What is a Campus Internship?
A campus internship is a student employment experience at WVU that allows you to gain professional experience while contributing meaningful work to a University department.
All student employment opportunities provide valuable experience and help you develop skills for your future. A campus internship builds on that experience with an intentional focus on learning, mentorship, career readiness, and professional growth. You’ll have opportunities to apply what you’re learning, receive feedback, and take on greater responsibility as your skills and confidence grow.
Student Employment vs. Campus Internship
| STUDENT EMPLOYMENT | CAMPUS INTERNSHIP |
| Primary purpose is to support departmental operations. | Primary purpose is to provide a structured educational experience that develops career-ready skills. |
| Focuses on completing assigned work. | Combines meaningful work with learning, reflection and professional growth. |
| Supervision emphasizes task completion and job performance. | Mentorship emphasizes coaching, feedback and skill development. |
| Duties may remain consistent throughout employment. | Responsibilities increase as the student’s skills, confidence and independence develop. |
| May not directly relate to academic or career goals. | Intentionally connects the experience to the student’s interests and career aspirations whenever possible. |
| Success is primarily measured by reliability and work completed. | Success includes both work completed and progress toward learning outcomes and career readiness competencies. |
Benefits of a Campus Internship
A campus internship can help you:
- Gain real-world experience while working right here at WVU.
- Build career-ready skills employers value, including communication, critical thinking, leadership, professionalism, teamwork, and technology.
- Apply what you’re learning to meaningful projects and workplace challenges.
- Explore career interests and learn more about potential career paths.
- Receive mentorship and feedback from WVU professionals.
- Build your professional network and develop workplace relationships.
- Strengthen your resume with meaningful accomplishments and professional experience.
- Build confidence and better understand how your experiences connect to your future career goals.
Eligibility
Campus Internship opportunities are available to WVU students who meet the qualifications listed for the individual position. Eligibility requirements may vary depending on the internship, department, funding source, and whether academic credit is involved.
Students should:
- Meet the qualifications listed in the internship posting.
- Be available to work the schedule and hours required for the position.
- Apply through the established WVU hiring process.
- If the position is funded through Federal Work-Study (FWS), have an active FWS award with sufficient available funding.
Federal Work-Study (FWS) internships cannot require academic credit.
How to Find Campus Internship Opportunities
Campus internship opportunities are posted in Handshake, WVU’s career development platform.
To search for opportunities:
- Log in to Handshake using your WVU login credentials.
- Select Jobs from the navigation menu in the top left corner.
- Select Filters in the top right corner to narrow your search.
- Under Job Type, select On Campus Student Employment, then select Apply to view all available on-campus student jobs.
- In the search bar, type “Intern” or “Internship“
Tip: Check Handshake regularly as new campus internship opportunities may be added throughout the year.
Why Host a Campus Intern?
Hosting a campus intern provides an opportunity to support student learning while advancing the work of your department. Campus interns can contribute to meaningful projects, bring new perspectives to your team, and develop skills that prepare them for future careers.
By hosting an intern, departments can develop future talent, increase departmental capacity, enhance student learning, and contribute to WVU’s commitment to career readiness and experiential learning.
Program Goals
The program aims to expand meaningful experiential learning opportunities while strengthening students’ career readiness by:
- Increasing access to internship opportunities for WVU students.
- Helping students develop, recognize and articulate career-ready skills gained through their experiences.
- Creating a consistent, high-quality campus internship experience across the University.
- Preparing students for professional life by incorporating workplace practices such as competitive recruitment and interviewing, clear performance expectations, regular feedback and evaluations, mentoring, and professional development.
What Qualifies as a Campus Internship?
Campus internships are intentionally designed to combine meaningful work with structured learning, mentorship, and professional development. Supervisors should review the Campus Internship Checklist before developing or submitting a position.
Supervisor & Mentor Expectations
Supervisors and mentors play an important role in creating a meaningful, development-focused internship experience. Those hosting a Campus Intern are expected to:
- Provide meaningful, skill-building work and clearly defined learning outcomes.
- Provide comprehensive onboarding and establish clear expectations.
- Meet regularly with the intern to provide guidance, coaching, and feedback.
- Help the intern connect their work to career-ready skills and professional goals.
- Increase responsibilities as the intern develops skills, confidence, and independence.
- Provide opportunities for professional interaction and networking.
- Complete midpoint and final evaluations and encourage reflection on the experience.
Create a Campus Internship
Ready to create a meaningful internship experience for a WVU student? Follow these steps to get started:
1. Plan the Internship
Identify your department’s needs, meaningful projects, funding, supervisor/mentor, and opportunities for student learning.
2. Develop the Position
Create the internship job description, establish 2–4 learning outcomes, determine compensation, schedule, and duration, and identify the career readiness competencies the experience will develop.
3. Submit the Job Posting Request
Complete the Student Employment Job Posting Request Form. Once reviewed and approved, the internship will be posted in Handshake.
4. Recruit & Interview
Review applications, interview qualified candidates, and select the student who best aligns with the internship responsibilities and learning outcomes.
5. Hire
Extend an offer to the selected student. Once accepted, submit the Student and Other NBE New Hire Form to begin the hiring process.
6. Onboard & Mentor
Complete required supervisor training, establish expectations, provide intentional onboarding, meet regularly with the intern, and provide ongoing coaching and feedback.
7. Evaluate & Reflect
Complete midpoint and final evaluations, review progress toward learning outcomes, and help the intern reflect on their accomplishments, skill development, and career goals.
For detailed guidance, planning resources, and sample timelines, review the WVU Campus Internship Program Manual.
Contact the Student Employment Team at the WVU Career Center at studentemployment@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-2222.
