COMMUNICATION INTERNSHIP GUIDELINES

College of Charleston

Department of Communication

GAINING PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

                A Communication internship at the College of Charleston provides you with valuable exposure to the working world and increases your chances for employment.  The Primary goals of a field internship are (1) to acquire first-hand knowledge about the field of work; (2) to explore new professional activities; (3) to apply conceptual knowledge and skills to the work environment; (4) to experience the problems and successes of efficiently and effectively communicating within a complex organization; and (5) to “Learn by doing.”

                Employers view internship experience as valuable, particularly if you do a good job and acquire a strong letter of recommendation from the organization.  Some students are hired by the company with which they interned.

                While on an internship, you will be treated as an apprentice.  You will work regular hours on the job.  And you will be assigned tasks and be allowed to observe what goes on at the organization.  Of course, you are expected to dress and behave in a professional manner and to complete all the projects and other work you are assigned. 

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

To be eligible to earn credit for COMM 495: The Field Internship, you must:

• Be a Junior or Senior
• Have completed 18 hours of your major coursework
• Have completed 18 hours of your Media Studies minor or 15 hours of your Communication Studies minor.
• Have a minimum 2.5 GPA in your major or minor, and a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA
• Submit the internship agreement and accompanying documentation by the deadlines specified by the Department of Communication.

Supervision and Course Credit

Your FACULTY INTERNSHIP DIRECTOR counsels you on your work and determines your final grade.   The faculty internship director is called the “project supervisor” on the College of Charleston enrollment form for internships. Dr. Kirk Stone, one of the original faculty members for the Department of Communication, will become the founding director of the Department of Communication Internship Program.  Dr. Stone will assume this position at the start of the 2006 Fall Semester.  (Internships for Summer 2006 will be handled in the "old" way through the individual faculty advisors.) Beginning this fall, Dr. Stone will be the supervising professor for all COMM 495 internships throughout the academic year, including the summer sessions.  Dr. Stone will work closely with Ms. Kristal Cooper, who will continue to be the staff internship coordinator for the Department of Communication and is a vital resource for information about internships in the department. 

While interning with an organization, you usually will be under the supervision of one person, known as your EXTERNAL SUPERVISOR.  In some older internship materials at the College of Charleston, the external supervisor is also called the “field supervisor.”

Your final grade from the faculty internship director is based upon:

                1.  Your portfolio

                2.  Your final paper

                3.  Your journal

                4.  Your external supervisor’s evaluation of your work

You may earn from one to three credits for an internship, but no more than three credits total may be earned for all internships.  The number of credits you may earn is determined by you and your internship director.  You will be required to complete your work over multiple weeks, as negotiated by you with the external supervisor and the internship director:

• To earn one (1) credit hour, you must complete a minimum of 40 hours of supervised work.
• To earn two (2) credit hours, you must complete a minimum of 80 hours of supervised work.
• To earn three (3) credit hours, you must complete a minimum of 120 hours of supervised work.

The work-hour totals noted here are the minimum requirements of the Department of Communication.  Many internship providers will require much more than the minimum hour total as a condition of agreeing to the internship.  In completing the internship agreement, you should be certain that you and the external supervisor agree in writing on the number of hours to be completed in order to complete the internship.

Your Faculty Internship Director

Your faculty internship director is responsible for ensuring that your internship provides you with a valuable educational experience.  You should provide your internship director with regular reports about what you are learning through the internship, the particulars of your job responsibilities, and any problems you are encountering.  The faculty internship director can intervene if you have problems with the organization.  Your director needs feedback from you not only to keep your internship on track academically, but also to develop future internships for other students.  Your director will establish a specific number of times to make contact with you and your external supervisor to ensure that all is going well.

FINDING AN INTERNSHIP

Developing Your Résumé

Your résumé should be considered a communication document intended to represent you to an organization.  Therefore, it is important that it contain appropriate information about your professional experience and educational background that will demonstrate your potential to be a successful intern.

A sample résumé is included in the back of this packet.  Many models for résumé development are available, and you should create a résumé in the standard format that best meets your needs.  Have your faculty internship director review the résumé with you. 

Matching You with an Organization

Internship openings are advertised in a number of ways, including those posted at Cistern Online.  As you consider a specific internship opportunity, there are a number of questions you will want to ask about yourself and the prospective organization.  A good way to structure this process is to answer the following questions.  They are designed to give you insight into your own skills and the prospective organization’s needs.

· How adequate is your overall academic performance?

· How adequate is your academic performance in the specific area in which you are seeking employment?

· What extracurricular activities have you participated in that might relate to your internship?

· What do you want to learn, do, or contribute in your internship?

· What, specifically, does the organization need from you?

· How well do your needs and expectations match the organization’s needs and expectations?

· How would you evaluate your ability to assume responsibility?

· What are your expectations regarding an internship?

These questions should help you focus on how your needs match those of the prospective internship organization.

Making Initial Contact

At some point in the internship application process, you may be expected to participate in a formal interview with organizational representatives.  This interview is extremely important because it allows both parties to evaluate potential, develop rapport, and clarify expectations.  The following suggestions and recommended guidelines are designed to help you with the interview process.

Preparation Suggestions:

• Prepare for the interview as though you were applying for a permanent career-oriented job.
• Be sure to have your résumé in proper order.
• Conduct a self analysis

• What are my strengths and weaknesses?
• What are my accomplishments?
• What can I offer the organization?
• What relevant course work have I had that lends itself to a particular internship?
• What activities give me the greatest satisfaction?
• What do I want from the internship?
• What are my career goals?

• Determine whether you need to bring samples of your work with you to the interview for perusal (i.e., writing samples, photographs, computer graphic design work, etc…).
• Conduct a background study of the organization.  Your ability to express familiarity with the organization can be beneficial to you.
• Dress for the interview in conservative clothing.  First impressions are often lasting ones.
• Be sure to give yourself enough time so that you arrive a few minutes early.

Interviewing Guidelines:

The interview can be helpful in clarifying expectations and developing rapport.  It’s worthwhile preparing for the interview in advance.  Here are some guidelines that may prove helpful:

• Express interest both verbally and nonverbally during the interview.
• Listen carefully to each question.
• If you need to clarify something, do not interrupt the interviewer.  Wait until the question or comment is fully made.
• Be genuine.  Trying too hard to make a good impression can make you appear insincere or phony.
• Don’t prepare for questions by developing “canned” responses.
• Interviewers notice how motivated and achievement oriented you seem to be.
• Be sure to ask for the specific expectations of the organization regarding the internship – in particular, the job requirements, work hours, final products or objectives.  This is especially important in determining whether the internship merits credit.

Remember:  The interview is your opportunity to make a good first impression.  It also provides you with an opportunity to clarify the expectations.  Clear expectations before the start of the internship can dramatically help in making the experience more enriching and worthwhile for both you and the organization.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE

An internship provides you with a unique opportunity to apply theories to reality, to develop practical skills, and to make valuable professional contacts.  Therefore, you should make every effort to maximize the experience.  There are a number of ways to do this:

• You should ask a great many questions.  Being inquisitive without being a pest will lead to greater breadth of information about organizational operations, some of which will be particular to the agency involved and some of which will apply to organizations of a similar nature.
• You should be a self-starter or self-motivator.  By initiating projects, you will become more valuable to the organization and, in turn, create more knowledge.  Of course, you need to gain the organization’s approval before you start such projects.
• You should seek the opportunity to sit in on meetings.  Observation of interactions will be invaluable in learning about organizational life and technical details.  The organization, however, may limit this activity or not allow it because of policy, the nature of the meetings involved, or the wishes of conference participants.
• You should move around the organization to observe the operations of various departments, if possible.  Some internship assignments require the student to shift from office to office to complete various tasks.  In any case, these observations allow you to see how interdependent parts of the organization work together.
• You should build respect among people in the organization for your willingness to work.  This may cause people to seek you out for assignments, to depend on you for task completion, and to expose you to a greater variety of situations.
• You should be able to handle criticism constructively.  An internship provides you the opportunity to make mistakes before entering full-time employment.  Viewed productively, you will learn from it and change your attitudes and behaviors accordingly.
• You should recognize the value of experience and learn from others.  Internship experience provides you the opportunity to be exposed to professionals in the field.  Many insights can be gained from these people if you seek them out.

Keeping the Internship on Track

The internship agreement is signed by you, the director of the Communication internship program, your external supervisor, and the internship coordinator for the department PRIOR to your internship starting.  It will stipulate the nature of the work to be completed and any special conditions involved.  The terms of this agreement should be carried out.  The agreement represents a working document to which all three relevant parties have consented.

What to Do If Problems Develop

Problems could develop during your internship.  The organization may cancel the project associated with your internship, your external supervisor may leave or be reassigned, or the timing of your project may get off schedule for reasons not under your control.  So if problems develop--including sexual harassment, inappropriate assignments, working you too many hours, ignoring you – you need to notify your faculty internship director immediately so that the problems can be worked out.  Otherwise, the consequences may include an incomplete internship and poor relations with the organization.

GRADING

Your final grade is based upon the following.

· Your journal

· Your portfolio of work accomplished at the organization

· Your final report

· Your external supervisor’s evaluation

· The internship director’s evaluation of these items

Both content and the quality of composition will be evaluated for any written work you provide in support of your work on the internship.

Keeping an Internship Journal

No matter what the specific type of internship activity, the key focus of your journal entries should be on the communication aspects of your assignment.  These entries should be made each day you work in the organization.  The journal will allow you to look back and see how your attitudes and knowledge developed over the semester and how communication theory and principles fit into your assignment.

Sample journal entries are contained in the Appendix to these guidelines.  Note how they weave observations and communication principles together.  Since one of the primary goals of internship activities is to apply theory to practical contexts, the journal provides evidence on a daily basis that this, in fact, has taken place.  It also allows you to integrate all of the observations and theoretical principles into your analysis at the completion of the internship. 

Portfolio

This is proof of your work and efforts during the internship, such as:

News clippings

Letters

Television/radio scripts

Video tapes/DVD recordings

Photographs

Promotional packets

Press releases

Articles

Television/radio promotions

Brochures

Press kits

Newsletters

Web site development

These materials should be kept in an expensive three-ring binder and should be as neat and professional as possible.  The portfolio should be designed so that you can use it during future employment interviews.

Final Report

                The intent of the final report is to reflect back on the internship and to consider what you have derived from the experience.  Your report will address the following areas:

• Describe your initial contact with the organization – the interview and any materials you submitted to them.
• Describe your job responsibilities in the internship and any projects you developed.
• Describe the goals and objectives of the agency and the department for which you worked. 
• Develop an organizational chart for the agency and the department in which you worked and indicate where you fit into the system.
• In what ways did your knowledge of communication principles help you accomplish the tasks associated with your internship duties?
• Was the job associated with the internship what you expected  it to be?  Why or why not?
• Have any of your assumptions about the working world changed as a result of your internship experience?  If so, how?
• What did you learn about yourself through this internship?
• Did you learn any new technical skills as a result of your internship?  If so, what were they?
• What would you tell other students who are about to undertake such an experience in order to maximize their participation in the program?
• What did you learn throughout the internship about the relationship between communication theories and practical experience?  In what ways do they interrelate and in what ways do they fail to do so?