Employment for Management Internship Credit (MGT 494/ENT 494/ MGT 794)
What kind of job counts?
While we have no strict rules on what kind of company a student works for, we do have strict requirements for the kinds of work students complete for internship credit.
We look past job titles and industry to assess the opportunity. Regardless of your official company job title, your responsibilities must include work that directly relates to one or more of the following: planning, organizing, leading, and/or controlling, and must relate to material learned in one or more of your required classes. In other words, your employment must give you helpful and meaningful insights into your intended career field and allow you the opportunity to take on actual management-related tasks.
Employment that does not meet this requirement will not be approved for internship credit. (Keep in mind that if your company has a formal internship program, they will likely have their own requirements separate from those required for the internship course.)
The necessary number of hours worked over the course of the semester is dependent upon the number of academic credit hours a student seeks to earn. A student who seeks to earn 3 course credit hours in a semester must work a minimum total of 120 hours during the semester. As much as possible, these hours should be evenly distributed over a minimum of 10 weeks of the semester. For example, students should work an average of 8-12 hours each week for 10-15 weeks instead of concentrating all the work hours within 3 weeks or less. Students who wish to earn 6 credit hours in a single semester must work a minimum total of 240 hours during the semester and these hours should be similarly distributed over 10-15 weeks of the semester (i.e. average of 16-24 each week). Students must request the number of hours before enrolling in the course.
Notes
- Not all internships/employment follow the semester calendar. You may start an internship after the usual registration period, though this will not reduce the Internship Academic Requirements. For example, if your internship is in Block 2, you will still be required to complete 100 hours of work in the 7-week period (i.e., a minimum of 15 hours per week).
- Except in highly unusual situations, we expect you to complete all Internship Academic Requirements no later than the end of finals week.
- All Management and Entrepreneurship Internships are graded Pass/Not Pass.
- If a student is terminated from their position or leaves it prior to completing 80% of the internship hours, the course must be dropped. If the drop date has passed, a not-pass grade may be assigned.
- Your supervisor will have input into your final grade for the class through the performance evaluation they will be requested to complete at the end of the semester.
Where do I find an internship or otherwise qualified employment?
Students are responsible for finding their own employment for an internship; however, there are many resources in the College of Business and the Springfield area where you can look for employment. Contact the Career Center for tips on potential employers. Another good source is to follow your instructors on LinkedIn. Most professors will repost jobs they think are interesting and appropriate for their students.
I have a job that I think meets the internship standard, now what?
Once you have obtained employment that you think meets the above criteria, your next step is to complete the Student Learning Plan Form (.pdf) and schedule an Internship Interview with the Management Department Internship Coordinator (Book time with Dr. Dana Haggard).
If you have any questions about the Student Learning Plan, please contact Dr. Dana Haggard (DHaggard@MissouriState.edu).
If your employment and learning plan are approved by the Internship Coordinator:
- You will need to activate your Handshake account and submit a request for an internship experience with the Internship Coordinator for the semester you intend to work.
- Once you have submitted your request through Handshake, an email will be sent to your supervisor asking them to visit Handshake to review and approve the information in your request.
- After your supervisor has given their approval, Handshake will notify the Internship Coordinator for final review and approval.
- Once your internship experience has been approved, you will be notified and cleared for registration.
