money related to participation in an internship and receive academic credit, as this is prohibited by College policy. 

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