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Internship Advice for Employers
What is a Planning Internship?
A planning internship introduces urban planning students to the world of professional employment and actual planning practice. An employer—be it a public agency, a private firm, or a non-profit organization—oversees the planning intern’s work program during a temporary placement. The employer determines appropriate tasks and projects for the intern, training them on planning skills and workplace culture as needed. In turn, the intern’s efforts help the employer by freeing up professional staff to work on other items or by completing work that would otherwise go undone.
Why Are Internships So Important to Students?
An internship often is a first applied professional experience. Internships yield valuable insight and practical knowledge as students refine their educational and career paths. They offer a wealth of opportunities for students, such as college credit, the possibility for permanent employment, and the beginning of a network. Interns usually are more marketable as they search for permanent employment because of their additional experience.
Most importantly, an internship offers a sense of belonging and meaning. Consider this real example: a recent graduate struggled through the first few years of college. During their their senior year, they earned their best grades of any semester. When asked why, they replied,
“My summer internship helped me really see myself as a planner for the first time. Before then, I just felt like a student going through the motions in my classes. Now that I’ve worked in the real world, I have a sense of purpose. I know what I want and who I want to be.”
Why Offer an Internship? (Hover over a card / image below)
Planning internships are undoubtedly valuable for planning students, as they yield valuable insight and practical knowledge for students as they refine their educational and career paths. Students who have completed internships tend to have greater success on the job market and in graduate school applications, since the internship
serves as a marker of experience and professionalism.
However, planning internships also offer a variety of benefits to employers and the planning field as a whole! Here are some reasons why you should consider offering a planning internship:
Addressing Common Concerns (Click to view solutions)
Planners are helpers and connecters. At their core, many planners understand the benefits of planning internships and feel some motivation to offer one. Planners are also practical people. Their time and resources are often constrained, which means they may be wary about whether the benefits of hosting a planning internship will outweigh the costs. If this describes you, consider the following:
⏱️ Concern: "Supervising takes too much time"
Flexible Scheduling Solution: Internships don't need to be full 40-hour positions. Offering 20–32 hours per week accommodates busy department workflows and fits creative schedules (e.g., mornings only or Tue.–Thur. blocks). Think about the weekly flow in your office and consider when an intern can best fit in.
💰 Concern: "We don't have an internship budget"
Flexible Compensation Options: While paid positions attract the largest applicant pool, unpaid internships offering high educational development remain legal and valuable. Make sure you start thinking about pay during your budgeting cycle (which may come months in advance of when you post the position). Additionally, talk to your organization’s HR department to make sure you’re following internal policies about compensation. While employers may legally offer unpaid internships so long as the experience benefits the student more than the employer, your organization may have adopted a higher threshold.
📝 Concern: "We don't have a full workplan drafted"
Adaptable Workplan: While it’s important to develop a general sense of the projects and responsibilities you hope to hand over to your intern, don’t make your life more
difficult than it needs to be. You don't need every week mapped out beforehand. Good planning accounts for changing priorities; broad goals and project outlines are sufficient to get started.
Where to Post Your Position
🌐 APA-IL Job Board: The APA-IL jobs board welcomes internship postings. Unpaid internships may be posted for free, while paid internships have a $25 fee.
🌐 UIUC Planning Board (Free): The Planning at Illinois Jobs Board is hosted by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Mail your job ads to: durp-jobs@lists.illinois.edu. You can also contact Ben LeRoy, academic advisor for the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, with questions.
🌐 UIC CUPPA Job Opportunities and Networking Board (Free): Explore employment, internship and networking opportunities relevant to CUPPA students and alumni.
🌐 LinkedIn: Many students search for internships on LinkedIn, especially because university-level career services staff often direct students to the platform regardless of their major. Note that a LinkedIn posting can broaden your applicant pool beyond planning students to students in related fields.
🌐 Agency or Firm Websites and Social Media: Prospective interns often look at agency and firm websites to learn more about the organization. Consider posting internship openings on your own website and social media platforms.
STAGE 03 — MAY to AUG: Summer Term
Recruitment Roadmap
The majority of internships take place over the summer. At both Illinois' planning schools, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Urbana-Champaign, summer break runs from late May through mid-August.
STAGE 01 — OCTOBER: Conference Checkpoint
Start budgeting or find funding, secure HR approvals, and define a workspace. Consider using the APA-IL State conference (typically held in late September or early October) as a cue to start thinking about your recruitment plan in earnest.
STAGE 02 — JAN to APRIL: Peak Recruiting
Post internship job openings, screen applications, and interview candidates.
STAGE 03 — MAY to AUG: Summer Term
Welcome your intern for their 10–12 week placement.
Recruiting Footprint
🏠 For many planning students, the internship search starts with a housing question: Which internships are within a reasonable commuting distance from my summer home? As an employer, you should consider this question from your own perspective, i.e. what prospective interns might live within a reasonable commuting distance of your office? Develop a basic level of familiarity with short-term summer housing options in your area.
🚗 How will students commute to the office, i.e. will they need a car? transit? bike? and will this impact your recruiting pool?
Thinking regionally:
Chicagoland internships often receive significant application interest. The region is the permanent home of many students at both UIUC and UIC, and of course, UIC students live in the region for their schooling. Additionally, the region’s robust transit network means that most internships are reachable even without a car.
Internships in the Champaign-Urbana area are also competitive. Many UIUC students have apartment leases that run through the summer. Even those that do not are able to find summer sublets with relative ease. Robust transit and cycling networks also make the many planning agencies in this region accessible for students who don’t have a car.
Internships in other parts of the state receive varying levels of interest, largely dependent on the number of planning students who hail from within commuting distance. This means that an internship outside of Chicagoland or Champaign-Urbana might not receive any applicants in a given cycle if no students live nearby. On the other hand, when one or more students do live nearby, they tend to be grateful for the opportunity, highly motivated to perform well, and often deploy their local lived experience in beneficial ways. Because of this dynamic, UIUC offers “matchmaking” services for internships outside of Chicagoland or Champaign-Urbana. Employers from other parts of the state are encouraged to contact academic advisor Ben LeRoy if they wish to be connected with students from their area.
