Service & Internship Fair

When: FALL 2024: Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm

Where: Main Quad (in front Cesar Chavez Student Center / SF State main campus)

Venue: Outdoor  and in-person event

Browse and apply to various internship opportunities. View all 500+ organizations that have become community partners with the university. 

Arrival

Community partners, please check in at the ICCE table stationed inside of the Cesar Chavez building, in the lobby when you arrive.

Check-in time: Community partners can arrive as early as 10:00 am. 

Community partners can park in Lot 20 (Parking Garage) located on State Dr.

A valid daily or semester permit is required at ALL times when parking in Lot 20.

• ICCE will provide each exhibitor with one 6’x3’ table & 2 chairs at no cost to you.

• We encourage you to bring flyers, pamphlets, a listing of available opportunities, a table cover, a visual display, free giveaways, and a volunteer sign-up sheet, if available.

• The Fair is outdoors so you may want to bring paperweights, should it get windy.

• Also, if it is sunny you may want to bring sunscreen and a hat.

• We encourage you to bring your water bottle – there is a filtered water station in the Student Center. In addition, there are many food and beverage options for lunch in the Cesar Chavez Student Center and there is a Peet’s in the Library front lobby.

• Wireless Access for Guests of SF State can be found at the link below.

• If you plan to bring your laptop as an outreach tool, please be sure to charge it beforehand for we are unable to provide access to an electrical outlet because the Fair is outside in the Main Quad.

• Post your available opportunities beforehand in you SF State ULink organizational profile.

• Stand out… bring flyers, pamphlets, a table cover, a visual display, free giveaways, volunteer sign-up sheet, if available.

• Feel free to move around, and stand in front of your table to “rope” in students as they walk by.

• Get to know your “table neighbors”.  This is not only a great opportunity to recruit students, staff, and faculty but to network with other organizations & City agencies.

• The distance from the garage to the Quad can be challenging with a lot of supplies, bring some wheels to help you along!

• Comfy shoes work best on the pavement and small hills around our campus.

• Dress in layers.  The Fair is outdoors so you may want to bring paper-weights, should it get windy.  Also, if it is sunny you may want to bring sunscreen and a hat.

Why aren't lunch and parking permits provided?

• We would love to be able to provide lunch and permits but at this time we do not have the budget to do so. 

• It is free for exhibitors to attend ICCE's Service + Internship Fair.  Whereas other universities and programs charge a fee that includes vendor space (chairs & tables, permit, and lunch for one representative). As a unit on campus, ICCE is required to cover the costs to rent tables and chairs including set-up/breakdown and we do not pass on these costs to participating exhibitors. 

We noticed that students come in waves at the Fair, why is that? 

• We schedule the Fair around the time the Quad gets the most traffic…lunch.

• Students trickle through the Quad as classes let out.  You will notice that there is a steady stream of students but at times a massive wave hits every few moments.

Many students are asking for and seeking paid positions. 

• Yes, many students will approach you and inquire about paid positions. If you offer paid opportunities, that is great! But many students are aware that our community partners offer unpaid internships, service learning, and volunteer opportunities.

• Please send them to the ICCE tent & we can direct them to resources on campus such as the Career Services & Leadership Development office & Handshake (SF State's online platform for jobs).

How are you different from the Career Services & Leadership Development (CLD)? 

• Many of the students who participate in our programs our seeking placements with organizations and are concurrently taking an academic course(s) that require them to obtain an internship and/or service learning placement. All organizations attending ICCE's Service & Internship Fair have current Learning Site Placement Agreements (LPSAs) with the university. 
• CLD is an office on campus, which is under the Division of Graduate Studies, that focuses on career readiness information in preparation for graduation. Such as services, such as resume building, how to prepare, and what to expect in interviews. They also manage Handshake, which is SF State's online platform for jobs.

How is community service learning (CSL) different from community service?

• Community service can be performed at any time for any reason. Although meaningful community service often leads to transformative learning, this connection becomes explicit in in-service learning.

• CSL is the integration of service or community engagement experiences into credit-bearing academic courses.

• CSL emphasizes mutuality. All participants in service learning should benefit, learn and grow from the experience. Service learning also emphasizes critical reflection on conditions that create the need for various types of community service.

How is service learning different from an internship?

• An internship is an intensive kind of applied learning. Other kinds include practicums, clinical experiences, and field education. The purpose of an internship is for students to acquire professional skills and gain career experience in supervised settings. Internships may or may not be tied to a credit-bearing course with academic content.  Interns usually spend a substantial amount of time at their work sites (typically 80-120+ hours per semester). Some but not all internships are designed to serve the public interest. 

Do students have to be enrolled in a CSL or internship course to volunteer/work with my agency?

• No, they do not.  However, if they are not enrolled in a CSL course or internship class, they will not receive course credit.  Also, students will still be required to register in Ulink.

• At this Fair, you may have students who want to volunteer/work at your agency on their own (not associated with an academic course).

How do students get credit for their hours?

• Completion of community service hours is not a graduation requirement (students enrolled in certain majors do have to complete internship hours that are mandatory, e.g. teaching credential, social work, etc…).  When students take a CSL-designated course, they can earn course credit when they complete their hours. These service hours can then be documented on their official transcripts.

• When students choose to do the CSL option, students are required by their professors to find their own “learning site” in the community. The Fair and ULink are the venues that they can use to connect with agencies such as yours.

• CSL undergraduate courses, require students to complete a minimum of 20 service hours in a semester. This may vary depending on the professor and class the students are taking.  Internships can require up to 100+.

In what other ways on a continual basis can I promote my agency and our opportunities to students and faculty?

• SF State is on a semester system.  The best time to recruit and post opportunities within ULink is early January (the spring semester typically starts the last week of Jan.) and early August (the fall semester typically starts the last week of August).

• We encourage all agencies to continually post new opportunities every semester and update their agency profile, specifically their contact information in ULink.

• When uploading your “opportunities”, be sure to be as descriptive as possible (e.g. tasks, schedule (dates), title, interest areas, etc…).  The more detailed the better.  This will assist ICCE in matching your opportunities with a class as well as attract more students.

• If you provide ICCE with a PDF flyer of your opportunities, we can forward to Depts. on campus that might be a good fit.  We will also print and post on our bulletin outside our office as well as on our Facebook page.