Internship Coordinator UT
One Key Votes staff member should be assigned the role of internship coordinator. The primary reason for this is the generic Project Vote Smart email address can only be housed in one person's Outlook client. Although the generic inbox can be accessed remotely at http://wmail.austin.utexas.edu, it is better to have one person in charge of responding to or forwarding inquiries received in this inbox. In addition, only one of the three staff phone lines is published on our website and available to the public. The internship coordinator should be primarily responsible for answering this phone in case prospective interns call to schedule interviews. Finally, the coordinator should update the internship applicants information in Access as needed, and maintain organized hard-copy files of resumes and other application materials. There should be hard copy files for all new applications (sorted into A-List and B-List applicants), applications for interns that have been offered the position, applications for interns that have accepted the position, and applications from interns that have been rejected or have declined our offer.
The general responsibilities of the designated internship coordinator are as follows:
- Assign the department email address to your Gmail and maintain the inbox. (projectvotesmart@austin.utexas and the password is v0t3$m@rt) Either respond to inquiries yourself or forward them to the appropriate person.
- Answer the department mainline and check voicemail regularly. Respond promptly to phone inquiries or forward them to the appropriate person.
- Update online job/internship postings each semester. Make sure to list every program separately. Usually, the next 2 semesters should be online for applicants. Since the fall of 2016 we switched to only recruiting for the upcoming semester due to the high number of applications we received and the amount of students who would drop out right before the internship started. We figured it would be helpful not to confirm interns so far in advance since other commitments tend to come up. This has worked so far but it will ultimately be up to the Internship Coordinator to decide what is most effective at any given time.
- Send solicitations for intern applications to the info card list, the list of UT student groups, and the list of non-UT professors (ACC, St. Edward's, etc.) each semester.
- Register for career fairs each semester. Update Outlook calendar for future fairs when dates become available.
- Assign staff to career fairs and prepare materials for career fairs. Internship coordinator should attend all career fairs with other staff rotating.
- Collect info cards from career fairs and class talks, and update them in Constant Contact.
- Receive and print intern applications. Review applications weekly and sort into A and B candidates according to job qualifications. For any application for which you can't decide, set up meeting with other staff to review the applications and weigh in.
- Request and schedule interviews with prospective interns. You must contact each A-candidate by phone once and email twice. Be sure to include directions to the Strauss Institute. Template emails are located in Project Vote Smart>Internship Materials>Recruitment>Email Templates. Also be sure to update the intern information in Access for with the date of the interview and put "scheduled" in the status box.
- Reserve the Strauss conference room for 30 minutes for each interview (use CMA 7.146D - 2014 Calendar). Create entries in the office Outlook calendar for each interview and include names of the two staff members, whether the interview is in-person or by phone and the room number.
- Determine which staff members will conduct each interview (2 are required, except in extraordinary circumstances). Print a sufficient number of interview question lists.
- Track acceptances/rejections in Access for the upcoming semesters.
- Receive internship agreement forms and file them in the paper files. Note the date that the form was received in the intern's information on Access for the upcoming semester.
- Before the semester begins, ask interns to send in their proposed hours. Use the email template located in Project Vote Smart>Internship Materials>Training. Create a calendar in Outlook for the intern schedule and share with all staff.
- Meet with staff to determine morning/afternoon intern room assignments. Assign interns to supervisors according to which interns would work with which staff member the most.
- Once interns have been assigned to supervisors, update the Wiki and the intern information in Access with this information.
- Schedule first day orientations with interns. Be sure to group as many together as possible so that fewer orientations must take place. Assign staff on rotating basis. Print updated intern manuals.
- Schedule, plan, and execute intern orientations in coordination with Adelaide and the Legislative Research Director. Make sure that all interns attend or schedule a make-up session. Also make sure that refreshments are ordered - e.g. pizza, bagels, hot chocolate, or root beer floats.
- Make sure all interns are informed of various course credit options. Collect EIDs for all CMS 369V students and send them to the faculty supervisor (copy the Legislative Research Director).
- Course credit options include Liberal Arts, Government, Communications, and BDP.
- Amend the schedule if interns change their hours. If interns drop out, make sure this information is recorded on the spreadsheet. Interns have until the 12th class day to change their schedules. After this time it will be on a case-by-case basis.
In addition to these responsibilities, the internship coordinator may be required to assist with scheduling class talks and communicating with UT professors, in cooperation with other departments. ALL full-time Project Vote Smart staff members are ultimately responsible for ensuring that scheduled class talks are covered! The internship coordinator may perform talks, or assign them to other staff.
Specific Duties:
Online Postings and Career Fairs
Application Checklist
Interview Scheduling
Internship Preparation
Career Development Seminar
