Internship Application Form Template
An internship application tuned for potential over experience, taking studies, team preference, motivation, resume, and cohort commitment in one pass.
We hire interns for trajectory. Most of our best people started where you are now. Tell us where you're headed.
Interns have thin resumes by definition, so an internship application that copies a job application measures the wrong things. This template redirects the signal: less about what a student has done, more about where they are in their studies, which team they want, and whether they can attend the program you are staffing around.
What each question does. University, major, and expected graduation date establish eligibility mechanically: most programs require enrolled students, and the graduation date shows you whether this is a penultimate-year candidate who could convert to full-time. The team dropdown does routing work, so each application lands with the mentor who would supervise it, and the "no preference" option catches the flexible candidates instead of forcing a fake choice. The motivation prompt is the heart of the form. Its placeholder asks what the candidate wants to learn, build, or prove, phrasing chosen because students who name a goal self-select for the ownership you hope interns show. The commitment question exists because cohort economics are brutal: onboarding, mentor time, and the final presentation all assume presence, and learning about the six-week conflict now beats learning about it in week three. The resume stays required as a formality: a PDF so formatting survives reviewers' screens.
Skipped on purpose. Years-of-experience brackets (meaningless for students and mildly humiliating to answer), GPA (predictive value is contested and it screens out working students; add a number field if your program requires it), references (ask at offer stage), and cover letter uploads (the motivation question does that job with less ceremony).
Who staffs cohorts with this. Startups running their first structured intern cohort, university-partnered programs collecting applications outside the school's portal, research labs staffing summer projects, and design studios that want a portfolio link question added per team.
Adjusting it, and the trajectory promise. Rename the teams to your real ones, then open the Logic panel and add per-team follow-ups: a portfolio URL when Design is chosen, a GitHub link for Engineering. Set the application window with a close date, or close after a fixed number of responses when review capacity is the constraint; the closed message can point students to the next cohort. Export to CSV when screening starts, and the columns make a review spreadsheet with scores and notes a two-minute setup. Email notifications matter more than you'd think: rolling review with fast replies is a competitive edge when strong students are applying to twenty programs. The intro says you hire for trajectory; if that is true of your program, keep the line. Students read it as permission to apply without a perfect resume, and your applicant pool widens within one cycle.
Frequently asked questions
Can we ask different questions per team?
Add rules in the Logic panel like "when team is Design, show portfolio URL." Each team can have its own follow-up question without lengthening the form for everyone.
How do we close applications when the cohort is full?
Use the close rules in Settings: a hard deadline date, a response-count cap, or both. Late visitors see your custom message pointing to the next cohort.
What resume formats are accepted?
PDF up to 10 MB by default. The server verifies uploads, so corrupted or mislabeled files are rejected at submission rather than discovered during review.
How should we run the review?
Export applications as CSV and score them in a spreadsheet, or read them in the response view. Filtering by the team column splits the pile per reviewing mentor immediately.