How to hire a technical internship

Technical internship hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring technical interns in the United States:

HR departments typically spend 15% of their expenses on recruitment.
It usually takes about 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
It typically takes 36-42 days to fill a job opening.
The median cost to hire a technical internship is $1,633.
Small businesses spend an average of $1,105 per technical internship on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
There are currently 116,216 technical interns in the US and 119,178 job openings.
Chicago, IL, has the highest demand for technical interns, with 40 job openings.
New York, NY has the highest concentration of technical interns.

How to hire a technical internship, step by step

To hire a technical internship, consider the skills and experience you are looking for in a candidate, allocate a budget for the position, and post and promote the job opening to reach potential candidates. Follow these steps to hire a technical internship:

Here's a step-by-step technical 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 technical internship job description
Step 5: Post your job
Step 6: Interview candidates
Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new technical internship
Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a technical internship do?

In a technical internship, the responsibilities will vary according to the organization or industry. Despite this, most of the tasks will revolve around accomplishing tasks or directives handed out by managers or supervisors, which might include duties such as researching and analyzing, crafting new ideas from scratch, assisting other personnel, and sharing insights during discussions. One may also have to create or improve systems, detect issues, provide solutions, and maintain an active communication line with team members.

Learn more about the specifics of what a technical internship does

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

Identify your hiring needs

First, determine the employments status of the technical internship you need to hire. Certain technical internship roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

Determine employee vs contractor status

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

You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a technical internship to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a technical internship that fits the bill.

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

Type of Technical Internship	Description	Hourly rate
Technical Internship	Computer support specialists provide help and advice to people and organizations using computer software or equipment. Some, called computer network support specialists, support information technology (IT) employees within their organization... Show more	$12-25
Administrative Technical Support	Administrative technical support maintains every technical set-up used in a company. Their primary responsibility is to inspect a company's systems, evaluate for issues, and repair any problems immediately... Show more	$13-36
Computer Technician	Computer technicians are skilled information technology professionals who handle concerns related to computers. They are responsible for assisting clients in software installations, troubleshooting needs, and repair needs... Show more	$13-26

Create an ideal candidate profile
Common skills:
- Python
- Java
- Patients
- C++
- Customer Service
- JavaScript
- Troubleshoot
- PowerPoint
- SQL
- Patient Care
- HTML
- CSS
- Cloud Computing
- Technical Support
Check all skills
Responsibilities:
- Manage the migration to VOIP phone systems.
- Used PL/SQL and UNIX shell script to automate daily reports as well as any production error alerts.
- Manage the c-arm and o-arm in the operating room while maintaining the sterile field at all times.
- Manage group-wide collaboration using SharePoint and enable cross-team communication base on unique team needs.
- Utilize front-end development - HTML, CSS, and JavaScript - to enhance both existing and new applications.
- Maintain PACS computer system and serve as data entry operator.
More technical internship duties

Make a budget

Including a salary range in your technical internship job description helps attract top candidates to the position. A technical 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 technical internship in Idaho may be lower than in Oregon, and an entry-level technical internship usually earns less than a senior-level technical internship. Additionally, a technical 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 technical internship salary

$38,417yearly

$18.47 hourly rate

Entry-level technical internship salary

$27,000 yearly salary

Updated December 16, 2025

Average technical internship salary by state

Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	Oregon	$49,089	$24
2	California	$48,368	$23
3	Washington	$45,572	$22
4	Pennsylvania	$43,354	$21
5	Massachusetts	$42,873	$21
6	Virginia	$41,534	$20
7	New York	$41,185	$20
8	Kansas	$40,908	$20
9	Illinois	$40,651	$20
10	North Dakota	$40,368	$19
11	Arizona	$39,139	$19
12	Texas	$38,812	$19
13	District of Columbia	$38,280	$18
14	Wisconsin	$38,247	$18
15	Minnesota	$37,164	$18
16	Delaware	$37,040	$18
17	Nevada	$37,008	$18
18	Colorado	$36,424	$18
19	Florida	$35,839	$17
20	Nebraska	$34,763	$17

Average technical internship salary by company

Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
1	OCC	$79,205	$38.08
2	Meta	$76,896	$36.97	44
3	IBM	$63,626	$30.59	381
4	BNSF Railway	$61,282	$29.46
5	Sandia National Labs	$60,350	$29.01	72
6	Google	$57,527	$27.66	147
7	Anheuser-Busch	$55,346	$26.61	4
8	Ernst & Young	$54,836	$26.36	1,662
9	Acxiom	$52,976	$25.47
10	Milton CAT	$50,580	$24.32	7
11	Charter Global	$50,148	$24.11
12	RDO Equipment Co.	$49,382	$23.74	1
13	Anaplan	$49,034	$23.57
14	Milliman	$48,896	$23.51	4
15	General Electric	$48,803	$23.46	100
16	Fabick Cat	$48,758	$23.44
17	LG&E and KU	$48,381	$23.26
18	Ziegler CAT	$48,139	$23.14	6
19	Sanmina	$47,874	$23.02	1
20	American Enterprise Institute	$47,399	$22.79

Writing a technical internship job description
A technical 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. Below, you can find an example of a technical internship job description:
Technical internship job description example
th Street, Denver, Colorado, 80202, United States of America
This Student Internship Program supports partner schools in Connecticut Only .

Hello and thank you for your interest in completing your school's required unpaid internship with DaVita!

Here are some of the areas that you may encounter and/or observe during your internship - according to your state specific regulations for dialysis:

Patient Care:
- Receive patient into treatment area; weigh patient, take temperature and blood pressure pre- and post-dialysis
- Perform vital signs
- Review dialysis prescription, note general physical and mental condition of patient through observation and interview, obtain information and/or data to determine compliance to dietary or medication regimen
- Recommend a dialysis plan for ultrafiltration to RN, monitor patient vital signs
Equipment Care:
- Set up and monitor dialysis machines and systems
- Monitor dialysis machines for correct functioning
- Tear down dialysis machines, sterilize and disinfect dialysis machines and equipment according to DaVita procedures
Position Requirements:
- Current attendance at a school that has a legal student training agreement in place with DaVita, actively studying nursing assisting (CNA), medical assisting (CMA) or dialysis
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Must be comfortable around blood and needles
- Full vaccination against COVID 19 to include a booster when eligible or a medical/religious exemption
At DaVita, we strive to be a community first and a company second. We want all teammates to experience DaVita as "a place where I belong." Our goal is to embed Diversity & Belonging into everything we do in our Village, so that it becomes part of who we are. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative action employer. As such, individuals are recruited, hired, assigned and promoted without regard to race, national origin, religion, age, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.

Salary/ Wage Range
$16.50 to $21.00
Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including a candidate's qualifications, skills, competencies and experience and may fall outside of the range shown. DaVita offers a competitive total rewards package, which includes a 401k match, healthcare coverage and a broad range of other benefits. Learn more at
Post your job
There are a few common ways to find technical interns for your business:
- Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
- Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
- Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
- Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.
Post your job online:
- Post your technical internship job on Zippia to find and recruit technical internship candidates who meet your exact specifications.
- Use field-specific websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
- Post a job on free websites.
Interview candidates
Your first interview with technical internship candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.
You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.
If your interviews with technical internship applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:
- TestDome
- CodeSignal
- Testlify
- BarRaiser
- Coderbyte
The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.
Send a job offer and onboard your new technical internship
Once you have selected a candidate for the technical internship position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize 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 technical 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.
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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How much does it cost to hire a technical internship?

Before you start to hire technical interns, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire technical interns pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

You can expect to pay around $38,417 per year for a technical internship, as this is the median yearly salary nationally. This can vary depending on what state or city you're hiring in. If you're hiring for contract work or on a per-project basis, hourly rates for technical interns in the US typically range between $12 and $25 an hour.

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Updated December 16, 2025

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How to hire a technical internship