General Internship Information

The following information is for internships that I supervise. The information can be used by students thinking about doing an internship to see how the process works. Please see the following sections for a discussion of each step in the process of arranging academic credit for an internship: find an internship, information form, instructions, Individualized Course form, completing the internship and additional information.

Find an internship.

In some cases businesses and organizations contact the business department looking for interns so check with me or other faculty members to see if we are aware of possible internships. Kathy posts information about internships we know about on the bulletin board on the first floor of West House.

In most cases students find their own internships. If there is a particular type of internship you are seeking then you should contact businesses or organizations in that industry first. For example, if you are seeking a sports marketing internship then contact sports oriented businesses or organizations. For example, the Volcano’s are a local baseball team that sometimes offer sports oriented internships. WOU and OSU sports department also, on occasion, offer internships. Nike and other well known businesses also support internships, although the positions are highly competitive. Seek work that you would prefer doing first.

Non-paid internships are usually easier to get than paid ones. However business internship credits can potentially be earned for both paid or non paid work.

Nonprofit and government organizations sometimes offer non-paid internships. For example, the local Chamber of Commerce has supported internships in the past. There are sometimes job opportunities on campus (WOU) that qualify for internship credits. For example, part time work with the HR department or other areas on campus might, depending on job duties, qualify as an internship. Volunteer work on campus or work for organizations such as ASWOU might also quality. Off campus, non profit groups like humane societies, museums, etc. often need marketing or other help and will offer internships to obtain it.

Looking at web sites, checking with the career services department, using contacts you may have (friends, relatives, associates) could be ways to find an internship. Cold calling or visiting businesses to ask if they would support an internship sometimes works. Small businesses may not have thought about supporting internships but will sometimes consider it if asked. I had a student interested in the interior design industry that called an interior design business, introduced herself, explained to the business how she could receive academic credit for internship work and was able to persuade the business owner to create one for her.

A current job can sometimes be used as an internship. Contact me to see if the job would qualify.

Information Form

In order for me to start the process of evaluating your internship proposal you must fill out an internship information form and send it to me. Look at the file called ‘Internship Information Form’ to see what information is required. I must have this form in order to start a file on you. If you are looking for an internship but haven’t found one it would still be a good idea to fill out the form and send it to me with a note that that you are currently looking for an internship in case a business or organization contacts me looking for an intern in your area of interest. Also, when you finally find an internship it speeds up the process if I already have a file on you.

Instructions

Once an internship is secured then you need to make arrangements to obtain credit. I take the information you provide me about the internship and write instructions for you to follow to obtain credit. The instructions typically are broken into the following parts:

Part 1 Hours worked.

The following is an example from a set of internship instructions for a 4
credit hour internship:

At a minimum, you must work three hours each week per credit hour* over a ten week term. For four credit hours, you would need to work 12 hours per week for a total of 120 hours by term end. Evidence you have worked the requisite number of hours is due at the end of the term.

*In general, you must work 30 hours per credit hour over a ten week period (three hours per week per credit hour).

Part 2 Academic Part-Topics

It is not enough to just work. There is an academic element to internships. That is why you receive academic credit. Normally the academic part of the internship is addressed by having the intern maintain a weekly journal on agreed upon topics. What the topics would be depends on the internship. For example, if you worked as an accounting intern then obviously the topics would be related to accounting. Even internships that don’t specifically seem to have a business element like accounting, finance, marketing, management of people, etc. might still qualify if the situation allows organizational behavior principles to be observed and studied. Every internship situation is unique and the topics used for a particular internship depend on what is possible in the internship.

The following is an example of topics for an internship involving management of a bed and breakfast business:

Management
Week 1 bookkeeping
Week 2 records management
Week 3 pricing
Week 4 promotions
Week 4 product
Week 5 time management
Week 6 scheduling work
Week 7 quality control (meeting customer expectations)
Week 8 quality control (feedback mechanisms)
Week 9 goals and expectation and plans for accomplishing
Week 10 overall what you learned during the internship

In some cases the internship is formal, meaning the business or organization has an established way of doing internships. For example, an organization offering a management internship might have a set schedule of what the intern will be doing and when they will be doing it. In those cases, the internship instructions I write will follow the schedule the business or organization sets.

In other cases, the internship might include a combination of working and taking classes (seminars, discussion groups) or studying for certifications. For example, an internship at an insurance firm might involve working and studying for the state certification exam. In cases like these, I try to write the instructions to fit the organization’s schedule of activities.

In order to write the instructions and select appropriate topics, I need to have detailed information about the internship. A good way to describe an internship is to tell me what you would be doing on a typical day during the internship. If you don’t know, contact the internship sponsor and ask. Give me copy of a job description if it is available. I need the information to write the instructions, so if someone were to just say ‘I have an internship at Nike’, that wouldn’t be enough. I would have to ask for more detailed information. To speed things up, give me as much information about the internship as possible.

Part 3 Academic Part-Writing about the assigned topics

Normally, the student is expected to write a weekly journal entry related to the weekly topic. The length of each weekly journal entry will be specified in the instructions. In some cases, I might specify that the student write a paper at the end of the internship instead of doing weekly journal entries. It depends on the student’s situation and the type of internship.

Part 4 Examples of work

Some internship’s, like marketing ones, may involve promotions or brand building activities using webpages or Facebook pages or any of the various social media platforms available or may designing ads for online use. Or, maybe even doing ‘old school’ promotions by preparing flyers, billboards, store window displays, etc. In any of those cases, I would like to see examples (like a photocopy, or a screen print, or a photo, or a facsimile).

In other cases, the work may be proprietary. For example, accounting reports prepared by the intern might be considered ‘secret’ by the business. However, even if the information is consider proprietary, the intern can sometimes get permission to provide me with blank forms of the types they use or give me copies of reports they prepared with the sensitive parts blacked out.

Part 5 Performance Appraisal

The performance appraisal serves the purpose of verifying that you worked at the business or organization and did at least a satisfactory job. Some businesses do a very elaborate performance appraisal at the end of the internship as part of the learning experience of doing an internship. If that is the case, include a copy of the appraisal when you turn in your internship materials. However, a memo or e-mail from your immediate supervisor verifying the hours that you worked and that you did a satisfactory job would be sufficient and make it easier for ‘busy’ bosses.

An example of an e-mail that would satisfy the performance appraisal requirement is given as follows for an intern named Bill:

Brenda worked an average of 9 hours per week over a 10 week period and did a satisfactory job.
Sincerely,
Marcie Duncan
Senior Accounting Supervisor (541-593-9321)

Part 6 Due Dates

Internship materials are due the first Tuesday of finals week at noon. I will accept the materials after the due date, but there would be no guarantee I would have them graded by the time grades are due, in which case I would turn in an incomplete or RP (regular progress) grade. To be assured of having the materials graded in time, turn in your items by the due date. If I don’t receive anything from you by the due date, I turn in an incomplete or RP grade and do a grade change later once I receive the materials. I normally include a section in the internship instructions that reads as follows (the example is for a spring term 2018 internship):

Unless otherwise agreed upon all the above discussed items and any other work related to your internship that is supposed to be turned in is due the first day of finals week spring term 2018 by noon. If the items are not received at the designated time I will record your grade as ‘incomplete’ or RP (see the next sentence) and do a grade change after the assignments are received. I normally allow the student one term to remove the incomplete. For example, if the incomplete has not been removed by the end of fall term 2018 your grade would be changed to a no pass.

Michael Martin Division of Business martinm@wou.edu
Please do not e-mail papers to me, I want hard copies.

*Note: If you are on financial aid, please be aware they will sometimes withhold aid until I’s or RP’s are removed.

RP Grades

RP grades stand for ‘regular progress’ meaning the student is making progress towards finishing the internship but will need a little more time to complete it. I use an RP grade when students have kept me up to date on their progress. If students have not kept me apprised of progress, then I use an ‘incomplete’ grade instead.

Individualized Course Form

You cannot register for internships online. I must originate an Individualized Course Form for you.

Completing the internship

To complete the internship follow the written instructions you were given. I consider the instructions to be your internship contract so the instructions must be followed in order to receive a passing grade. If you are uncertain about whether or not you are writing the journal entries correctly, you can send me a couple of samples early in the internship to obtain feedback. However, normally I expect to receive all the materials at the end of the term rather than weekly reports. If problems develop, contact me immediately. E-mail is the best way to contact me. I check my e-mails at least once a day during the school year. At the end of each week, write your journal entry for the week. Keep your journals up to date. Don’t try to write all the journal entries at term end.

Additional information

There is additional information about internships from the Division of Business and Economics web page on the WOU website  (Business Department Website). There is also a printed brochure about internships available at the Division of Business and Economics location in West House.