Work Experience Internships: Employer Requirements

Your Role as an Employer

An internship is a mentorship opportunity for the student – a chance for them to grow and expand their skills.

As an employer, you are responsible for:

1. Working with your intern to establish at least three specific learning objectives that can be accomplished by the end of the semester.
2. Providing resources, equipment, and facilities that support learning/objectives goals.
3. Evaluating your intern's performance and progress toward their learning objectives twice per semester – once at mid-term and once at the end.
4. Verifying the number of hours your intern works.
5. Assigning a supervisor who is a professional with expertise and an educational and/or professional background in the field of the experience. The supervisor must be willing to share their knowledge with the student and provide routine feedback.

Your Organization

Your organization should be an established, legitimate business or non-profit, as evidenced by having the following:

• Physical location
• Website
• History of offering paid employment
• Listed telephone number
• Tax ID number

Minimum Hours Worked

For a student to be covered by Los Rios' Workers' Compensation insurance, they need to meet the minimum hours worked requirement. The student and their supervisor will mutually establish a work schedule.

The number of hours a student works each week depends on how many credits they plan to earn. Typically, a student must work more hours to earn units for a paid internship and fewer hours to earn units for an unpaid internship. Units are based on the following scale for each semester:

• Paid internship – .5 units per 37.5 hours worked during a semester
• Unpaid internship – .5 units per 30 hours worked during a semester

Support from Los Rios

The value in partnering with the district is enhanced student accountability. During the semester, a Los Rios instructor will schedule a site visit to meet with the intern's supervisor and make sure the student is making progress and benefitting their employer.

The instructor will receive the mid-term and end-of-semester evaluations and keep track of the student's progress over the course of the semester. To receive academic credit for their internship, students must:

• Accomplish or make progress toward their learning objectives
• Work enough hours
• Turn in course assignments