Internships
The School of Business Administration's Business Career Services office believes experiential learning through internship positions is a critical component in the training of today's business students. Internship experience can provide each student with "real world", pre-professional experience that may shape the rest of a career journey. The Business Career Services office provides guidance, support and resource to every SBA student who wishes to pursue an internship experience.
Internship Program Information:
- General Internship Guidelines
- The Internship Search Process
- Internship Position Leads!
- Employer Information
- Academic Credit Information
GENERAL INTERNSHIP GUIDELINES:
The Business Career Services Office believes that an effective internship poses the following characteristics*:
- Duration: May be part-time or full-time but allows student ability to attend to academic coursework as necessary; Most internships involve completing 100-200 hours working per term.
- Compensation: May be paid or non-paid; Compensation may in the form of hourly, salaried or bonus compensation.
- Learning based: An important element that distinguishes an internship from a job is that an intentional “learning agenda” is structured into the experience; Learning activities common to most internships include learning objectives, observation, reflection, evaluation and assessment.
- Goal Oriented: An effort is made to establish a reasonable balance between the interns’s learning goals and the specific work an organization needs done; Internships promote academic, career and/or personal development.
- Connected to Academics: Student applies classroom teachings to internship experience and/or is able to receive academic credit for his/her internship experience.
- Reasonable Accommodation: An intern should be working "on site" in a place of business in a physical space intended for an employee.
- Consistent & Qualified Supervision:Interns should be provided consistent and qualified supervision and feedback in order to gain knowledge, skills and growth from the internship experience.
THE Internship Search Process
Many employer claim they will only hire business students who have at least one internship experience on his/her resume! Besides being a key to future employment opportunities, internships can be the first step in establishing a professional network, collegial relationships and a clearer career development path. If you are interested in internship experience, your next steps are like any other job search--a process:
1)Self-Assessment: Decide why you want an internship? Are you prepared to work without compensation if necessary? What would you like to gain from an internship experience?
2)Career Exploration: Research some companies or geographic areas where you might want to search for an internship. Use Hoovers Pro or SBA Careers Online to research some industries. Create a "wish list" of employers or position types that you want to work towards attaining.
3)Decision Making: Making the decisions about internship location, compensation, etc. will leave with launching your search.
4)Acting on your decision*: Prepare yourself for a job search! An internship search is almost identical to a job search. BCS can provide advising, workshop and on-line resources to assist you with this step.
5)Evaluation: Once your internship is complete, reflect on the experience before moving forward in your career development. This is the time to decide if you want to set up another internship before graduating and how that might be different from the first internship.
INTERNSHIP POSITION LEADS
SBA students have the option of utilizing three different databases to source their internship opportunities. While it is important to diversify any search strategy with networking, informational interviews, job shadowing and external postings, Loyola University Chicago provides three robust options for each student to begin their internship search:
