Internships are an excellent way to learn more about your chosen field, to gain practical working experience, network and build professional contacts, and develop your résumé. Internships are eligible college credit when registered as a class.

Internships require research and planning. While almost any organization can work with you to create an internship, many organizations have formal internship processes that must be followed. Please research internships that might interest you. Internship searches should be treated like a job search. Oftentimes, they are competitive, and require an interview process. Students can search for internship opportunities on Handshake.

Prior to submitting an Internship Agreement and beginning an internship, students must:

• Ensure academic standing eligibility in accordance with stated internship requirements in the Eureka College Catalog.
• Obtain and secure an internship and site supervisor at the internship site who will provide supervision, feedback, and evaluation of the experience.
  • To appropriately plan and request an internship for credit, interns should obtain a job description that outlines the duties and responsibilities of the intern. Faculty will use this document to determine the suitability of the internship for academic credit.
• Secure a Faculty Instructor to provide supervision of the experience, through contact with the site supervisor via phone, email and/or site visits (review internship agreement together).
  • Please note that faculty members may not be available during summer months to assist with the completion of internship documentation.  It is therefore highly recommended to utilize their assistance during the academic year in completing paperwork in a timely manner and by specified deadlines.
• Ensure with Faculty Instructor that the attempted internship provides the academic experience required for credit and determine credits attempted, by meeting with the Faculty Instructor to determine Student Learning Outcomes.
• Provide evidence that the work experience in the internship provides a new/different professional experience from any prior internships.
  • A student may not receive academic credit twice for the same internship, unless the internship provides a different experience and/or further advances skills built in the previous internship.
  • A student may not earn credit for a current full or part-time job, unless documentation is provided reflecting new job responsibilities being assigned.
• Determine how the student will provide transportation to the internship site.
• Plan for financial implications of attempted credit hours—especially in summer sessions, where summer courses or internships credits are not included in tuition. Students may be required to pre-pay for summer credits.
• Submit the Experience (Internship Agreement, i.e., request) on Handshake, which includes an acknowledgement statement accepting the terms put forth by the Internship Policy.
• Meet communicated deadlines.

When logged into Handshake:

1. Select the "Career Center" option at the bottom of the left menu bar. 
2. On that page, under the Eureka College banner, select "Experiences".
3. Then select "Submit an Experience" (blue button).
4. On that page, the first field is a drop-down menu; select "Eureka College Internship Request".
5. Under the "Experience" section, the first field "Experience", type "Internship".

From there, the form will update on the page to be filled out. When you submit, this form will automatically email your Faculty Instructor, then your Academic Advisor with the emails that you provide, so it's very important to input  emails correctly. 

If you need assistance or guidance finding or applying for an internship, please visit the office of Career Services or schedule an appointment on Handshake. You may also contact David Speiser, Director of Career Services at dspeiser@eureka.edu.

Note: Summer internship hours are NOT covered in Fall & Spring tuition costs. They require an additional cost of $585 per semester hour.