Write a Compelling Internship Posting, Part I

Summer internship season is quickly approaching. This is Part I of a three-part series on crafting internship postings that will attract qualified candidates on Indiana INTERNnet and elsewhere.

Writing an internship description can be a challenge. Human psychology plays a major role in whether or not candidates will be interested in the position or skip to the next. The description has to catch their attention, but not overwhelm them with information. Here are some tips to help perfect your posting.

Position Title

Be descriptive – never use “Intern” for the title of a position. That’s like saying “Staff Member” for the position of Executive Director of Financial Services. What kind of intern are you looking for? Use the job description as a guide. If the intern will be performing legal services, use “Legal Intern” or “Law Student Intern.”

Organization Biography

There should be a short description of your organization included in the internship posting. The description should include what the organization’s industry is, its products/services, how long it’s been established, etc. This will help candidates decide if this is the type of organization they are interested in.

Dates & Deadlines

Dates and deadlines are details students need to know. You should consider including an application deadline if the internship position is in demand. If the position is flexible in start/end times and there is not an application deadline, include that in the description. The Indiana INTERNnet system requires a start and end date to be listed, you could use the typical months of the semester. Below is a list of eight-week timeframes we recommend (these are also the EARN Indiana waves – find out how you could be reimbursed for up to 50% of your interns’ salaries).

• Spring: January 1-April 30
• Summer: May 1- August 15
• Fall: August 16-December 31

It’s All in the Details

Give a detailed description of the position and what responsibilities the intern will have. Bulleted lists are a great tool to use. It’s easy to read and candidates will know if this internship will match their desires.

Qualifications

Describe the required education, experience and skills the candidates should have to perform the duties of the position. For education and experience, use “or a related field” to avoid excluding interns that are exploring a new field. Internships are for experimental learning, some students may be solidifying what field they want to major in. You should use the term “preferred” for the qualifications that aren’t necessarily required.

Keywords

Indiana INTERNnet is set up for students to search for internships by keywords. You should cater to this by using keywords in the position title and description. For a public relations internship you could use communications, journalism, public affairs, etc. in the education requirements for desired major. This is a topic that we will elaborate on in a future blog entry.

Check It

Once you have posted your internship, double check it! Log out of your account and search for your listed position. You should check for spelling, grammar, and formatting errors. If computers aren’t your forte, HTML codes could cause some issues. Many internship postings have HTML codes shown in the details, because people have copied and pasted information into the posting. The codes will typically appear after the internship has been posted. That’s why it’s important to check after it’s been posted.

Next week, we will give examples of great internship posting. Stay tuned!