Hiring a UBC Arts Graduate Student for Projects – FAQs

By partnering with the Arts Amplifier, you gain access to our network of UBC graduate students . Paid interns are available for ~250 hours of full- or part-time work, and small teams of students are available for ~280-350 hours.

Our community partners include BC-based non-governmental agencies, Indigenous communities, private sector companies, and charitable organizations.

Because the majority of UBC’s Arts grad students and postdocs belong to equity-deserving groups, we’re seeking ways to advance inclusivity in hiring practices. One strategy we use regularly is the pre-application Q&A. Q&As are 30-to-45-minute virtual meetings that provide prospective job applicants the opportunity to ask you questions about your organization, your project, and its goals and methods.

Please visit our Q&A page for more details.

Some of the types of work our interns and small teams are well-suited for include:

• Background research
• Environmental scanning
• Project planning
• Data gathering
• Literature reviews
• Proposal development
• Graphical information systems
• Data analysis
• Data visualization
• Policy recommendations
• Communications work
• Instructional design
• Training

Typical salary and benefits for a graduate student intern range between $7000 and $11,000, depending on the salary you provide for them and the number of hours of work you require. We recommend a salary between $25/hr and $32/hr, depending on equitable pay standards in your sector; ultimately, the salary you choose to pay is up to you. At $27/hr, with the addition of a 12% buffer (estimated WCB, EI, and CPP), hiring a student for 250–300 hours will cost between $7500 and $9100.

If you’re not sure whether you can cover the cost of hiring an intern, our Grants Editor provides support on applications for a range of funding opportunities, from Federal salary matching programs like the Student Work Placement Program to grant applications for nonprofit community partners. We will identify funding sources unique to your organization’s mandate and help you develop strong applications.

There is no charge for this service, though it is provided on a first-come, first-served basis, and in return we ask that you agree to hire your intern through the UBC Arts Amplifier.

We ask community partners to:

• Confirm all interviews and job offers with Arts Amplifier staff
• Honour all offers of employment
• Assign a mentor, advisor, or supervisor to help the student identify internship goals and clarify their role and responsibilities
• Provide your intern with relevant training and opportunities to network with their co-workers
• Monitor your intern's progress and provide them with feedback
• Complete one reflective activity (coming soon) with your intern

You’ll also need to hire your intern as an employee, not an independent contractor; for more information on these terms, please see the Government of BC’s Employee or Independent Contractor factsheet.