Graduate Elective Internship

While students may seek out internship opportunities on their own, they are strongly encouraged to work with Career Center staff to locate internship opportunities and resources. Students can email hoodgrad@hood.edu to confirm eligibility to pursue an internship opportunity.

As this process may take 8-12 weeks, it is important for students to allow ample time to work with career counselors to explore opportunities, assist with cover letters and resumes/CVs, and interview practice. For more information, and to make an appointment through Handshake, visit the Career Center website. The Career Center staff have a large database of pre-verified employers to help begin your internship search. Please note: the Career Center staff will not find you an internship or job, but they will provide you with resources to research opportunities.

Deadlines: Students should submit the internship application and offer letter to the registrar's office before the term in which they want to enroll begins. Requests received after that and through the drop/add period of a term, may be reviewed on a time permissible basis.

Time Requirement: A student must work a minimum of 40 hours at the internship site for each credit earned.  

Internship Paperwork

Step 1 - Begin Application for Internship and Confirm Eligibility with the Registrar's Office

Students should start this process early and before they have applied to or secured a potential position. Most internship courses require the completion of at least 15 credits to be eligible. Review your specific program requirements within individual course descriptions in the College catalog. While official approval from faculty occurs at the end of the process, you are encouraged to discuss opportunities with your academic advisor and/or program director to ensure you will have support from the department.

To begin the process, you'll first want to complete the top of the Application for Internship form and send it to the Registrar’s office for their review. The Registrar's Office confirms that a student has met eligibility requirements and may proceed through the remaining steps. 

The Registrar's Office will review your academic record to confirm the following:

• You have successfully completed one full academic semester of coursework at Hood College in a graduate program.
• You are in good academic standing with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0.
• You have completed the minimum credits required to be eligible for an internship within yourdegree program.

Step 2 - Pre-verify Employers and Strengthen your CV and Interview Skills

Once you have confirmed your eligibility for an internship, you are encouraged to contact the Career Center to access resources for pre-verified employers.  Obtaining a list of employers the College has established relationships with is your best chance of securing an opportunity.

Step 3 - Securing an Internship Employment Offer

If you receive an offer of employment for an internship,  you must submit the official offer letter and internship application to the registrar's office (hoodgrad@hood.edu) That official employment letter must include the following:

• Offer should be on company letterhead
• Details of the internship:
  • Position and responsibilities
  • Location
  • Number of hours expected to work
  • Dates of employment (start and end dates - must be within the terms in which they plan to enroll)
  • Salary, if applicable
  • Employer Human Resource contact name, phone number and email address
  • Site supervisor contact name, phone number and email address
  • Federal EIN Tax ID number

If the offer letter is missing any of this required information, you will be notified to obtain a revised one that does. We will not proceed with the verification and approval process unless and until we have an adequate offer letter. We also will not accept employment offers from temporary employment agencies or third party contractors, recruiting you for a job at another employment site.

Sample Employment Offer Letter Template

Step 4 - Verification of Employer and Opportunity

The Career Center will review the offer of employment, application for internship, and verify the employer as well as the position/opportunity are valid. If you secure a position from an employer that is already confirmed in the Handshake database with the Career Center, the verification process can be quick.  However, if you secure a position with an employer unknown to Hood and/or the Career Center, this verification process may take up to two weeks. You must submit your application for internship and offer letter before the start of the term in which you want to enroll.  This ensures there is enough time to complete all of the steps of this process for enrollment before the drop/add period ends for that term. 

• If successfully verified, you proceed to Step 5
• If not successfully verified, career center will notify you, the registrar’s office, and department faculty.  They may continue to work with you to locate valid employers or opportunities to start the process over.

You are encouraged to review the Career Center's resource on verifying your job offer, so you are informed about inappropriate or scam offers.

Step 5 - Secure a Hood Faculty Instructor

As there are academic components to your internship and you will be registered for a course representing this internship, you will need to work with a Hood faculty member in your department who will serve as your instructor. Your program director will be the default instructor for your internship, however, they may assign another faculty member to work with you, or if there is another faculty member in your program that you would like to work with, you can request for them to be your instructor.

• You should provide your Application for Internship paperwork to faculty AFTER you have received the offer of employment and AFTER the Career Center has signed the form validating the opportunity.
• If the program director approves, they should sign the Application of Internship form or email their approval to hoodgrad@hood.edu.  
• If there is another faculty member in your department that you will be working with instead of your program director, they should sign the Application of Internship form or email their approval to hoodgrad@hood.edu. 

Step 6 - Registration

Once steps 1-5 have been completed and all documentation submitted, the registrar's office can process your registration for the internship.  All of this must be completed by the drop/add deadline of the term in which you plan to enroll.  Once registered, the registrar’s office will provide a copy of the Internship Time Sheet, which you will use to track hours worked, and obtain the site supervisor’s signature at the completion of the internship. This time sheet should be returned to the Hood faculty internship instructor by the end of the enrolled term to be factored into the final course grade.  

For F1 students- once enrolled, the PDSO will update the student’s SEVIS record and provide the student with an updated I-20. To apply for SSN (Social Security Number), the student will need the updated I-20, Offer letter, valid passport, and a letter of support from the PDSO.