Hiring St. Lawrence Students
Handshake Platform
Internships and job opportunities should be posted on Handshake, our online recruiting platform. To post an internship, please register for an account. Check out Getting Started with Handshake for more information about employer access to Handshake.
If you are a St. Lawrence alumnus, please contact our office to let us know that you've registered, (careers@stlawu.edu) or call (315) 229-5906.
Once your position is posted our staff will market your opportunity to the campus community. Interested students may contact you directly on your website or apply through Handshake. To arrange on-campus interviews, contact the Center for Career Excellence.
On-Campus Recruiting
The University operates on a two-semester calendar. Recruiting occurs during each semester: September-December, and February-May. We know that every employer has different recruiting needs, that is why we offer the opportunity to:
- Experience a personalized visit (flexible scheduling, targeted marketing, meetings with faculty, staff or special student groups)
- Conduct interviews
- Schedule an information session or skills workshop
- Schedule an information table
If you are interested in arranging an on-campus visit, please contact our office at (315) 229-5906.
To post a position, please register for an account on Handshake, our online recruiting platform.
Recruiting Guidelines
To ensure the quality of our services, and to minimize risk to St. Lawrence University students, alumni, and other users of our services, the Center for Career Excellence has outlined this policy to govern all recruiting activities sponsored by this office. The guidelines below are in accordance with, and a supplement to, the Principles of Professional Practice established by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
We reserve the right to decline employer requests and job/internship posting requests if recruiting guidelines are not followed.
Micro-Internships
Micro-internships are short-term, paid, professional assignments that are similar to those given to new hires or interns. These projects enable career launchers to demonstrate skills, explore career paths, and build their networks as they seek the right full-time role.
Unlike traditional internships, micro-internships can take place year-round, typically range from 5 to 40 hours of work, and are due between one week and one month after kick-off. Micro-internships are used by companies ranging from those in the Fortune 100 to emerging start-ups, and go across departments including sales, marketing, technology, HR, and finance.
Micro-Internships are facilitated via the Parker Dewey platform, which connects Career Launchers with Companies in need of support.
Internships @ St. Lawrence
Because the academic year at St. Lawrence follows a traditional, two-semester calendar, the Center for Career Excellence suggests two different options for internships: January recess (approximately 3-4 weeks) and/or Summer (up to 12 weeks). You may also choose to design a program option that complements your organization's schedule.
What is an internship?
NACE defines an internship as a form of experiential learning that integrates knowledge and theory learned in the classroom with practical application and skills development in a professional workplace setting (across in-person, remote, or hybrid modalities). Internships provide students the opportunity to gain valuable applied experience, develop social capital, explore career fields, and make connections in professional fields. In addition, internships serve as a significant recruiting mechanism for employers, providing them with the opportunity to guide and evaluate potential candidates. According to a recent NACE quick poll, 80% of responding employers said that internships provided the best return on investment as a recruiting strategy, compared to career fairs, on-campus visits, on-campus panels, or other activities.
For more information about NACE, what internships should include, and more, check out Internship Meaning and Definition: A NACE Guide.
For more information about internship best practices, check out Best Practices for Internship Programs.
Paying Your Intern
St. Lawrence stands with NACE's position that internships should be paid. Read NACE's philosophy on internships below:
"Internships serve as an important bridge from college to career. NACE research has demonstrated that internship experiences are avenues to increased skills, expanded networks, and enhanced social capital, and offer direct pathways to job offers and jobs. While many internships are paid, unpaid internships are problematic for many reasons. Using an equity lens, NACE’s position statement on unpaid internships is a call to policymakers to address the inherent inequities unpaid internships cause and to work to ensure all internships are paid.
Overall, there are three primary reasons supporting the idea that all internships should be paid: Requiring internship to be paid would 1) promote equity and access by removing barriers that limit who can take part, 2) recognize that interns perform work—and all work should be paid, and 3) support diversifying the workforce by creating an inclusive pool of entry-level candidates who have the experience and competencies employers seek.
NACE research found that students who take part in paid internships receive more job offers and ultimately garner higher starting salaries than those who participate in unpaid internships (NACE 2022 Student Survey, 2022). According to the results of the NACE 2022 Student Survey, paid interns earned a median starting salary of $62,500 compared to unpaid interns who reported earning a median starting salary of $42,500. Thus, salary disparity between those who have served paid internships and those in unpaid internships is present at the beginning of the career and likely to grow over time.
Inequity exacerbated by paid/unpaid status exists in intern cohorts: NACE research found that female, Black, Hispanic, and first-generation students are overrepresented in unpaid internships and underrepresented in paid internships.
Unpaid internships deny basic labor rights provided to paid interns. As unpaid interns are not considered “employees” of the organization under the Fair Labor & Standards Act (FLSA), they are not legally protected against harassment and discrimination (Rothschild & Rothschild, 2020).
For-profit employers should consider the U.S. Department of Labor's primary beneficiary test if hiring an unpaid intern.
Getting Academic Credit
Students undertake a significant experiential learning opportunity, typically with a company, non-profit, governmental, or community-based organization. The internship represents an educational strategy that links classroom learning and student interest with the acquisition of knowledge in an applied work setting. Through direct observation, reflection and evaluation, students gain an understanding of the internship site’s work, mission, and audience, how these potentially relate to their academic study, as well as the organization’s position in the broader industry or field. Students will produce a critical reflection on their internship experience demonstrating how they have addressed specific learning goals.
Students are responsible for securing their own internships, but should contact the Center for Career Excellence for assistance and resources to identify and apply for opportunities of interest. Students will participate in an internship for at least six weeks and no less than 50 hours of supervised work. Course must be taken under the pass/fail grading option only. Students may undertake two .25 credit internship options for a total of .5 credits during their undergraduate career at St. Lawrence. This course does not meet distribution requirements, nor does it replace existing CBL, departmental internship, or internship independent study options or requirements, but serves as a supplemental internship option for undergraduates.
For more detail on the Career Connections Internship course requirements and registration, please review the Internship Course Guide prior to making an appointment with Director for Experiential Learning and Employer Engagement, Geoff Falen.
Alumni – Post & Share Opportunities
Assist the Center for Career Excellence in sourcing micro-internship, internship, research, and job opportunities for SLU students and recent graduates.
While the staff focuses on posting entry-level job, internship and research opportunities for current students within our Handshake platform, as time permits we also post opportunities appropriate for young alumni within five years of graduating from St. Lawrence. These positions will be labeled and marketed as SLU-Connected Opportunities in Handshake so students can search for and find them easily.
Alumni who have an opportunity to post, or have learned of an opportunity they wish to share, are encouraged to send posting information to careerjobs@stlawu.edu. The Center for Career Excellence staff will post the opportunity for current students and/or recent graduates, and will reach out with any questions.
Alumni who wish to post micro-internships, short-term projects that allow current students to gain experience and build skills while providing the employer paraprofessional internship-like assistance, may do so by posting them directly through the St. Lawrence Parker Dewey site.
Experienced level job opportunities may be posted to the job board in Laurentian Connection, the alumni online community for networking that also houses the Alumni Directory. We also encourage you to post these opportunities to the SLU Group on LinkedIn, which has grown to more than 9,000 Laurentians.