Micro-internship Program | Employer Guide
The Micro-Internship Program is designed to give current Longwood students valuable career-related experience through individual short-term projects. This program enables students to explore potential career paths while gaining practical experience that can enhance their prospects for internships, jobs or graduate school.
What are Micro-Internships?
A micro-internship offers students a focused opportunity to complete a single project for an organization or individual. It allows them to grow professionally while applying their classroom skills.
This program enables students to explore potential career paths while gaining practical experience that can enhance their prospects for internships, jobs or graduate school.
How Can I and My Company/Organization Participate?
Become a project host and bring your ideas to life! Do you have a project that’s been waiting for the right moment to get started? Now’s your chance to make it happen!
Consider your organization's requirements and pinpoint tasks suitable for a university student with clear expectations. Micro-internships offer students practical experience and industry insights while enabling you to complete essential projects. If you have any questions or would like to discuss potential projects, please reach out to our associate director of work-based experiences at bellamysankard@longwood.edu.
Work Locations
Currently, all micro-internships will be remote or virtual.
Compensation
Students participating in the micro-internship program presently receive a $500 stipend through Longwood’s Quality Enhancement Plan.
For employers that wish to compensate students, remuneration should be at least equal to Virginia’s hourly minimum wage.
Past Projects
- Market research
- Compiling resources
- Writing and implementing an individual education program
- Marketing lead generation
- Employee training needs assessment
- Developing a social media campaign
- Updating procedures
- Developing business plans
- Developing a data set
Application Process
- Once a project application is submitted, we may reach out to clarify details for your project. We will then post your project(s) on Handshake.
- Students will apply, and the Center for Career Success will match you with a student. You will have a few business days to review your match’s application. [1]
- Once a student accepts the offer, we will send you a micro-internship contract and our office will connect you both via email. We will then set up an introductory meeting facilitated by a member of our Center for Career Success.
[1] During the initial program pilot period (winter 2024), matches will be facilitated by the Center for Career Success.
Employer Commitments
Participation involves the following steps:
- Complete a project description (20 hours of work) and submit it.
- Be open to being matched with a student.
- Sign a micro-internship contract.
- Attend an introductory virtual meeting with Career Success staff and the intern in early November.
- Meet with the intern in early December to introduce the project, follow up to ensure progress and meet again in early January to close out the program.
- Complete a feedback form and survey.
The employer time commitment for this entire program is approximately 3.5 to 5 hours
Detailed Example of Past Micro-Internship Opportunity
Employer: Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
Type of project: developing a data set used in a new database reporting project
Project description: Project included creating an admissions report using VLOOKUP functions in Excel. This report is used by multiple levels of management for decision making. The student was tasked with updating two versions of the report, populating data and presenting interesting ways to graphically display the information.
Skills Developed: The student learned advanced Excel skills, basic budgeting, data-analysis techniques and presentation skills.
Past Employer Feedback
"It is refreshing to help Lancers connect with real-world challenges and understand the complexities of the working world. I find it to be a great way to connect with students and stay involved as an alumnus."
"It gave a student the opportunity to handle job-related tasks that interested them but that did not interrupt their daily schedules. It also allowed the hiring company to accomplish things on the magical “list” that everyone has while mentoring a student. It worked well with scheduling and in a remote capacity."
For more information
Project Contact
Danika Bellamy Sankar
Associate Director, Work-Based Experiences
Maugans G08
Phone: (434) 395-2681
Email: bellamysankard@longwood.edu
General Information
Center for Career Success
(434) 395-2063
career@longwood.edu
Project Partners
A special thank-you goes to the Alumni Engagement Team for their efforts in promoting the program to potential hosts. Interested alumni employer hosts can also reach out to them. Their email address is alumni@longwood.edu.