How to set up your Internship
I’m glad that you are deciding to pursue an internship. In many areas, employers are solely hiring students because the
professional experience that a student has gained because of an internship, so it’s good that you are getting on top of it
now.
The first thing I want to do is explain some parameters around what an internship is designed to do. It’s pretty much a
three-tiered relationship between Faculty Internship Advisor, the Internship Site Supervisor (someone at the company who
keep track of your progress on the internship and make sure your learning is maximized), and lastly, the Internship
Coordinator here at the university, Me. Your Faculty Advisor is already assigned to you based on your major, so look on
the second page of the Internship packet to see who your Internship Advisor is. Between the three of us, we all try to
work together to ensure that you have the best internship experience.
LOGGING ONTO EAGLEAXIS
First thing you want to do is login to EagleAXIS using your NetID. We now have a single sign-on feature, combining
your regular EWU Net ID to our system. Go to www.ewu.edu/eagleaxis to logon and update you profile information.
Doing this will allow us to find you in our system and update your internship information to your digital file. If you don’t
know your Net ID, go to www.accounts.ewu.edu and answer the questions regarding your login information. You can use
EagleAXIS to make appointments with us, manage your online portfolio, to find internship opportunities.
FIND AN INTERNSHIP SITE
Some companies may already have an internship program that you can apply to, so don’t hesitate to contact them and ask
them if they have any available. Another way is to search many of the online search engines. You can always use our
“search opportunities” section within EagleAXIS to search for internships, but aside from that, some popular ones are:
www.indeed.com, www.simplyhired.com, www.Internmatch.com, www.IMDiversity.com, www.usajob.gov,
www.careers.wa.gov. Another good site is www.glassdoor.com.
For a great list of community organizations, you can go to: www.unitedwayspokane.org, www.America.redcross.org,
www.voaspokane.org/, www.idealist.org, and http://spokanecares.org/. You can also go to www.thefigtree.org and
search for organizations using their Community Resource Directory
The Inland NW Journal of Business is a good place to get familiar with the business in your area. Go to the “business
directory” at www.bizjournals.com/seattle.
DOING A GOOGLE SEARCH TO FIND AN INTERNSHIP
The cool thing about Google now is that you can literally type in “Counseling Internship Spokane” and it will scan all the
web pages with that direct verbiage. This is a good way to filter through many of the websites and look for names,
emails, phone numbers or anything that you can use to follow up with that employer directly. Phone conversation is
always best because you can answer many of your questions in 30 seconds that could take 30 minutes or even 3 days.
They can see the determination in your voice if you have properly practiced on what you want to say and researched the
company.
Contact those companies directly and say: “Hello my name is _____ and I am a [state your major] student at Eastern
Washington University. I was calling to see who I might best talk to about an internship at your company.”
Professionalize your development as a student in the (state major) field.” If they don’t have an internship, do not give up,
because you may be able to discuss possible ways for them to try you out as a first-timer. Research the company and try
to find out what are some projects they are working on. That way you can discuss with them more about how you can
help them in return for access to professional learning with their company. Make sense? Don’t forget to ask if they have
other companies that they could recommend you talk to.
Romeal Watson, MSW, MPA
Career Services – Internship Coordinator
114 Showalter Hall • Cheney, WA 99004-2445 • 509.359.4637 • rjwatson@ewu.edu • www.ewu.edu/careerservices
Eastern Washington University is committed to equal opportunity and affirmative action in employment.
SEARCH FOR NETWORKING OPPORTUNTIES IN YOUR AREA.
80% of jobs are never uploaded to search engines, so it’s good to always to network and search for ways to meet people in
other capacities. For Google, I usually like to type "Spokane Conferences" and see what comes up. Often times, adding
your major into that search box can get you events related to your fields.
To find out about the various events:
Greater Spokane Incorporated - http://www.greaterspokane.org/
Spokane Journal of Business - www.spokanejournal.com/calendar-of-events/
Spokane Convention Center - www.spokanecenter.com/
Eventbrite - www.eventbrite.com
Launchpad INW - www.launchpadinw.com/
Pacific NW Inlander - www.inlander.com/spokane/
COMPLETE AN INTERNSHIP LEARNING CONTRACT
Once you find an internship you must contact that Site Supervisor again to arrange an appointment with them so that you
can fill out the initial two pages on your Internship learning contract. You must do this before you can start your
internship. You can fill out the first page yourself, but for the second page, you want to sit down with your site
supervisor and go over the objectives of the internship. Once you do that, you want to present this to your faculty advisor,
so that they can sign off on it. From there, send the document to me (via scan-email, faxed, mail, or hand deliver).
GET ENROLLED FOR CREDIT
You must be enrolled for credit in order to have an internship. To do that you need faculty approval to enroll, which is
why you cannot enroll online using Eaglenet. Attached is the “Special Approval Registration Form.” Fill out this form
to get enrolled for credit. You can however use Eaglenet to find out the course numbers and write them onto the form.
(Based on an 8 to 10-week period)
1 credit = 4 hours per week = 32-40 hours per quarter
2 credits = 8 hours per week = 64-80 hours per quarter
3 credits = 12 hours per week = 96-120 hours per quarter
4 credits = 16 hours per week = 128-160 hours per quarter
5 credits = 20 hours per week = 160-200 hours per quarter
TURN IN YOUR EVALUATIONS
At this point you are ready to begin your internship. Go to the company and do your tasks as assigned by your learning
contract and your site supervisor. When the midterm (4th week) period comes up, you must schedule a meeting with your
site supervisor and have them fill out the 4th week evaluation on your progress. Once complete, have them fax, scanemail, or mail that document to me. During the final (8th week) period, have them repeat the process using the 8th week
evaluations.
Grading
Your grade is determined by you effectively turning in your Learning contract, 4th and 8th Week evaluations. I will make
copies of the forms you send me, and send it to your Internship faculty advisor. Your faculty advisor may have additional
writing assignments for you to complete as part of your grading, so be sure to check with them about what needs to be
completed.
Romeal Watson, MSW, MPA
Career Services – Internship Coordinator
114 Showalter Hall • Cheney, WA 99004-2445 • 509.359.4637 • rjwatson@ewu.edu • www.ewu.edu/careerservices
Eastern Washington University is committed to equal opportunity and affirmative action in employment.