Internship in Human Relations
General
- Undergraduate; 4th year
- 18 learners; individual projects
- 200 hours per learner
- Dates set by experience
- Learners self-assign
Preferred companies
- 3/10 project matches
- Canada
- Academic experience
- Startup, Social enterprise, Non profit, Small to medium enterprise, Family owned
- Education, Environment, Non-profit, philanthropic & civil society, Individual & family services
Categories
Project timeline
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October 16, 2022Experience start
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January 17, 2023Mid-internship evaluation meeting
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March 28, 2023Final Evaluation Meeting
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April 12, 2023Experience end
Timeline
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October 16, 2022Experience start
-
January 17, 2023Mid-internship evaluation meeting
Mid-internship evaluation and feedback meeting between supervisor and student.
-
March 28, 2023Final Evaluation Meeting
Final evaluation and feedback meeting between supervisor and student.
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April 12, 2023Experience end
Overview
- Details
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Are you looking to provide additional or expanded services to your clients, or work on special projects but don't have adequate resources or time to do so?
Our students have successfully completed a comprehensive range of courses, cultivating skills around understanding organizations and communities and facilitating interventions in small group settings. As facilitators, they will be able to assess the situation, identify needs and develop new programs or initiatives, and help your organization build effective teams.
Their well developed interpersonal and communication skills will most likely be assets to your business or community environment.
- Learner skills
- Community development, Organizational development, Program design, Research, Facilitation
- Deliverables
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The deliverables will be agreed upon with the organization, as part of a contract with the students.
Internship Requirements
- Students will devote a minimum of 200 hours over the fall/winter term to their placements site
- Students will engage in work that relates to their human relations training and expertise. Areas of study from which the student may draw during the internship experience include interpersonal communication, group dynamics and group process, small group leadership, program design, facilitation, organizational and/or community development, and research methods
- To ensure students have the opportunity to intervene in human systems on different levels, there are two specific requirements to be fulfilled within the internship, a group experience and an organizational project:
1. Group experience
The internship student will engage in at least one of the two following activities:
- a) Design, implement and evaluation a 6-8 session program with a specific training or psycho-educative focus.
OR
- b) Provide process facilitation to a group over a period of at least 8 sessions in order to improve its functioning and productivity.
The group should have a stable, continuing and constant membership of adults, adolescents or children over the age of 10. Group members must be cognitively cognizant. The key is that the participants must be capable and interested in influencing the direction of their group.
2. Organizational Project
The intern will develop and implement a project that requires him/her to gain an understanding of the organization’s functioning and that will have an impact on the organization (or department, if the organization is very large). Previous organizational projects have included: conducting research to be used by the organization, reviewing and revamping existing procedures and/or developing new ones, conducting a needs assessment of a particular client group, and working with management on organizational change projects.
Project Examples
In their internship projects, students are expected to devote 200 hours to a client organization, in work that relates to their human relations training and expertise. They are asked to design, facilitate and evaluate an intervention or program with a group of participants or stakeholders.
The possible fields of intervention can be (non-exhaustive list):
- Workshops (possible themes: conflict, interpersonal communications, collaboration, etc.);
- Programs (possible themes: trust building, team development, skill sharing, community development, intergenerational relationships, cultural diversity, youth work);
- An organization development intervention (ex: strategy session, strategic planning, team development, onboarding plan, employee retention strategy, etc.);
- A series of community conversations to explore a topic or a question of interest (ex: inclusion, community, resilience, sustainability, etc.)
Internship Purpose and Goals
- To enable students to gain professional experience as well as an appreciation and understanding of the roles, duties, and responsibilities of the practice of human relations in a real world context.
- To provide students with opportunities to integrate theory and practice.
- To encourage the exchange of contemporary views on current issues and practices between the intern, professionals in the field, and the academic cohort and supervisor.
- To enable students to increase their knowledge in order to make informed choices concerning future jobs, learning experiences, and/or further areas of study
- To enable students to recognize personal strengths and challenges in the field of human relations.
Additional company criteria
Companies must answer the following questions to submit a match request to this experience:
Be available for a phone call with the instructor to initiate your relationship and confirm your scope is an appropriate fit for the course, as well as regular check-in on progress.
Provide feedback to the student in order to assess their professionalism and the completion of objectives.
Provide a dedicated contact who is available over the duration of the project to address students' questions and provide feedback (ideally once a week).