Business Operations Intern

For current West Chester University students. This paid, part-time role requires regular weekday attendance in our downtown West Chester, PA office, with hours scheduled around your WCU classes.

West Chester, PA (in office, downtown) | $22-25/hour | 12-16 hours a week | Parking reimbursed | Cell phone plan subsidized | Starts as early as December 1, 2026

Laporte is a multidisciplinary consulting engineering firm serving food and beverage, pharmaceutical and industrial manufacturing clients from offices across the US. We're looking for a smart, ambitious and organized West Chester University student to get exposure to and support business operations in our West Chester office: recruiting engineers, onboarding new hires, keeping the office running, and taking on projects for our partners. You'll start mostly in recruiting and grow into operations work you own, with the goal of a full-time role after graduation if it's a good fit.

What you'll do

• Recruiting (an early priority in your first two months): review applications against set criteria, coordinate interviews, keep candidates informed, and keep records current in Greenhouse.
• Onboarding and HR support: run new-hire checklists, coordinate laptop setup with IT and ship equipment to new hires, help employees with benefits enrollment and everyday requests, write the monthly HR and admin newsletter, keep training records current, and format employee resumes and bios for proposals.
• Office operations: handle incoming mail, log and route checks and invoices, order supplies, and coordinate contractors and vendors.
• Partner projects: for example, tracking engineers' professional licenses and renewals across states, keeping the laptop inventory, helping with a phone system changeover, and planning the holiday party and team retreats.
• Process improvement: build trackers and simple tools in Excel and Microsoft 365 that make the office run better.

What your week looks like

You'll start at the low end of the hours through finals, work the full schedule over winter break, and spend your first two months mostly on recruiting. After that, about half recruiting and HR, a quarter office operations (yes, including mail and supplies), and the rest finance logging and projects. We build your schedule around your classes, with at least three weekday blocks of four hours or more in the office. The title says intern, but you'll be one of the team.

What you'll get

• Paid, hands-on experience in recruiting, HR and business operations
• Real ownership of systems and projects, working directly with firm leadership
• Experience with Greenhouse, Microsoft 365 and AI-assisted workflows
• Flexible hours around your classes, with parking reimbursed and your cell phone plan subsidized
• Eligible for academic credit, subject to your department's approval
• A path to a full-time role after graduation if it's a good fit

What we're looking for

Required:

• Currently enrolled at West Chester University in a bachelor's or master's program, majoring in a business field, or in a science field with a minor in business
• Available 12-16 hours a week in our West Chester office, including at least three weekday blocks of four hours or more, set around your course schedule
• Clear writing and close attention to detail
• Deep knowledge of Excel
• Strong skills in Word, PowerPoint and Outlook
• A background in finance, HR, business law or accounting, through coursework or work experience
• Discretion with confidential information

Preferred:

• Work or club experience with scheduling, records, money or customer service
• Interest in HR, recruiting or operations
• Interest in staying in the area after graduation
• Experience with AI tools such as Claude Cowork, Claude Code, ChatGPT and OpenAI Codex, with examples of side projects

How to apply

Apply through the link with your resume and a 3-5 sentence answer to this question: tell us about something you kept organized that other people depended on. We review applications as they come in and plan to make an offer by November 20. Offers depend on a background check.

Laporte is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected characteristic.