Tips for Successful Internships
To assist in facilitating the valuable connection employers and students experience during internships, below is a list of important College of Business internship considerations.
View and Download our Internship Best Practices Document
Academic Credit Requirements
Students are not required to complete an internship for academic credit but many prefer to do so. To assist in crafting your internship to meet the academic credit requirements of the departments in the College of Business, below are the general requirements for an internship to receive academic credit.
- A student must work 135 hours to earn the minimum of three internship credit hours.
- A mechanism should be in place to provide ongoing feedback, mentorship and learning opportunities for the student (ex. recurring meetings with a supervisor or mentor)
- 80% of the job duties in the internship must be directly related to the student s College of Business major. See below for some examples of duties that meet the academic requirements of each major (note: list is not all-inclusive).
- If your internship meets the requirements above and the student elects to receive credit for their internship from the College of Business, the employer will be required to provide a job description, and an offer letter outlining start date, end date, and hours worked each week at the beginning of the internship. At the end of the internship, the employer is required to complete a 15-minute electronic performance evaluation provided by the university.
Accounting Internship Duties
- Accounts Payable
- Accounts Receivable
- Budgeting
- Auditing
- Forensic Accounting
- Tax Accounting
- Other Accounting Duties
Business Management Internship Duties
- Manager-trainee
- Operations Management
- Project Management
- Supervisory
- Other Business Management or Leadership-related Duties
- HR Duties also considered
Finance Internship Duties
- Banking
- Budgeting
- Financial Planning
- Financial Reporting
- Forecasting
- Insurance
- Investment Banking
- Other Finance-related Duties
HR Management Internship Duties
- Benefits
- Compensation
- Employee Relations
- On-boarding
- Organizational Design
- Recruiting
- Training and Development
- Other HR-related Duties
International Business Internship Duties
- Export Administration
- International Finance
- International Management
- International Marketing
- Other International Business-related Duties
Marketing Internship Duties
- Market Analysis
- Market Research
- Online Marketing
- Sales
- SEO
- Social Media
- Traditional Marketing
- Other Marketing-related Duties
Paid and Unpaid Internships
Most of the internships College of Business students participate in are paid. To build an optimal pool of applicants and ensure compliance with labor laws, employers are encouraged to offer compensation in an amount at least equal to minimum wage for each hour worked by the intern. Competitive pay rates for interns vary based on the industry and the students major. Consult the Internship and External Partnerships Coordinator at cobinternships@mnsu.edu for further guidance on competitive pay rates.
Alternative pay methods like stipends are an option and employers are encouraged to seek legal guidance from their human resources department before pursuing alternative pay methods.
Before offering an unpaid internship, an organization should consult with their human resources department or another trusted legal resource to ensure it is not in violation of the U.S. Department of Labor s Fair Labor Standards Act. Below is a link to a Department of Labor Fact Sheet outlining the Department s pay requirements as they pertain to internships. This resource is provided to assist an organization in their decision on whether to offer a paid or unpaid internship.
Department of Labor – Wage and Hour Fact Sheet for Internships:
http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.pdf
