CIC for Businesses
Are you a local business looking to get involved in the Community Internship Collaboration? We will match your business needs with a motivated student interested in your field—at no cost to you.
Program Overview
Mentor
Work with a UNM-LA student during this 60-hour semester-long program, and teach your intern about your business. As part of the program, attend a free mentor workshop to hone your mentoring skills. Collaborate with your intern to set goals and establish parameters of a project that will benefit your business. Then, help your intern gain the skills and knowledge necessary to complete the project.
Leverage
Leverage the power of this community collaboration and the resources of UNM-LA. To improve your intern’s capability in your workplace, they will be guided throughout the semester by a faculty advisor and take a class on professional development. UNM-LA pays your intern’s stipend, so there is no cost to you as the mentor.
Grow
Use this opportunity to tackle a project that will help grow your business. Capitalize on the fresh, new perspective a student will bring, and embrace the process of shared learning between you and your intern.
Is your organization ready?
If you’re thinking of applying for an intern, ask yourself these questions…
- Do you have a specific project in mind for the intern to work on during the course of the semester?
- Can you have the materials prepped for the project by the intern’s start date?
- Do you have a staff member(s) available to be a dedicated mentor to the intern?
- Do you have the time to sufficiently train the intern?
- Since this might be your intern’s first professional experience, are you willing to act as a mentor and not simply a boss?
If you can answer 'yes' to these questions, we look forward to partnering with you!
To Apply...
- Determine a project for your intern to work on that will fill approximately 60 hours during a 3-month period.
- Fill out an application by January 9, 2025.
- Plan to attend our on-campus Meet & Greet on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm. Students are invited to speak with businesses and learn more to help determine which internship opportunities interest them. Lunch will be provided.
- We will also host a Zoom Mentor Workshop (date and time TBD). It’s an opportunity for new mentors to learn more specific information, ask questions, etc.
- Be prepared to conduct interviews with students (February 10 - 14, 2025). The Internship Coordinator will forward student applications to business mentors. After completing all of the interviews (2-3), report preferences to the Internship Coordinator, who will make final placements. Please do not offer the internship to the student directly. We try our best to accommodate your first choice, but it is not guaranteed.
- Internship matches will be announced (Monday, February 17, 2025 by noon), and work can begin!
Resources
Success Stories
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Meet Thays Rodrigues and her mentor, Karina Wilder. Thays interned with DALA during Spring 2023. In her position as a social media and marketing intern, Thays helped create DALA’s marketing materials for their summer programming, as well as videos and posts for their social media accounts. |
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Meet Yaping Huang and her mentor, Lorraine Hartway, from Hartway & Breshears, CPAs. Yaping is pursuing an accounting degree at UNM-LA, and after her successful internship in Spring 2023, she was hired as a part-time employee. |
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Meet Isabelle Romero and her mentor, Jill Lang, at Samizdat Bookstore and Teahouse. Here they are seen creating content for the new Instagram and Facebook pages created by Isabelle as part of her social media internship. |
What recent mentors are saying about their UNM-LA interns:
“We’ve had one brilliant intern who we were thrilled to keep working with. She’s really provided some innovative ideas for us moving forward.”
“When we give the intern a few instructions and some help, then the intern becomes self-motivated and exceeds expectations.”
“Observing the intern's professional growth was very gratifying.”
“We value training our interns with a strong foundation, and strive to help them as they help us.”
“Bouncing ideas off of another person enabled me to think more clearly about marketing questions and answers—we created a better product together than I could have alone.”
“Our intern was very interested in pursuing a career in the medical sciences, so she was committed to learning on the job. We look for employees who are committed to assisting people, and our intern was willing to develop her communication and caregiving skills. An intern who is matched with an employer in the intern's field of interest has 'skin in the game,' making for a mutually beneficial relationship.”
“I loved watching our intern see his work return as a real product, and seeing the pride and confidence in himself that it generated.”
“It was great to get to teach someone about something I am passionate about.”
CONTACT INFO
For any additional information or questions, please email Internship Coordinator Brittany Carpenter at cic@unm.edu or make an appointment by calling the Student Services Office at 505-662-5919.