Do any of you offer internships in your office? If so, can you share the process used to find and attract quality interns, intern job description, pay scale, etc.? I have been thinking about an intern for my office for a few years now. Other departments in our City have interns and many end up being hired on ater the internship period ends. In order for me to implement an internship program formy office, I will need the buy-in of a number of people. I would like to propose a strong program that clearly states what will be achieved and how. It is a great way to mentor as well as provide opportunities to pick up the slack in various areas that just seem to run us over, i.e. records management...ugh!
Municipal Clerk Internships
Hello Terry,
I'm a Senior Admin Analyst in the City Council Office in Richmond, California and I also serve as the supervisor of three interns. We have found college students to be the best fit for our office, so I send an annoucement to our local colleges/universities for recruitment. During the interview process, we ask the prospective interns to commit a year to the program. Interns are temporary part-time positions, so if things are not working out for either party, we can easily part ways.
The interns generally work 15-20 hours per week and the pay range is $14.50 to $20.62. We normally start undergrads at Step 2 or 3 ($16.06 or $17.55) and start graduate students at Step 5 ($20.62). The program has been in effect since 2007 and is quite beneficial for the council office and the interns. After working with us for 1-2 years, most of them move on to great jobs because they have learned great skills and now have experience to complement their degree.
The duties include clerical support, policy research, drafting agenda reports, presenting at City Council meetings, staffing meetings/events, answering phones and assisting members of the public that visit the office. I've attached the link to the job description for your information.
http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/1306
To gain support for the program, I approached a councilmember and asked her to promote it to the full council. We initially tried to develop a classification specifically for our office, but it was easier to use a classification that was already active (Administrative Student Intern). The long-term internship program is great and the only downfall is losing great staff once they graduate. Some interns have been hired as permanent staff, but the financial climate doesn't always allow us to hire permanent staff at the time of graduation. However, the low wages have allowed us to keep interns during financially challenging times.
Good luck and you have found this information helpful.
Thank you so much for sharing!
We have used a Michigan Grant for the last 2 years that allows us to hire between 18-23 year olds during 3-4 months in the early spring to fall. This past year we were able to hire young adults from our community to learn and get paid in various departments within our Township. We have a resolution so all new hires, no matter how they are hired are paid $10.11 per hour. I was lucky enough to hire 3 for part time work and they helped during the March, August elections. Because they were now pro's at the election procedures I was able to hire them as Temps. for the November election. The grant was for $50,000 and by doing this the pay does not come out of the budgets for each department.
We use Law school interns. There is no cost to the Municiplaity as they are paid through the law school, but they must be used for legal reserach and writing only. Has been extrememly beneficial for us.