Increasingly, employers tell university recruiters that internship experiences give students an advantage in the job market. Graduate students in Human Resources and Employment Relations may schedule an internship, preferably between their second and third semesters (including the summer session, before, between or after these semesters) in order to improve their job prospects while also enriching their classroom learning with a planned experience in the real world of employee relations, human resources, labor relations, or law. In this way, students can derive meaningful insights into possible career opportunities. Internships may be obtained through the initiative of the student, or by pursuing one of the Department’s growing list of standing internships. The field assignments should represent productive tasks of importance to the host organization and reflect an active relationship with ER/HR/LR/LAW functions, including the opportunity to become acquainted with the total organization effort. Please scroll down to see some of the internships our graduates have experienced.

Nicole Laino, AES

I currently am an HR intern at the AES Arlington Corporate headquarters. I am charged with maintaining the job posting database, creating welcome packets, assisting with new hire meetings, and assisting with projects. Right now I am currently helping to develop a recruiting plan for engineers and I am working with the Learning and Development team to revamp our training programs for new hires on the topics of the power industry and power generation.

AES is one of the world's largest global power companies, with 2007 revenues of $13.6 billion. With operations in 29 countries on five continents, AES's generation and distribution of facilities have the capacity to serve 100 million people worldwide. AES's global headquarters is located in Arlington, Virginia.

Erin Engler, SRA, International

I am currently an intern for SRA, International located in Fairfax, Virginia. I report directly to a senior HR generalist and my projects have included assisting the internal mobility team with the organization and execution of an internal job fair for transitioning employees, helping the HR team implement a new company-wide performance appraisal strategy, and creating an information packet to be distributed to new HR generalists. I have also spent a week assisting the learning and development team with the orientation of new hires and gained experience in the area of recruiting by matching prospective employees to open positions within SRA.

SRA is dedicated to solving complex problems of global significance for clients in national security, civil government and global health. Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, SRA provides the expert knowledge, technical tools and solutions that governments, agencies and companies need to improve performance, reduce costs and risks, introduce enterprise efficiencies and enhance human health. SRA has more than 6,400 employees located around the world. Fortune Magazine has named SRA in its "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for 9 consecutive years, including 2008.

Michael McCullough, Kimball

I'm doing Technical Recruiting within Telecommunications & Technology for Wireless/RF, Telecommunications, and Defense positions. I'm working with the HR Management System to help manage the HR processes as the company grows. I also work on a variety of special projects such as to establish a web based training system or to study which keywords or strings of keywords most efficiently find specific candidates we need for open positions.