Internship Initiative
Learn how UC San Diego employees can work part time in other departments to obtain new skills and knowledge.
The Internship Initiative allows employees to work part time in other UCSD departments to obtain skills and knowledge needed for career enhancement. The Internship Initiative is an Equal Opportunity Services program that creates internship opportunities for employees, while offering support for their training and career development.
Purpose
The Internship Initiative develops, diversifies, and retains talent at UCSD and provides a mechanism for accomplishing significant projects. The internship initiative:
- Develops the careers of, and retains, high-potential employees
- Promotes workforce diversity
- Uses employees already familiar with UCSD to perform important campus projects
- Increases collaboration across vice chancellor areas
Eligibility
UCSD career employees who have completed their probationary period, are committed to University of California employment, have achieved ratings of “met expectations” or ”solid performance” or better on their most recent performance evaluation, and are seeking advancement to a higher-level position are eligible to compete for current internships.
Duration
Internships can last from three to twelve months at 25% to 50% time. As internships are announced, specific information will be provided about the proposed duration.
Payment
Interns are paid at the same rate as their current classification. The maximum funding level is based on the intern's current salary or mid-point of the classification (whichever is the lesser figure) and the duration of the internship. The home department continues to be responsible for the intern's benefits. A portion of the intern's time is spent at the internship and the balance of the appointment is spent in the current position (at a reduced percentage of time). The Internship Initiative and the sponsoring department financially compensate the home department for the intern's time away.
Benefits to departments that sponsor internships
- New perspectives on current projects
- Additional personnel at a relatively low cost
- Departments select intern from competitive open recruitment
Benefits to departments that release employees
- Interns gain a new set of skills and knowledge that they can apply in their home department.
- The home department receives financial assistance to compensate for the intern's time away from the office.
Current Internships
FAQ's
The Internship Initiative:
- Identifies prospective internship opportunities for UCSD employees while offering continued support for their career development
- Provides employees with training to build the skills needed to maintain and increase their competitiveness for upward mobility and career enhancement
- Offers short-term and long-term career development assignments
The purposes of the Internship Initiative are to:
- Develop careers and retain high potential employees
- Promote workforce diversity in University management
- Accomplish important campus work with institutionally knowledgeable employees
- Increase collaboration across vice chancellor areas through networking, utilizing, and sharing our human resources
UCSD active career employees who have completed their probationary period and:
- Are committed to University of California employment
- Have achieved "met expectations"/ "solid performance" or better on their most recent performance evaluation
- Have a written career plan
- Are seeking advancement to a higher level position
Interns combine their internship assignment and current position at reduced time to work on important university projects.
- Internships last 3 to 12 months
- Work time in current position is reduced to 25% to 50% time
An intern continues to be paid by their home department at 100% of their current salary.
- Benefits are paid by the intern's home department
- The Internship Program and the sponsoring department will finance the intern's time away from their home department enabling the department to temporarily replace the intern
- The Internship Coordinator works with the home department to review and assess options for temporarily replacing the intern
The Internship Coordinator will work with the intern to:
- Review the objectives of the internship project/ assignment
- Meet periodically to discuss and evaluate the intern's progress
- Identify career development/ training opportunities
- Offer additional support when necessary
Participation in the Internship Initiative benefits the home department through:
- Increasing collaboration across the campus
- Supporting the development of a highly qualified workforce employee who brings back new skills to the home department
Interns return to their home departments with:
- A new set of skills and knowledge acquired through their internship experience
- Ongoing support, guidance, and referrals by the internship coordinator for their continued career development
If you think you have a future project or temporary assignment that might be a good internship opportunity, contact Equal Opportunity Services, eosaa@ucsd.edu . The Internship Coordinator can help:
- Structure the project
- Explain finances involved
- Assist you in developing your internship proposal