Internships

  • Training in an educational environment
  • Integrate ambitious students into your organization through a structure, centralized process
  • Recruit, train and evaluate further employees
  • Expose students to existing organizational practices and procedures
  • Test-drive the talent

Designed to offer students the opportunity to gain work knowledge and possibly college credit for learning experiences identified in their job. With the collaboration of students, instructors, and worksite supervisor, the student will learn new skills and/or knowledge about his /her job and improve work performance. Worksite supervisor will be required to participate in a brief Job Site Visit, complete a student evaluation and verify hours worked by signing a time sheet.

  • Division Based: A supervised work experience involving efforts of educators and employers to accomplish career objectives in a designated major/specific industry.
  • Occupational Work Experience:The work experience must be related to the student’s educational or career goals.
  • General Work Experience: The work experience does not need to be related to the student’s educational or career goals.

Criteria For an Experience to Be Defined as an Internship

To ensure that an experience, whether traditional internship or one conducted virtually, is educational and thus eligible to be considered a legitimate internship by the Department of Labor and the national Association of Colleges and Employers, all of the following criteria must be met:

  1. The experience must be an extension of the classroom: a learning experience that provides for applying the knowledge gained in the classroom. It must not be simply to advance the operations of the employer or be the work that a regular employee routinely performs (In other words, it must not displace regular paid employees).
  2. The skills or knowledge learned must be transferable to other employment settings.
  3. The experience has a defined beginning, an end, and a job description with desired qualifications.
  4. There are clearly defined learning objectives/goals related to the professional goals of the student's academic coursework.
  5. There is supervision by a professional with expertise, educational ability, and/ or professional background in the field of experience.
  6. There is routine feedback by the experienced supervisor.
  7. There are resources, equipment, and facilities provided by the host employer that support learning objectives/ goals.

Work Experience Program for Internships and College Credit

For Cuesta College students and interested employers, the Cooperative Work Experience Program (WEXP) provides the opportunity for students to participate in paid and unpaid internships while earning college credit.

Employers taking part in our Internship/WEXP programs will be asked to complete and sign appropriate documentation. Our Dynamic Forms for Employers walkthrough will assist you if you are completing any contracts with us through our online signature platform.

Visit our Internship FAQs page to learn more about both our Internship/Work Experience Program as well as legal requirements for employing interns.