Discover and Hire Talent

1. Sign up for a FREE Handshake account following these instructions. Handshake is where our students (and several other area colleges’ students) look for jobs and internships. 
2. Make an appointment with us. A 30-minute phone call, virtual or in-person meeting with one of our staff will have you on your way to recruiting interns in no time. 

1. Create an orientation process that includes a packet of start-up materials (virtual links, paper, or both).
2. Make an appointment with the intern on their first day to go over a few details like email, schedule, and goals.
3. Connect with the student’s faculty advisor if the student is earning academic credit, and establish a few learning goals that you can help your intern meet. 

Sometimes employers are promoted, roles change internally, or people are newly hired and are now responsible for an intern who has already been recruited and started. Here are a few steps you can take to get started with your student intern right away.
1. Make an appointment with your intern to go over their schedule, the work they’ve accomplished already, and provide them with the chance to get to know you. 
2. Review shared goals and develop new timelines, if necessary. 
3. Ask your student intern if they’re working with a faculty advisor at McDaniel. If so, connect with them to review their learning goals and get on the same page. 

McDaniel College strongly encourages employers to pay their interns. By having paid internships, organizations show the student that they value their talent and that they’re willing to invest in the student’s career. A paid internship also opens your position beyond students who can afford to work for free, giving you more access to a diverse talent pool. Payment for internships can come in the form of an hourly wage, a salary, or a stipend paid in lump sums over a period of time. It is possible for students to receive both academic credit and payment for their labor.

Internships that are unpaid are more scrutinized by both McDaniel College and the United States Department of Labor due to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Although the experience gained by the intern is valuable in their career development, their service to the organization is also of value. 

The FLSA has seven criteria to determine if an internship experience can be classified as unpaid.

1. The extent to which the intern and the employer clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation. Any promise of compensation, express or implied, suggests that the intern is an employee and vice versa.
2. The extent to which the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions.
3. The extent to which the internship is tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit.
4. The extent to which the internship accommodates the intern’s academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar.
5. The extent to which the internship’s duration is limited to the period in which the internship provides the intern with beneficial learning.
6. The extent to which the intern’s work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern.
7. The extent to which the intern and the employer understand that the internship is conducted without entitlement to a paid job at the conclusion of the internship.

Have questions? If you’re still unsure whether or not your internship qualifies to be unpaid, please contact your Human Resources department.

With both paid and unpaid internships, students often desire to receive academic credit for their work with your organization. The student leads this process. For-credit internships are only offered on a pass/fail basis.

Here’s how it works:

• The student identifies, applies for, and secures an internship that aligns with their academic program.
• The student requests a faculty member to sponsor them from the department most closely aligned with the experience. In the rare instance that no faculty can sponsor, the Center for Experience and Opportunity Executive Director may be substituted.
• Faculty will often meet with the student on campus and assign additional assignments as a condition to receive the credit. 
• The student fills out a form they can find on the McDaniel College online portal. The faculty sponsor and internship site supervisor sign the form. The student submits the form to the Registrar’s Office.
• With very rare exceptions, most for-credit internships are approved.

Employers who engage with McDaniel College on a regular basis receive special access in Handshake to better connect with the student talent pool on campus. 

You can create an employer Handshake account and post your opportunities for McDaniel's talent pool. You can also arrange to attend a career fair, provide a workshop, or set up a table on campus to interact with more undergraduate students who may be seeking an internship. Get in touch with the CEO for additional guidance. 

Internships bring eager, talented, and passionate energy into your organization or business. They provide:

• Creativity that advances projects and services
• Campus resources like research labs and libraries to help you study trends and develop plans
• A way for you to identify fresh talent and recruit permanent employees
• Strong ties between the college and your organization or business
• An opportunity for you to mentor up-and-coming professionals 

Contact us at ceo@mcdaniel.edu to share more about your organization and the opportunity available, We'll help you identify next steps!