General Information About the Program

General Information about the program:

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ (DHSS)Experiential Learning Program is designed to provide college students with real-life experience working alongside environmental public health specialists, public health nurses, facility surveyors, program managers and representatives, senior services staff, and other Department professionals. Through this program,DHSS strives to offer students an exceptional experience that will result in amplified knowledge of public health, adult protective services, and regulatory practices.

The Department offers the following student opportunities:

Internship – An internship is offered to students who are required to complete one by their college or university for credit. During an internship, the student will work on a project(s) for the Department that will result in a positive learning experience with an expected outcome. Required hours may vary depending on the student’s degree and/or school (i.e. 360 hours, 400 hours, etc.).

Mentorship – A mentorship may be offered to a student that is not required to complete an internship for their degree coursework but instead, simply desires to come into the Department to gain experience in public health or senior services. A mentee will work on a project during their time here as well as possibly do some shadowing of upper management throughout the Department. The length of a mentorship would typically be one month.

Shadowing – A shadowing experience may be offered to a student/individual who would like to come into the Department to observewhat a particular program or staff person might do in a typical work day. This experience will only involve observing and the student/individual would not be doing any hands-on work for the Department.The length of a shadowing experience would typically be two to four days long.

Below are step-by-step processes for each DHSS experiential opportunity:

InternshipProcedures

Depending on the program’s/division’s availability of funds, the internship can be paid or unpaid. If the student is paid, they will be considered an employee by the Department. However, the compensated student will still receive the required credit if the internship is completed successfully, just as an unpaid intern would. Below are the procedures for acquiring and hosting an intern.

Unpaid Intern

1. “Internship Request Form”- This form must be filled out, sent through division chains for approval signatures, and then submitted to the Office of Human Resources (OHR). This form is not only used to request the internship through division chains but it will also be used to advertise the position if necessary.
2. Advertise– If the position needs to be advertised in order to be filled, the personnel analyst/recruiter will assist the program with posting the position to various online college job boards, the DHSS job opportunities page, and/or other potential job boards. If an intern has already been selected before requesting the internship then this step will be skipped and the “Intern Information Sheet” and the “Application for Record Review Form” can be sent up with the “Internship Request Form”.
3. “Intern Information Sheet”–This form must be completed and submitted to OHR once a student has been selected. (NOTE: The program can decide how to go about selecting a student. Other agencies typically go with “first come-first served” and the Department encourages that our programs do the same.)
4. “Application for Record Review Form” – This form will need to be filled out by the student and submitted to OHR in order for us to run all necessary background checks. Background checksMUST be completed before the student begins their internship with us.
5. Internship MOU-The Department has its own standard internship MOU. It is the personnel analyst/recruiter’s responsibility to ensure that we have an executed MOU on file with the student’s school. If one is not already in place, the personnel analyst/recruiter will work with the school to get one finalized. An MOU MUST be finalized before a student may begin their internship at the Department. It is the program’s responsibility to ensure the student does not begin until the MOU is in place. (NOTE: The MOU process can be lengthy depending upon the school’s procedures. So please give plenty of notice in order for this to be completed before the student is to begin.)
6. “Internship Packet-Statements and Polices” – As soon as the intern begins, this packet needs to be presented to the student so all forms can be reviewed and signed off on. All forms within this packet that need filled out and/or signed need to be submitted to OHR to be kept in the intern’s personnel file.
7. “Internship Time Tracker Tool” – This tool will assist the program with tracking the hours that the student completes. Please utilize this tool and submit a copy to OHR once the internship is completed.

If the program feels it would be more convenient for the student to have a building access badge they will need to contact the Bureau of General Services (BGS) to obtain a temporary badge.

Paid InternProcedures

Please follow the policies and procedures for new employees for all paid interns. (Refer to Administrative Policy Manual Chapter 5, Position Staffing).

Although paid interns will be recognized as employees by the Department, they will still be tracked as an intern by the Department and they will be granted credit for successful completion of the internship. Therefore, the following will need to be completed in addition to all required new employee paperwork:

1. “Internship Request Form”- This form must be filled out, sent through division chains for approval signatures, and then submitted to the Office of Human Resources (OHR).
2. Internship MOU - An MOU MUST be finalized before a student may begin their internship at the Department.

Mentoring/Shadowing Procedures

Because a student/individual that mentors or shadows at the Department is doing so strictly for experience, the following is all that is required:

1. “Experiential Learning Interest Form” – This form is to be filled out by the individual as application for the program and it can also allow DHSS to decide where best to place him/her based upon his/her interests.
2. “Application for Record Review Form” – This form must be filled out by the individualand submitted to OHR before the student comes in to mentor/shadow. Background checks will be ran on all individuals that mentor or shadow in order to ensure accuracy and safety. The background checks MUST be completed before the student/person may begin.
3. “Mentoring/Shadowing Packet-Statements and Policies” – As soon as the individual begins, this packet must be presented to him/her and needs to be reviewed and signed off on. All forms must be filled out, signed, and submitted to OHR.

Please direct any questions regarding this process to:

Jamie Sanning

Personnel Analyst/Recruiter

Office of Human Resources

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services

PO Box 570

Jefferson City, MO 65102

Phone: 573.522.4150

Page 1 of 3Revised: November 2017