The goals of the West Covina internship program are to provide people interested in public service, college students and Veterans entering the civilian work force meaningful real world experience, help the City meet short-term needs for extra assistance and lure new talent to the organization. This program provides interns with the opportunity to gain both academic and practical experience working in local government.  The City offers paid and unpaid internship opportunities to learn about the City of West Covina and the exceptional services it provides to the community.

Internships provide the following benefits:

A full and realistic view of the world-at-work and integrates academic preparation with practical application and skill development in the workplace.

An opportunity to network with professionals in a field of interest and a chance to explore career options, while developing transferable skills.

The opportunity to gain valuable work experience.

To be considered for an internship candidates must be at least 18 years old and interested in learning about careers in local government while obtaining related work experience.  The selected candidate must be able to pass a background investigation and pre-employment physical examination.  Candidates must commit to working up to 20 hours per week.  Interns are placed in assignments based on their training, education and experience and areas of interest.   

Administrative Intern - Recent graduates or students currently enrolled in a Bachelor's degree program in a freshman or sophomore standing or enrolled in a graduate level courses with a focus/emphasis on finance, business administration, management, public administration, or human resources.

Engineering Intern - Recent graduates or students currently enrolled in a Bachelor's degree program with a focus/emphasis in civil engineering or computer science, in a junior, senior standing or enrolled in a graduate level program.

Planning Intern - Recent graduates or students currently enrolled in a Bachelor's degree program with a focus/emphasis in planning in a junior, senior standing or enrolled in a graduate level program

Information Technology Intern – Recent graduates or students currently enrolled in an Associates of Arts or Bachelor's degree program in information technology, information systems or related field.

Web Intern - The City of West Covina is looking for a self-motivated individual to work with the Division of Information Technology and assist with city's web-related needs. This position will offer unique opportunities to gain an in-depth, hands-on experience with website production related to local and regional operations.

Social Media Intern - This internship provides a great opportunity to gain practical work experience in public affairs, communications, social media, graphic design, multi-media, and community outreach. Interns will provide various support functions that will help increase the City's online presence and citizen engagement through the City's social media channels and website.


*Note, not all applicants are required to be college students.

Student Level Definitions

For consistency purposes, the City uses the California Post-Secondary Education Commission definitions of student levels:

Freshman - Refers to a first-year undergraduate student. At the California State University, freshman refer to students who have completed fewer than 30 semester or 45 quarter hours. At the University of California, freshmen refer to students who have completed between 0 and 44.9 quarter units (0 to 29.9 semester units).

Sophomore - At the California State University, student level sophomore refers to students who have completed 30 to fewer than 60 semester or 45 to fewer than 90 quarter credit hours. At the University of California, sophomore refers to students who have completed at least 45 but not more than 89.9 quarter units (30-59.9 semester units).

Junior - At the California State University, student level junior refers to students who have completed 60 to fewer than 90 semester or 90 to fewer than 135 quarter credit hours. At the University of California, junior refers to students who have completed at least 90 but not more than 134.9 quarter units (60-89.9 semester units).

Senior - Refers to students who have completed 90 or more semester or 135 or more quarter credit hours.

Graduate - A graduate is a student who has completed the requirements for a bachelor's degree and who is enrolled in a master's or higher degree program in a post-secondary institution.

The Internship Program runs year-round. Human Resources will recruit interns based on several factors which include, but are not limited to funding availability, staff availability, available office space for interns, and available projects for interns.

Paid interns are part-time employees, and are not eligible for medical or dental benefits or paid leave such as vacation, personal leave, or holidays. In accordance with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), part-time employees that are not initially eligible to enroll in medical or dental benefits may become eligible at a later date dependent upon the duration and number of hours worked during their internship.

In accordance with the Health Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 and the City’s Administrative Policy, interns are up to 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

Paid interns that are not eligible for the CalPERS retirement plan will be enrolled in the City of West Covina Alternate Retirement System (ARS), which is a defined contribution plan administered by Nationwide.  Employees enrolled into this plan contribute 7.5% of their compensation to the plan.

These positions are unclassified part-time at-will assignments and are not subject to the City’s Personnel Rules.  Internships are limited to work an average of 20 hours or less per week and no more than 960 hours in any fiscal year (July 1^st – June 30).  If an intern is transferred to another department within a single fiscal year, the 960 hour maximum would still apply and runs concurrently with any and all assignments within that year.

All internships are at-will assignments and may be terminated at any time and have no appeal rights.

Paid and unpaid intern opportunities are based on funding availability.  Salary determinations for paid internships are be based on experience, education, and recruitment needs among other factors.