Internship Guide

Internship Regulations

The following rules and regulations govern the internship program for the management of sports industries program at UNH. These regulations are in addition to any other rules or regulations that might apply by virtue of Sports Management Department, College of Business, or University of New Haven rules or regulations.

1. A student may apply for an internship no sooner than the second semester of the Junior year.
2. A student must have a minimum QPR of 2.7 to apply for an internship. Students with a lower QPR will need to take an elective instead of an internship unless they can raise their QPR, or extenuating circumstances warrant that the dean of the College of Business approve such internship candidates.
3. Traditional internships are for three or six credits in the semester in which the internship is undertaken. In rare circumstances additional credits can be earned, but such opportunities are usually limited to individuals working at an out-of-state/country internship, i which the student would not be able to attend classes at UNH.
4. Interns are expected to work a minimum of 200 hours for a three-credit internship.

Application Process

A student may apply for an internship no sooner than the second semester of the Junior year. The registration process must be completed at least two weeks before a semester/trimester begins or two weeks before an internship begins. In order to register for an internship the student must submit a complete application. The first part of the application process entails meeting with the student's adviser to determine the best potential fit for the student and to critically analyze the student's career objectives.

Internship Site

Once a clear direction is identified, students can either find their own internship site or ask the internship coordinator to help identify a site. For students who find their own internship site, the internship coordinator will contact the site to ensure that the internship is appropriate. Some students might want to fulfill their internship at a site where they already work. Such internships are not encouraged, as they limit exposure to different environments and career options. However, students who wish to work for a current employer are allowed to do so as long as the internship entails work over and above what they are paid to or volunteer to perform.

The internship coordinator will make every effort to locate a site for those students who do not have an internship site. Once a site has been found, the student will complete a formal application for the internship, which is sent along with a resume to the internship site. The student is responsible for following up with the internship site to ensure that the application was received and to coordinate an interview if the internship site is interested. Once the internship site is approved, the student moves to the next step– the interview.

A note about resumes: Students are encouraged to submit a copy of their resume to the internship coordinator for review. This will help to ensure that resumes are error-free, accurate, and reflect the best image of the students.

Interview

Students are required to have at least one face-to-face interview with the internship site supervisor. This should be a comprehensive interview wherein the student and the supervisor establish the students responsibilities for the internship. If the student and site supervisor mesh well and decide to work together, then an internship objectives contract will be created. However, if there is an incompatibility, a different internship opportunity will need to be developed. It should be noted that there is no guarantee that an internship will be found for any given student. A student who is unwilling to cooperate in the placement process will have significant difficulty obtaining an internship.

Contract

When an internship site has been finalized, a contract needs to be developed. The contract specifies that the student agrees to perform specific tasks or accomplish certain goals, and that the internship site agrees to provide assistance to the student in reaching those tasks/goals. A sample contract is enclosed with the other application materials below. The contract is signed by the student, site supervisor, and internship coordinator, and serves as the basis for all issues of the internship. For example, if the contract requires that the student work 20 hours per week and the student  works only 10 hours per week, that is a violation of the internship contract. Similarly if the internship site is required to train the intern in marketing and the intern is given only photocopying work, the contract would allow the student to leave the internship site based on a breach of contract. The contract provides no remedy, whether legal or non-legal, other than allowing a student, the University, or the internship site the right to terminate the internship experience if something goes wrong.

The internship can begin after specific starting and ending dates are established and added to the contract. Interns are required to behave in a manner that reflects unquestionable professionalism. It is anticipated that interns will follow the charge given them by their supervisors. While interns are expected to perform a variety of functions, they are not charged with performing any illegal acts, nor is their conduct controlled in any respect by the University of New Haven. Interns are independent contractors and not employees of the University of New Haven. Thus, the University of New Haven does not guarantee the conduct or actions of interns even if such conduct results in personal or financial injury.

It is incumbent on interns, and to a lesser extent internship hosts, to maintain contact with the internship coordinator and report on a regular basis by note, fax, e-mail or phone call. At least twice during the semester the internship coordinator will visit each internship site or meet with the intern and host in another location or manner to determine progress. Besides such updates, interns are required to complete a weekly log highlighting what they have accomplished during the past week. At the end of the internship, students must write a summarization paper to be submitted to both the internship host and coordinator summarizing the learning experience and including examples of work (memos, flyers, marketing letters, promotional pieces or other items that can be publicly disclosed).

Grading

The internship host completes a one-page grading form and reviews the summarization paper to help determine a final grade. The internship host's opinion and the grade determined by the internship coordinator are combined for the intern's final grade. The internship coordinator's grade is based on the weekly log, site visit(s), and the summarization paper.

FYI Fair Labor Standard Act Concern

The FLSA concerns are printed with permission from Employment Law, A Guide for the Sport, Recreation and Fitness Industries by Gil Fried, Lori Miller and Herb Appenzeller (Carolina Academic Press, 1998). These concerns exist only when an internship site does not provide a meaningful internship and simply uses an intern as a "grunt" laborer without pay.

Intern liability issues were raised when an Atlanta-based public relations agency was forced by the U.S. Department of Labor to pay its interns $31,520 in back pay and to agree to pay current and future interns the federally mandated minimum wage (O'Connor, 1997). The agency got in trouble when it billed clients for the work which interns performed. This created an "immediate advantage" for the agency over its competitors who had to pay employees to perform similar work. Such an advantage conflicts with the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Field Operations Manual (1990) provision 106.11 (O'Connor, 1997). The same guidelines also prohibit
- unpaid interns from displacing regular employees,
- using interns who do not receive any benefit from the internship (i.e., they do not develop any skill, and only make coffee),
- utilizing interns who are not entitled to a job after their training period ends, and
- whether there is an understanding that the intern will not be paid for training (O'Connor, 1997).
These factors are critical, but not conclusive. For additional cases, see generally, Reich v. Parker Fire Protection District (1993) and Donovan v. American Airlines, Inc. (1982).

Internships associated with college programs, such as sports and fitness administration programs, have to follow all labor laws even if the students receive college credit. Thus, an intern who did not receive any training and was used instead of hiring another secretary could sue under the Fair Labor Standards Act to get paid. To avoid potential suits or to throw off government investigators, some employers are now using internship contracts which specify that the intern accepts a small stipend or college credit in lieu of the minimum wage. These contracts are currently being challenged and a definitive ruling on their validity should be available in the next several years (O'Connor, 1997). Until the legal status of interns is definitively settled, it is best to consider them employees unless they receive significant training opportunities.

In addition, employers should try to comply with the following suggestions, which can help to avoid FLSA requirements:
- Training is for the benefit of the trainees or students
- Trainees do not displace regular employees, but work under close observation
- The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the trainee's or student's activities and, on occasion, business might be interrupted in order to help teach the trainee or student
- Trainees are not necessarily entitled to a job after they complete their training period
- The employer and trainee or student understand that they will not be entitled to wages for any time spent in the training process (Dixon, 1994).

Procedure List

1. Meet with internship coordinator.
2. Complete application.
3. Locate internship site.
4. Apply for internship.
5. Schedule interview.
6. Attend interview.
7. Formulate internship tasks and goals.
8. Complete internship contract.
9. Register for internship course.
10. Start internship.
11. Complete weekly logs.
12. Help to coordinate site inspection by internship coordinator.
13. Complete required internship hours.
14. Complete internship.
15. Prepare summary letter.

Final Student Report This PDF should be completed at the end of the internship.
Final Internship Site Supervisor's Report