On-campus Internships Are Effective Vehicle for Intentional Skills Development

The University of Colorado at Boulder’s (CU Boulder) on-campus internship program is designed to help departments reimagine student employment as a more intentional and developmental experience. Housed in career services, the program focuses on embedding career readiness skills directly into student work.

The pilot of the program was launched in January 2026, with plans for a campus-wide launch in January 2027.

“Many students already build valuable skills through campus jobs, but those roles are not always structured in ways that help students recognize and communicate their growth,” says Marlys McKinney, CU Boulder’s assistant director of student employment.

“Through this initiative, we support departments in transitioning eligible student-employment roles into internships or an internship-like experience.”

Career services staff do this by providing a comprehensive toolkit for supervisors with resources, from creating a job description through offboarding—and everything in between.

“We help supervisors clarify learning objectives, align positions with NACE career readiness competencies, incorporate structured reflections, provide developmental feedback and mentorship to students, and help students communicate their skills to employers,” explains Manna Cauley, the university’s student employment coordinator.

The catalyst for the development of CU Boulder’s on-campus internship program was recognizing that on-campus student employment is often an underused vehicle for career readiness.

“Many campus roles help students develop transferable skills and already closely mirror the experience of an internship, and they should be recognized as such,” Cauley notes.

“We also saw an opportunity to reinforce equitable practices. Not all students have the same access to internships; data show that the demand for internships far exceeds the available supply. Additionally, not all students have the same access to transportation or the financial ability to accept unpaid or underpaid opportunities.”

McKinney adds that at the same time, the program’s developers understand the significant impact that completing an internship can have on future job opportunities.

“NACE research consistently shows that, on average, students who complete paid internships receive more job offers and report higher starting salaries than their peers who complete unpaid internships or have no internship experience,” she says.

“Given the demand for internships and their impact on student outcomes, we wanted to elevate on-campus roles that could be transformed into internships so students who work on campus can still gain this meaningful professional experience to help them prepare for the competitive labor market after graduation. By hosting these internships on-campus, we ensure local access for students and a competitive wage.”

The goals of the initiative are to:

• Increase access to paid internships;
• Help students build, recognize, and articulate their skills;
• Create a more consistent student employment experience across campus; and
• Better prepare students for their professional life by incorporating more professional expectations within student employment, such as through formal interview processes, performance evaluations, professional development/training opportunities, and more.

Addressing Challenges, but Bolstered by Buy-in

During the development and implementation of the on-campus internship program’s pilot, the career services team encountered and addressed several challenges:

• Easing the process for supervisors—Because supervisors of student employees have limited time, things need to be as easy and accessible as possible for them. This means providing only high-impact resources in a clear easy-to-use format, guidance on how to provide reflection opportunities and development feedback when supervising a large number of students, and flexible training opportunities to fit different schedules and work modalities.
• Ensuring the proper vetting of all on-campus internships—Career services uses a checklist to ensure any on-campus internship position meets its standards. This makes sure that students who are doing internship-level work receive the title of “intern,” while also ensuring that the meaning of an internship is not diluted by applying it to all positions. Staff vet all job descriptions for on-campus internships and train supervisors on how to create an internship.  
• Gathering data is an ongoing challenge—While career services staff can vet job descriptions, they cannot necessarily follow up with all 1,000+ supervisors to ensure they are incorporating the career readiness resources and guidelines into their supervision. Staff currently rely on focus groups and surveys, but do recognize the limitations of those mediums.

“Because the initiative is still in the pilot phase, we are currently focused on gathering feedback from students and supervisors on its implementation and impact to help us identify what needs to be refined before scaling,” Cauley says.

 “We are using surveys and focus groups. We expect our data to help us understand which resources are most helpful, where supervisors need more support, and how students are translating their on-campus experiences into career-ready language.”

A crucial aspect of the program that has not been challenging has been securing buy-in, which McKinney says was already in place.

“Supervisors of student employees are invested in their students and want to provide meaningful professional experiences,” she says.

“They are limited by resource availability, know-how, and time. Our pilot program participants have been highly engaged, attending trainings and focus groups, and providing ongoing feedback. Once supervisors had the tools and information they needed, they were able to immediately implement career readiness into their processes.”

McKinney adds that leadership across campus also understands the importance of career readiness and recognizes the opportunity on-campus internships provide.

“CU Boulder has more than 7,000 student employees, which is nearly 20% of the student body,” she explains.

“The ability to directly influence the professional development of students on that scale was immediately embraced.”

Other Reasons for Program Success

McKinney and Cauley identified several elements that have led to the success of the program. First, the program is grounded in a clear definition of what makes an on-campus role an internship.

“We created an internship checklist that helps avoid simply relabeling jobs and instead keeps the focus on quality, intentionality, and student learning,” Cauley points out.

The NACE career readiness competencies provide a shared framework. They help supervisors describe the developmental value of a position and help students connect their work to skills employers are looking for.

The program also includes practical tools for supervisors and students that have been vetted by students. Program organizers built a student advisory board that has helped develop and inform all of the program’s resources. The board is made of 15 student employees across campus who were nominated by their supervisors. They provided extensive feedback on student-facing resources throughout the fall 2025 semester, in advance of the spring pilot program.

“Their insights and recommendations were invaluable in ensuring that we were setting supervisors up for success,” McKinney says.

“We want to make sure the resources we provide are actually used, which means that student employees have to want to participate. By centering student voices throughout the process, we have created resources that feel relevant and engaging to the population we are serving. This helps ensure that the resources we create are meaningful and useful to the intended audience.”

Finally, the program is designed as a partnership with departments. Career services provides the structure, language, and support, while departments bring the subject-matter expertise and day-to-day supervision that make the experience meaningful.

For their colleagues at other colleges and universities who are considering formally developing students’ career readiness skills through on-campus internships, McKinney and Cauley suggest that they:

• Create a clear rubric for determining whether a position qualifies as an internship.
• Use a common competency framework. This gives supervisors and students a shared language for skill development.
• Make resources that are manageable and easy to use. The easier the tools are to use, the more likely departments are to participate.
• Build reflection into the student experience.
• Seek feedback from students and supervisors. Center the needs and voices of those who will be actually using the resources.
• Start with a pilot before scaling across campus.

On-campus internships are an effective vehicle for students’ skill development for various reasons. First, they meet students where they are.

“Many students already work on campus, and those jobs often involve real responsibilities, problem-solving, creative thinking, and professional expectations. With the right structure, these roles can become powerful learning experiences,” McKinney says.

On-campus internships are accessible. Students may face various barriers to off-campus internships, like transportation challenges, inflexible schedules, and unpaid opportunities. On-campus internships can reduce some of those barriers.

“They also allow organizers to have more direct influence on the program,” Cauley adds.

“Career services staff can set internal standards and expectations to ensure that the school’s opportunities are focused on students’ skill development.”

Marlys McKinney and Manna Cauley will present during NACE26.