Students - Internship Information

As a college student preparing for a career in business, and for many undergraduates clarifying their choice of major, an internship experience is crucial. Experiences in the business world not only may solidify your career / academic choices, they may also indicate to you what you do not want to do!

The best time to begin researching opportunities is as a late sophomore with the summer between your Junior and Senior year being one of the main target times to intern. Time spent assessing your strengths, skills and values, as well as what industries and firms fit hose preferences would be great preparation ahead of your actual intern firm search. In fact, time spent with the intern search process makes for many the job search at the end of your college career much easier as you have practiced and used the skills necessary to secure employment. As more and more internship programs have become successful for businesses in qualifying talent, more organizations are open to year-round assignments, which would then allow for internship assignments Fall and Spring semesters.

If your internship experience is going to be for academic credit, then you need to meet with your academic advisor and plot out what courses you will need and when they will be offered for the next academic year, so that you can identify 1-2 semesters where you may be able to do full- or part-time internships. You would also need to pre-register for both classes and internship credit the semester you are interested in interning in case your internship search efforts do not identify a quality assignment. If you were to find an assignment, then you could drop the classes prior to the start of classes for that semester.

Internships today can be for credit, volunteer, paid, full time or part time. With these options in mind, also be open to working two part-time internships, or work one internship and another job simultaneously to help pay your expenses. A third option would be to be enrolled in classes at Auburn, and then work part-time in the local community as an intern for credit.

Please register with Career Services to utilize the services they have for firms recruiting intern candidates as a early Junior, and also keep an eye out for emails from the OBSP announcing opportunities specifically for business majors. Additionally, utilize the job search seminars to develop your job search skills in looking for internships so that by the time you are a senior looking for career employment, you are adept and comfortable in your job search process.