Unpaid Internship

A.PURPOSE

The AFCT supports internship programs that provide growth and learning opportunities to students in high school, college and trade schools, providing that the student is 18 years of age or older. This section provides the policy and processes for hiring and managing unpaid student interns.
Student interns are involved in education or training programs designed to provide students with professional experience in the furtherance of their education and training and are academically oriented for their benefit. Internships assist students in reaching their educational goals by giving them the opportunity to complement classroom instruction with exposure to a real world employment setting. Student interns are at-will employees. The AFCT or the student intern may terminate the employment relationship with prior notice.

The AFCT may employ unpaid student interns to perform work which will not:

• Result in the displacement of regular employees.
• Fill a vacant position.
• Be used as a supplemental workforce to enhance or expand the normal tasks carried out at AFCT.
• Be primarily clerical in nature.

B.ESTABLISHING AN UNPAID INTERNSHIP FOR STUDENTS

An internship is a planned program to provide a student with a meaningful learning experience applicable to the student’s field of study. This requires structured assignments coupled with appropriate supervision, evaluation, and feedback. Learning objectives will be developed when considering a student internship opportunity. It is beneficial to have clear job duties that identify the learning objectives or a defined project scope that demonstrates how the learning objectives for each individual will be met.

AFCT will accommodate unpaid interns when possible (i.e. sufficient staff to supervise, enough learning-based assignments available). Students will be accepted on a first-come first- served basis.

The procedure for establishing a student internship is as follows:

Review Enrollment Criteria. To qualify as a student intern, students must meet one of the three following enrollment criteria:

• The candidate is currently enrolled as a student and has internship information provided by their school.
• The student has been accepted into an educational institution (e.g., transitioning from high school to college)
• Define the Work Plan. Prior to accepting an unpaid intern, the AFCT should define a work plan for the intern designed to provide meaningful experience applicable to the student’s field of study. Internship criteria may come with specific requirements and assignments from the intern’s school.
• Management Review of the Work Plan. Prior to establishing an unpaid internship, management (Project Managers) will review and discuss the work plan. A supervisor/mentor will be assigned during this meeting.
• Advertise. The AFCT may or may not decide to advertise unpaid intern employment positions in the newspaper, at colleges and/or online websites.
• Complete the Hire. Once the work plan has been developed and reviewed, the AFCT may proceed with hiring the unpaid intern.

C.AFCT’S RESPONSIBILITIES UPON HIRE – STUDENT INTERN

Provide Intern with Appointment letter

Attend Training:

All student interns must attend the Training before beginning the internship.

Begin Internship:

The intern’s supervisor/mentor should review the work plan and provide an overview of what the student will be doing.

D.STUDENT INTERN POSITION MONITORING

The AFCT must regularly review the duties performed by student interns to ensure that they are engaged in meeting their learning objectives. It is recommended that the student intern provide a presentation and/or written report at the end of the internship to demonstrate how the learning objectives were met.

E.TERMINATION

Student interns are at will employees and the employment relationship may be terminated by either party at any time without cause or prior notice. Upon termination of the internship, the AFCT is encouraged to work with the student intern to determine whether the objectives of the internship program were met. A sample exit interview is included in the reference documents section.

Any report or statement concerning the completion of the internship requested or required by a school or educational sponsor of the intern and internship shall be reviewed by the intern mentor and either the Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent prior to submission.