How to hire a graduate internship

How to hire a graduate internship, step by step

Here's a step-by-step graduate internship hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a graduate internship job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new graduate internship
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a graduate internship do?

Post a graduate internship job for free, promote it for a fee

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your graduate internship job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a graduate internship for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A graduate internship's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, graduate interns from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   The following list breaks down different types of graduate interns and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Graduate Internship	Description	Hourly rate
   Graduate Internship		$14-42
   Teaching Fellow	An individual who works at an institution to foster the students' academic strive is known as a teaching fellow. They are known as a self-motivated and education-based counselor... Show more	$12-35
   Student Instructor	Typically, a Student Instructor engages students in learning the assignments, materials, pacing, resources, and activities. Student Instructors learn and enforce questioning and discussion strategies in promoting knowledge acquisition and student participation... Show more	$15-35

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Python
   • Java
   • PowerPoint
   • C++
   • Customer Service
   • Data Collection
   • Data Analysis
   • Substance Abuse
   • Sketch
   • Renewable Energy
   • Graduate Intern
   • MATLAB
   • Patient Care

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Develop several Perl scripts to assist engineers to validate RTL files and automate several processes.
   • Develop software in python to automate the test process for both functional validation and production test process.
   • Script in Perl in order to efficiently automate the process of setting up simulation conditions and collecting data.
   • Design PHP application to automate schedule updating process.
   • Assist with Facebook, Instagram, and twitter.
   • Provide counseling and recommendations to patients regarding their prescription and over-the-counter medications under the direct supervision of the on-duty pharmacist.

   More graduate internship duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your graduate internship job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A graduate internship salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for a graduate internship in Iowa may be lower than in Massachusetts, and an entry-level graduate internship usually earns less than a senior-level graduate internship. Additionally, a graduate internship with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average graduate internship salary

   $52,511yearly

   $25.25 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level graduate internship salary

   $31,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 13, 2026

   Average graduate internship salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Massachusetts	$69,464	$33
   2	Maryland	$67,561	$32
   3	California	$65,549	$32
   4	Virginia	$64,630	$31
   5	New York	$64,385	$31
   6	Washington	$63,984	$31
   7	Wisconsin	$60,813	$29
   8	Oregon	$60,715	$29
   9	New Mexico	$60,493	$29
   10	Illinois	$60,463	$29
   11	Indiana	$60,225	$29
   12	Pennsylvania	$58,861	$28
   13	Texas	$57,725	$28
   14	New Jersey	$55,544	$27
   15	District of Columbia	$52,299	$25
   16	Michigan	$52,081	$25
   17	North Carolina	$48,727	$23
   18	Nevada	$46,266	$22
   19	Georgia	$46,187	$22
   20	Missouri	$46,065	$22

   Average graduate internship salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Menorah Medical Center	$132,108	$63.51
   2	Safeway	$127,674	$61.38
   3	Kaiser Permanente	$125,392	$60.28	6
   4	Providence Health & Services	$103,984	$49.99	2
   5	Raley's	$96,564	$46.42	1
   6	Trinity Health	$85,474	$41.09	8
   7	Albertsons Companies	$84,019	$40.39	41
   8	World Wildlife Fund	$81,561	$39.21	1
   9	ABB	$80,356	$38.63	9
   10	SAP	$78,357	$37.67	23
   11	University of Massachusetts Medical School	$74,072	$35.61	1
   12	Duke University Health System	$73,161	$35.17
   13	LifePoint Health	$71,018	$34.14	5
   14	HealthTrust	$70,799	$34.04
   15	Family & Children Assoc	$70,259	$33.78
   16	Comcast	$68,275	$32.82	1
   17	Adventist HealthCare	$67,709	$32.55	1
   18	Xerox	$67,527	$32.46
   19	Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (finra)	$67,300	$32.36
   20	Pharmaceutical Product Development	$67,016	$32.22

4. Writing a graduate internship job description

   A graduate internship job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a graduate internship job description:

   Graduate internship job description example

   Q Bio is building technology for the Physical of the Future that measures more, faster and cheaper about the human body, to enable proactive primary care for all. We're revolutionizing primary care with the first clinical digital twin platform, powered by breakthrough whole-body scanning technology, that highlights the most important changes in a person's physiology for sharing with physicians and specialists anywhere in the world.
   Join us!
   
   Q Bio's clinical digital twin platform, Gemini, is the first to capture and monitor comprehensive baseline patient health in a scalable virtual model. The Gemini Dashboard highlights the most important chemical and anatomical changes in an individual weighted by an individual's lifestyle, genetic and medical history, that can be securely shared with physicians and specialists all over the world.
   
   Gemini is powered by the fastest, most accessible, whole body scanner developed: the Mark I. Self-driving and optimized for primary care, the Mark I can complete a whole-body scan in 15 minutes or less in an open space, without radiation, breath holds, or claustrophobia. Patient comfort is maximized with the option to sit, stand, or lie down, and real-time telemetry is displayed throughout.
   
   Why should you consider a career with Q Bio?
   
   We dream big. Our team is aligned and excited about the opportunity to save lives and understand the human body like never before. We know how critical empowering and supportive leadership is, both to our excellence as a company, and for our team experience as a whole, and our leadership team will empower and support career growth. We're a team of engineers, scientists, and operators who come from a diverse background of disciplines and experiences. We value teamwork, growth, determination and persistence, commitment to collaboration, and a reliance on staying nimble while keeping the big picture in mind.
   
   The Role
   As an intern in the Image Processing Team at Q Bio you will have the chance to develop new algorithms on challenging and cutting edge emerging MRI technology that no one else has seen. You will develop new ML/DL segmentation and quantification models that will contribute towards Q Bio's goal of using machine learning and image processing to automatically parse the human body from 3D MRI. You will be integrated closely with the Image Processing team under the supervision of a Senior Scientist. Uniquely, you will have the chance to interact closely with the entire Radiomics department, which comprises physicists, computational scientists, applied mathematicians, machine learning scientists, and software engineers. Your project will have high robustness and engineering demands, with the opportunity to see your contributions deployed to our production pipeline.
   
   Team Structure
   The Radiomics Engineering Team is divided into four smaller teams: Image Acquisition/Pulse Sequence Design, Image Reconstruction, Image Post-processing, and Hardware Engineering. While each team functions independently, we value cross-pollination of ideas, open discussion, and sharing of knowledge. As a company, we all work towards the primary goal of developing a reproducible, non-invasive, and high-speed whole body exam.
   Candidate RequirementsWorking towards a PhD in Computer Science, Biomedical Engineerings, Electrical Engineerings, or equivalent research experience Experience working with medical images Experience developing new and cutting edge segmentation, registration, or detection algorithms for image processing Proficiency programming in PythonExperience with at least one of the following Deep Learning frameworks: PyTorch, Keras, TensorFlow, Caffe
   Nice to HaveExperience working with MR or CT images Experience developing on cloud technology Knowledge of and experience with non deep learning technologies First authored publication(s) in MICCAI, IPMI, CVPR, IEEE TMI, MEDIA, or other top tier venues
   Q Bio was founded in 2015 by serial entrepreneur Jeffrey Kaditz, Dr. Michael Snyder, Chair of Genetics and Director of Personalized Medicine at Stanford University, and Dr. Garry Choy, physician, radiologist, and former Chief Medical Information Officer at Mass General Hospital. Q Bio has raised over $80M from world class investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, SciFi VC, and many more.
   
   Q Bio is an Equal Opportunity Employer and we value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find graduate interns for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any graduate interns they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level graduate interns with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your graduate internship job on Zippia to find and recruit graduate internship candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit graduate interns, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new graduate internship

   Once you've selected the best graduate internship candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new graduate internship. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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