Before you apply: seven checks for an engineering internship posting

InternDoor lists only employers on a list it keeps of companies it believes are real and pay their interns. Everything else is turned away before it reaches the board, and there is a lot of it: between 13 September and 12 October 2026, InternDoor turned away 42,886 India postings from 18,952 employers that were not on the list.

That figure is not a count of scams. Most of those employers are simply companies we have not checked. But it does mean that a student searching the open web meets far more unvetted postings than vetted ones, and needs a way to tell them apart. These are the checks we would run.

1. Find the employer, then find the posting on its own site

Search for the company by name, outside the job board where you found the posting. A real employer has a website, a trace in the news or on professional networks, and usually a careers page that lists the same opening. If you cannot find the company anywhere except the posting, stop there.

Be most careful with remote roles. Among the 425 engineering internships posted in September by employers on our list, only 3% were fully remote.¹ A remote internship from a company you cannot otherwise find deserves the closest look of all.

2. Never pay to apply or to join

A genuine employer does not charge you for an application, an interview, a “training kit”, a laptop deposit or a certificate. Any request for money, however it is described, is reason enough to walk away.

If you have already paid and think you have been defrauded, the Ministry of Home Affairs runs a toll-free helpline, 1930, for reporting financial fraud quickly, and complaints can be filed on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal at cybercrime.gov.in.² Reporting fast matters when money has just moved.

3. Find the stipend line, and ask if there is none

Only 4% of September’s engineering internship postings from the employers we track stated a stipend. A missing figure is normal, and not by itself a warning sign. What matters is the answer when you ask: a clear monthly figure is a good sign; “a certificate”, “exposure” or “performance-based” with no number is not pay.

Some postings say it outright. Among the employers we turned away in that month, 276 posting titles from 107 employers included the word “unpaid”. We cover what to ask, and what the postings that did state a figure offered, in our report on stipends.

4. Read the experience line, not the label

The label on a search filter is set by the job board or the recruiter, not checked against the role. Over the same month, among India postings returned for entry-level searches, InternDoor turned away 1,539 whose own text asked for two or more years of experience, and 6,119 with a senior, lead or principal title. If the requirement line asks for years you do not have, the label does not change that. Our guide to job titles has the full breakdown.

5. Check the dates and the length

A start date, an end date or a number of months should be on the posting. Only 22% of September’s engineering internship postings said how long the internship lasts, so this is often a question to ask rather than a line to read. Ask before you accept, not after: the answer decides whether the role fits around your semester.

6. Read to the end for the terms

The terms that matter most are often in the last paragraph. One September posting from an employer on our list stated ₹20,000 a month, a ₹5 LPA salary if the intern converted to a full-time job, and a two-year service agreement with a ₹2 lakh bond on conversion. That can be a fair offer. It should still be an offer you accept knowing all three numbers, not only the first one.

Look in particular for bonds and service agreements, notice periods, a split between fixed and variable pay, and whether the role is described as an internship but asks for full-time hours with no end date.

7. Check how old the posting is, and how many have applied

A posting that has been up for months may already be filled. And a fresh one fills fast: 11% of the September postings that showed an applicant count already showed 100 or more when we first recorded them, usually within hours of going up.¹ Apply early, and do not take a long-open posting’s silence personally.

If something feels wrong

• Stop before you pay or share documents. Do not send money, bank details, one-time passwords or copies of your identity documents to an employer you have not verified.
• Report financial fraud quickly on 1930 or at cybercrime.gov.in.²
• Tell us if you found it on InternDoor. Write to akshat@interndoor.com with the link, and we will check it and take it down if it should not be there.