Career Development Center

Summer Donor-Funded Internships

InternLA & InternPDX

InternLA & InternPDX are unique, donor-sponsored internship opportunities, that fund 31 selected students to intern in 29 LA and Portland-based organizations and companies during the summer.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The Career Development Center (CDC) is rolling out InternLA and InternPDX, an ambitious summer internship program that supports Oxy students to intern full-time in LA and Portland-based organizations in six broad occupational sectors: Arts & Entertainment, Business & Entrepreneurship, Law & Policy, Media & Technology, Science & Research, and Social Services & Advocacy.

Our funded internship program is being modeled after the Community Arts and Public Service (CAPS) Internship program, a CDC program that has been running since 2006. Partnership sites will host an InternLA or InternPDX student for a ten week assignment commencing the beginning of June 2013 and ending around August 9, 2013. Interns will work on a full-time basis with 2 hours reserved for an on-campus weekly educational component called IMPACT.

PREREQUISITES

  • Must be a current Occidental College student
  • Open to juniors, sophomores, and first years from all majors, unless otherwise specified.  Current seniors are not eligible to apply unless returning as a student for the fall 2013 semester
  • Good academic and conduct record
  • Minimum overall GPA of 2.5; some organizations may have a higher GPA requirement
  • Attend one of the workshops aimed at document and interview preparation (see dates below)

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
InternLA participants will:

  • be available to participate in pre-site training on Friday, May 31st
  • enroll in the INT100 internship course
  • perform professional tasks on projects key to the organizations’ needs
  • receive professional mentorship from their onsite supervisors
  • engage in an on-campus learning “course”, IMPACT, on Friday mornings for about 2 hours with limited assignments
  • partake in a Leadership Development Day program that provides participants the opportunity to visit sites and present their summer projects to their peers
  • participate in an on-campus presentation (TBD)
  • complete an end of assignment survey & reflective essay

COMPENSATION
InternLA students will be compensated $3500⃰ for their 10-week participation in the program. Stipends will be distributed on a bi-weekly basis and last pay check will NOT be released until all program components are met. The program does not offer additional funds for gas, mileage, room and board. 

*$3500 is a base pay for the majority of interns. There will be organizations who offer slightly higher wages and those who will pay the intern directly and not via the College’s stipend method.

SELECTION AND APPLICATION PROCESS
All applications must be submitted by 5pm on Wednesday, March 20th. Incomplete and/or late submissions will NOT be accepted. No exceptions.  Remember that you must attend at least one preparation workshop in order to apply.
Completed applications includes:

  • Cover letter and current resume via TIGERlink (can apply to two postings only listed under  InternLA)
  • Faculty Recommendation Form (Applicant is responsible for timely return of document to the CDC)

Documents will be forwarded to the on-site supervisor. On-site supervisors will contact applicant directly if they wish to schedule an interview. On-site supervisors have a deadline of Friday, April 12th to notify the selected applicant. Selected intern will have until Friday, April 19th to accept or decline internship offer.

APPLICATION/PROGRAM TIMELINE
The following is an application/program timeline for Summer 2013:
Thursday, February 21st---June 3rd Information Session @ noon
Monday, February 25th---Information Session @ 4:30pm
Wednesday, March 6th---Document Prep  & Interviewing Skills  Workshop (mandatory, offered 2X)
Thursday, March 7th---Document Prep & Interviewing Skills Workshop (mandatory, offered 2X)
Friday, March 8th---Document Prep & Interviewing Skills Workshop (mandatory)
Monday, March 18th---All-day CDC Drop-In Hours for final document reviews
Wednesday, March 20th---Application deadline; all forms must be submitted by 5pm. NO EXCEPTIONS
March 25th-April 12th---Sites evaluate applicants and set-up interviews
April 12th---Deadline for sites to inform selected candidate
April 19th---Deadline for selected candidate to accept/decline internship offer
May 3rd---Deadline for selected interns to submit  InternLA  agreement
May 31st---Pre-site training on Occidental campus
June 3rd---Start internship assignments on-site

CORNUELLE FELLOWS
As part of  InternLA, the CDC will offer a highly competitive opportunit; two students will be awarded the Richard C. Cornuelle Fellowship, in honor of Oxy alum, Richard Cornuelle ’48. Selected fellows will be placed at Community Partners (see TIGERlink for description).

Along with the criteria listed above, Cornuelle Fellows applicants will:

  • be required to include a personal statement of interest (see prompt on-line)
  • partake in a pre-selection process. Applicants will be required to go through an on-campus interview with a panel comprised of members of the Occidental community and Community Partners. Only selected students will move forward to a second-round interview at Community Partners

Cornuelle fellows will also:

  • enroll INT 200 course (tuition costs covered by grant)
  • have required readings and meetings with faculty advisor, President Veitch
  • produce a research paper at the end of the assignment (7-10 pages)
  • be awarded a $3900 stipend and will be housed on the Oxy campus for the duration of the program (board not included)

INTERNSHIP SITES
For summer 2013 InternLA applicants are invited to apply to two of the following partner sites:

• Community Partners (Cornuelle Fellows site)
 
For information on InternPDX, click here
All internship descriptions are available on TIGERlink
For summer 2013 InternPDX applicants are invited to apply to two of the following partner sites: