An internship agreement covers the internship's term and schedule, compensation (paid internships averaging $15–$25+/hour; unpaid internships legal at for-profits only under the DOL's primary-beneficiary test — the intern, not the employer, must be the main beneficiary), learning objectives and supervision structure, academic-credit coordination where applicable, IP assignment for work product, confidentiality, the no-job-promise disclaimer, and conversion terms. Misclassified unpaid internships create back-wage liability; paid is the safe harbor, and most large employers have abandoned unpaid programs entirely.
Internship Contract Template
Reviewed by the Agiled editorial teamUpdated June 2026
The internship agreement's first job is answering a legal question most employers get wrong by default: when can an internship be unpaid? At for-profit...
Part of our free contract template library — 75+ agreements in Word and PDF, ready to customize and sign.
Full template text
INTERNSHIP AGREEMENT
This Internship Agreement ("Agreement") is entered into as of [Date] by and between:
Employer: [Company Name], located at [Address], Phone: [Phone], Email: [Email] ("Company")
Intern: [Full Name], residing at [Address], Phone: [Phone], Email: [Email] ("Intern")
1. Internship Position
a) Title: [Internship Title, e.g., Marketing Intern, Software Development Intern].
b) Department: [Department Name].
c) Supervisor: [Name, Title].
d) Mentor (if applicable): [Name, Title].
e) Work Location: [Office Address / Remote / Hybrid].
2. Duration
a) Start Date: [Date].
b) End Date: [Date].
c) Total Duration: Approximately [Number] weeks / months.
d) This Agreement may be extended by mutual written agreement. Early termination is governed by Section 13.
3. Schedule
a) Working Days: [e.g., Monday through Friday].
b) Working Hours: [e.g., 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM / flexible schedule of [Number] hours per week].
c) Type: [Full-time / Part-time].
d) The Intern's schedule may be adjusted to accommodate academic commitments with the Supervisor's approval.
4. Duties and Responsibilities
The Intern shall perform the following duties under the direction of the Supervisor:
a) [Primary project or responsibility].
b) [Secondary duties].
c) [Research, analysis, or support tasks].
d) [Administrative or operational tasks].
e) Attend team meetings, training sessions, and professional development events as assigned.
f) Complete assigned projects by agreed-upon deadlines.
g) Maintain professional communication and collaboration with team members.
h) [Additional duties as reasonably assigned].
5. Learning Objectives
The internship is designed to provide the Intern with the following educational and professional development opportunities:
a) [Specific skill development, e.g., proficiency in [software/tool], understanding of [industry/process]].
b) [Exposure to professional work environment and business practices].
c) [Mentorship and feedback from experienced professionals].
d) [Opportunity to contribute to meaningful projects with real business impact].
e) The Supervisor shall provide formal feedback at the midpoint and at the conclusion of the internship.
6. Compensation
[Option A — Paid Internship:]
a) Hourly Rate: $[Amount] per hour.
b) Estimated Weekly Hours: [Number].
c) Payment Schedule: [Weekly / Bi-weekly / Monthly] via [Direct Deposit / Check].
d) Overtime: [Not applicable — Intern's hours shall not exceed [40] per week / Paid at 1.5x for hours exceeding [40] per week].
[Option B — Unpaid Internship:]
a) This internship is unpaid. The Intern acknowledges that the primary purpose of this arrangement is educational, and the Company shall provide significant training, mentorship, and learning opportunities.
b) The Intern acknowledges that this arrangement complies with the DOL's primary beneficiary test for unpaid internships.
7. Benefits and Perks
a) The Intern [is / is not] eligible for company benefits (health insurance, retirement, PTO).
b) The following perks are provided: [e.g., parking, meals, company laptop, conference attendance, professional development budget, gym access — or "None"].
c) The Company shall provide the Intern with [a company laptop / necessary equipment] for the duration of the internship, to be returned upon completion.
8. Academic Credit
[If applicable:]
a) This internship may be completed for academic credit through [University Name].
b) Academic Supervisor: [Name, Title, Contact Information].
c) The Company shall cooperate with the academic institution's requirements for evaluation, including completing assessment forms and participating in site visits.
d) The Intern is responsible for coordinating credit requirements with their academic institution.
[If not applicable: "This internship is not affiliated with an academic institution for credit purposes."]
9. Confidentiality
a) The Intern acknowledges that during the internship, they may be exposed to confidential and proprietary information of the Company, including but not limited to: trade secrets, business strategies, client lists, financial data, product plans, software code, and internal communications.
b) The Intern agrees to keep all such information strictly confidential and shall not disclose it to any third party during or after the internship without the Company's written consent.
c) Upon termination of the internship, the Intern shall return all confidential materials, including documents, files, and digital copies.
d) This confidentiality obligation survives the termination of this Agreement for a period of [2 / 3] years.
10. Intellectual Property
a) All work product, inventions, designs, code, written materials, and creative works produced by the Intern during the internship and within the scope of their duties shall be the sole property of the Company.
b) The Intern hereby assigns all rights, title, and interest in such work product to the Company.
c) The Intern agrees to execute any documents necessary to effectuate this assignment.
d) The Intern retains the right to include a description of their work and role in their personal resume and portfolio, provided no confidential information is disclosed.
11. Code of Conduct
a) The Intern shall comply with all Company policies, including the employee handbook, code of ethics, IT usage policy, and anti-harassment policy.
b) The Intern shall maintain professional behavior, appearance, and communication standards.
c) The Intern shall report any concerns about workplace safety, harassment, or ethical violations through the Company's established reporting channels.
12. Non-Compete and Non-Solicitation
a) During the internship and for a period of [6 / 12] months after its conclusion, the Intern agrees not to [solicit the Company's clients, customers, or employees / directly compete with the Company using knowledge or contacts gained during the internship].
b) [Note: Non-compete restrictions for interns may not be enforceable in all jurisdictions. Consult legal counsel.]
13. Termination
a) Either party may terminate this Agreement with [1 / 2] weeks' written notice.
b) The Company may terminate immediately for cause, including violation of Company policies, breach of confidentiality, dishonesty, harassment, or failure to perform assigned duties.
c) Upon termination, the Intern shall return all Company property, including equipment, access badges, and confidential materials.
d) The Company shall pay the Intern for all hours worked through the termination date (for paid internships).
14. Employment Disclaimer
This internship is a fixed-term arrangement and does NOT constitute a guarantee, promise, or implication of future employment with the Company. Any offer of continued employment, if made, shall be a separate agreement.
15. Dispute Resolution
Disputes arising from this Agreement shall be resolved through good-faith discussion, followed by mediation if necessary. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of [State].
16. Entire Agreement
This Agreement constitutes the entire understanding between the parties. Amendments must be in writing and signed by both parties.
SIGNATURES
Company Representative: ___________________________ Date: _______________
Print Name / Title: ___________________________
Intern Signature: ___________________________ Date: _______________
Print Name: ___________________________
- Paid internships
- $15 – $25+ / hour typical
- Unpaid legality
- Primary-beneficiary test
- Term
- 8 – 12 weeks, typical
- Job promise
- None — stated explicitly
What your internship agreement should cover
Term and schedule
Start and end dates (8–12 week summer terms; semester-aligned for academic programs), weekly hours (full-time summer or 10–20 hours alongside classes), and the fixed-term framing — the internship ends on the date, with no continuation implied.
Compensation and classification
Paid: hourly wage on payroll with W-2 treatment ($15–$25+ typical; engineering/finance well above), overtime rules applying like any employee. Unpaid (for-profits): only if the primary-beneficiary factors genuinely hold — and the agreement should recite them, because the recitals are the audit defense.
The primary-beneficiary recitals
For unpaid programs, the DOL's seven factors written into the agreement: training similar to an educational environment, tied to the academic calendar/credit, limited to the period of beneficial learning, complementing rather than displacing paid work, no compensation expectation, and no job entitlement — true on paper and in practice, or the program is wage theft with a syllabus.
Learning objectives and program structure
What the intern will learn and do: named skills, project rotations, training sessions, and the mentorship structure — the substance that makes 'educational' more than an adjective and gives the internship its actual value on both sides.
Supervision and evaluation
A named supervisor/mentor, check-in cadence (weekly is the professional norm), the mid-point and final evaluations, and the academic-coordination terms where credit is involved (school forms, site-visit cooperation, the faculty sponsor's requirements).
IP assignment
Work product created within the internship assigns to the company — interns build real things, and the startup whose summer intern owns a chunk of the codebase has a diligence problem at funding time. Paid status makes the assignment cleaner; unpaid programs should scope it to internship work only.
Confidentiality
An NDA proportionate to access: company information protected during and after, social-media discretion (the intern's excited post about the unannounced product is a real pattern), and no trade-secret access beyond what the program needs.
The no-promise disclaimer
The internship creates no entitlement to employment — required for the unpaid test, healthy for paid programs too: conversion happens through an offer, not an assumption, and the agreement says so plainly.
Conduct, policies, and safety
Workplace policies apply (harassment, safety, IT use — interns are workplace participants whatever their wage status), training completed in week one, and the reporting paths the intern can actually use, with the school's channel as a parallel where credit is involved.
Conversion and reference terms
The good-faith mechanics: conversion timelines where the company hires from the program (offers by program end), the reference/recommendation practice for strong performers, and alumni-network inclusion — the terms that make a program compete for talent.
Typical internship terms (U.S., 2026)
| Item | Typical standard | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly pay (general) | $15 – $25 | Tech/finance $25 – $50+ |
| Term | 8 – 12 weeks | Or semester-aligned |
| Weekly hours (academic year) | 10 – 20 | Full-time summers |
| Unpaid legality (for-profit) | Primary-beneficiary test | All factors weighed |
| Nonprofit/government | Volunteer exception | Different rules |
| Evaluations | Midpoint + final | Written |
| Misclassification exposure | Back wages + penalties | FLSA liability |
State wage laws layer on the federal floor — several states are more protective of unpaid interns. Nonprofits and government agencies operate under a genuine volunteer exception that for-profits don't have.
How internship agreements work in practice
The paid summer program
The modern standard: 10 weeks, hourly pay on payroll, a real project, a named mentor. The agreement's work is mostly programmatic — objectives stated (so the summer doesn't dissolve into shadowing and coffee runs), the project defined with a final presentation, evaluations calendared, and the conversion mechanics honest: offers extended by week 9 for the strongest performers, the no-promise disclaimer covering everyone else. The IP and confidentiality clauses run at full strength because the intern's work is real work — which is exactly why it's paid.
The unpaid internship audit
A for-profit's unpaid program meets a wage claim: the primary-beneficiary test now grades the program's reality, not its paperwork. The questions that decide it: was the experience structured around learning (rotations, training, mentorship) or around output? Did the intern displace a paid worker or do work that would otherwise be hired? Was it tied to academic credit and calendar? Did anyone imply a job? The agreement's recitals help only if the program matched them — and the modern risk calculus has most for-profits concluding that paying $15–$20/hour is cheaper than defending free labor. Nonprofits and government programs sit on different legal ground entirely.
The intern who built something valuable
Week six: the intern's prototype becomes the team's direction. The IP clause earns its place — work product assigned to the company, cleanly, because it was created within a paid engagement under a signed agreement. The counterfactual is the diligence nightmare: an unpaid intern with no signed IP terms owns their authorship by default, and the startup raising its seed round discovers a 20-year-old holds rights to the recommendation engine. The flip side deserves honesty too: an intern whose work ships should get the credit conversation — title on the work where customary, the strong reference, and the conversion offer that keeps the value in the building.
Mistakes that weaken a internship agreement
Unpaid productive work
An intern doing what an employee would otherwise do is an employee under the FLSA — unpaid status doesn't survive the work being valuable. If the output matters to the business, pay for it; the wage is cheaper than the back-pay claim.
No learning structure
A program that can't name what the intern will learn fails the legal test (if unpaid) and the talent test (regardless). Objectives, rotations, mentorship, and evaluations are the program — write them down.
Implying the job
'Do well and you're hired' defeats the no-entitlement factor of the unpaid test and creates expectations paid programs also shouldn't promise. Conversion happens by offer; the agreement says so.
Skipping IP terms
Interns build real things, and unsigned IP is the future funding round's problem. Assignment of internship work product, signed before day one, proportionate to the engagement.
Treating interns as outside workplace policy
Harassment, safety, and conduct policies cover interns from hour one — and the intern's reporting path should be explicit, because the power gap is at its widest exactly there.
How to use this template
- 01
Decide paid versus unpaid honestly — the primary-beneficiary test, not the budget.
- 02
Download the internship agreement template in Word or PDF.
- 03
Set the term, schedule, wage, and payroll classification.
- 04
Write the learning objectives, project, supervision, and evaluation structure.
- 05
Add IP assignment, confidentiality, and the no-job-promise disclaimer.
- 06
Coordinate academic-credit terms where applicable, then sign before day one.
Skip this template if…
- Apprenticeships in skilled trades — registered apprenticeship programs run under DOL/state frameworks with wage progressions.
- Hiring a recent grad for real work at 'intern' pay — that's an employment offer wearing a discount; use an employment contract.
FAQs
Are unpaid internships legal?
At for-profit companies, only when the DOL's primary-beneficiary test favors the intern: structured educational training, academic-calendar/credit ties, no displacement of paid workers, no compensation expectation, and no job entitlement. An intern producing work the business would otherwise pay for is an employee owed wages. Nonprofits and government programs operate under a genuine volunteer exception.
How much should interns be paid?
General-market internships run $15–$25/hour; tech, finance, and consulting programs run $25–$50+ with housing stipends at the top tier. Paid interns sit on payroll as W-2 employees with minimum wage and overtime protections. Paid programs also simply recruit better — the unpaid model filters for who can afford to work free, not who's best.
What should an internship agreement include?
Term and schedule, compensation and classification (with primary-beneficiary recitals if unpaid), learning objectives and program structure, named supervision with evaluations, IP assignment for work product, proportionate confidentiality, the no-job-promise disclaimer, workplace-policy applicability, and academic-credit coordination where relevant.
Do interns sign NDAs and IP agreements?
Yes, proportionate ones: confidentiality covering what the program actually exposes them to, and IP assignment for work created within the internship — interns build real things, and unassigned intern IP is a classic startup diligence problem. Paid status makes broad assignment cleaner; unpaid programs should scope it to internship work specifically.
Can an internship guarantee a job afterward?
It shouldn't — and for unpaid programs it legally can't, since no-job-entitlement is one of the primary-beneficiary factors. The professional structure: a stated conversion process (offers by program end for strong performers) alongside an explicit no-promise disclaimer. Conversion by offer, never by implication.
Do workplace laws protect interns?
Increasingly yes: many states explicitly extend harassment and discrimination protections to interns regardless of pay status, and workplace safety obligations apply to anyone on site. The agreement should apply company policies to interns from day one and name a reporting path — the power imbalance is largest exactly where protection matters most.
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