Internship-in-a-Box
An innovative step-by-step program that helps businesses and organizations in the Greater Philadelphia Region create meaningful internship programs and apprenticeships.

The program includes a detailed manual that tells organizations how to design an internship program. The manual provides step-by-step instructions for beginning an internship program, including:

• A planning guide
• Instructions for implementation
• Best practices
• Evaluation forms
• Tips for leveraging college and university relationships
• A synopsis of legal issues impacting internship programs
• An Internship Process chart allows organizations to chart the progress of their program

Definition of an Internship
An internship is a period of practical training, carried out by a student within a company or organization. In some industries, cooperative education (co-op) programs fulfill a similar mission. In other industries, internships can be referred to as practicums, experiential learning opportunities, independent study programs or even apprenticeship models. Some universities refer to all of these under the term of experiential education.

Benefits of Internships
An internship program can provide many benefits to a company or organization. These include:

• Increased productivity – interns can complete project work.
• An early start on training future employees – more than 50 percent of interns return after graduation as full-time employees. Interns are a good way for an organization to fill its talent pipeline.
• An inexpensive recruiting tool. The opportunity to evaluate prospective employees while they’re working for the organization can reduce significant costs in finding new talent.
• Up to 80 percent of students stay in the city where they have interned.
• New technology and ideas students bring from the classroom into an organization.
• Diversity in an organization's workforce.
• Internship programs are cost effective – interns are typically much less expensive than comparable full-time staff.
• Interns provide an opportunity to manage for mid-level staff – they are typically responsible for day-to-day direction of interns.
• An influx of youthful energy and fresh ideas – interns bring a different viewpoint to an organization.