Frequently Asked Questions About Internships

  • We have had the pleasure of working with many Berlin-based companies and organizations through our internship programs. Company profiles range in size and industry, but what they have in common is an interest in contributing to a young person’s professional and personal development and opportunities for a student to support and provide value through their internship.

    From the CIEE side, we love to work with companies that can offer the following:

    • An interest in working with and mentoring young people or students

    • An English friendly environment

    • A welcoming atmosphere

    • An in-person or at least hybrid environment

    • An internship supervisor(s) who can answer questions, provide feedback

  • The types of projects our students have worked on includes but is not limited to:

    • communication and content: translated and transcribed organization's digital content for access by wider public

    • social media marketing: assist in creating and scheduling content, engaging with followers, analyzing performance metrics, and supporting various marketing initiatives

    • community intern: working to develop exciting and engaging formats for community-based organization

    • events: supported in various tasks related to organizing and delivering even

    • data analytics: worked with product team in their daily operations and tasks related to data intelligence

    • sales & business development: supported through market research, competitor research, data scraping

  • Students that participate in CIEE programs are enrolled in US-American universities and receive academic credit for their internship program.

    Majors and level of experience will vary from student to student, but common trends are:

    • Business (Sales, Marketing, Accounting, Finance)

    • Data Science & Analytics

    • Computer Science

    • Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical)

    • Sustainability & Environmental studies

    • Politics & Public Policy

    • Public health

    • Psychology

    • History

How to host an intern?

1. Let us know you’re interested
Email berlininternships@ciee.org to get started. We love to meet potential partners, so we would be happy to schedule a follow-up video call, or an in-person visit to better acquaint ourselves with your company.  

2. Tell us about your company, team, number of staff, provide an internship description and desired student profile.
This information is helpful in determining if any of our incoming students would make a suitable candidate for an internship with your company. If we don’t have a suitable candidate in the incoming cohort, we keep this information and will reach out again in the future.

3. If we have suitable candidate, we will send their CV for your consideration
If possible, we ask that you let us know within 72 hours whether you’re interested in a candidate.

4. If student is suitable, we connect you with student for an interview
The interview is your opportunity to learn more about the student’s skills, interests, and goals, and for you to provide additional information about the internship opportunity. We encourage you to conduct the interview in whatever way best suits your organizational culture and needs.

Please notify us after the interview has taken place and share whether you plan on making the student an offer.

5. If the internship is offered, sign internship agreement and other relevant paperwork
Internship agreement states that the internship is unpaid, that it is part of the student’s university studies, that the student is housed through the program, that they have health insurance through CIEE, and that they are covered through CIEE’s liability and accident insurance.

The agreement will be sent to you directly for digital signature for DocuSign and must be signed before the student can start their internship.

6. Internship begins
Students go through an initial orientation with CIEE before starting their internships.

In addition to the internship, students participate in excursions, events, and opportunities organized by CIEE to help them connect with each other and the city.

Many students also participate in a mandatory internship seminar during their internship period.

Students are responsible for communicating these other commitments to their supervisors, but we ask that companies afford them with flexibility to be able to participate in both mandatory and optional activities.

7. Mid-point check-in
CIEE staff serves as a resource to both student and company during the internship period and will check-in to ensure that the internship is going smoothly. This check-in may be in the form of an email, video call, or in-person visit.

8. Internship ends
We encourage all supervisors to complete end-of-internship feedback meetings with their interns.

9. CIEE provides supervisor with link to evaluation of intern (required for student to receive academic credit)
Because the students are doing the internship as part of their studies, we ask that internship supervisors fill out a survey to evaluate the students’ performance. This will be sent to the company by one of CIEE team members in the final days of the internship. It doesn’t take long (max. 10 minutes) and it is imperative that the supervisor fill it out so that the student’s transcript can be finalized.