BUSINESS
INTERNSHIPS
Snipes School of Business
A Legacy of Success
Patty Wike
Internship Program Director
Dear Prospective Interns and Employers:
Academic success, practical experience, and a willingness to go
beyond an employer’s basic expectations are key ingredients in
today’s job market. Lenoir-Rhyne’s Internship in Business Program
is designed to provide experiences for students to develop business
skills while supporting their academic preparation and self worth.
In addition, employers are provided an opportunity to observe and
evaluate the performance of prospective employees.
Students who have completed their internships recognize the value
of their experiences and the working relationships that they have
established. They are also able to demonstrate greater levels of
confidence, energy, effectiveness and efficiency, and tend to make
better career decisions. In addition, they also reflect a higher level
of maturity than most recent college graduates entering the job
market.
The support of the Hickory business community is appreciated. We
look forward to maintaining our relationship and pledge to offer
interns who are carefully selected and prepared for the experience.
We hope this handbook is helpful in describing the expectations of
our program, the obligation of our interns and the role of our
sponsors in managing the program.
Should you have any
questions about our procedures or need assistance, feel free to call
(828) 328-7200 and we will be happy to help you.
Sincerely,
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INTERNSHIP PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
Unifour businesses, governmental units and civic organizations
provide the necessary opportunities for students to broaden their
understanding of a particular type of organization as it pertains to
the academic curriculum at Lenoir-Rhyne College and their future
career objectives.
Students gain greater knowledge and skills through the
Internship in Business Program by personal observation and
participation in daily on-the-job experiences. With this in mind, the
student, the supervising representative of the sponsoring
organization, and the Internship Director, work together to
establish goals (job description) at the beginning of the course.
These goals become a part of the internship agreement and serve
to provide an understanding of the goals to be met, methods of
training and the process of evaluation.
Course Procedures:
The Internship in Business course involves the following stages:
A. Student applicants are selected based on their
qualifications
B. Students conduct an internship job search.
C. Students interview with sponsoring firms.
D. Students obtain sponsoring agreements from firms.
F. Signed Letters of Agreement are given to the director.
G. Internship begins
1. Students maintain daily time logs and write a
journal once every one (summer) or two weeks.
2. Director acts as liaison between students and
internship employers.
3. Sponsors perform evaluations.
4. Students write three written assignments.
5. Students attend a round table discussion with the
Snipes School of Business faculty at the end of the
internship.
Course Benefits:
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Intern gains managerial guidance and hands-on experience
Supervisor tailors training to fit job and the intern
applicant’s needs
Intern job descriptions permit a look at “reality”
Required goal setting and attainment provides self-direction
and motivation
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Students learn job application and resume writing
techniques
Results in more effective student behavior and personal
growth when progress is measured
Allows smoother transition from the academic world to the
business world
Provides opportunities for important contacts in the
community
Successful internships provide valuable job experience
sought by prospective employers
Experience may turn into a permanent position after
graduation
PROCEDURES FOR THE INTERNSHIP
I.
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Registration
Students register for BUS or ACC 461 for three credit hours
(10 working hours per week or a minimum of 140 hours
total)
Students register for BUS or ACC 465 for six credit hours (20
working hours per week or a minimum of 280 hours total)
Students register for BUS or ACC 470 for twelve credit hours
(40 working hours per week or a minimum of 560 hours
total)
Summer internships are available for the same number of
total hours worked.
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II. Placement Procedures
 Students conduct an internship job search.
 Each student is interviewed by the supervisor of the
sponsoring firm where working days and hours are
established.
 The agreement is signed by all parties to the contract.
III. Job Performance Requirement
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Students are expected to work 10 or more hours per week
for a total of 140 hours for each 3 hours of credit. These
numbers of hours are considered to be a minimum and do
not indicate completion of internship requirements.
The internship must run throughout the entire semester
unless by special arrangement with the Director.
Three brief analytical reports are required.
The student’s performance will be evaluated by his/her
supervisor at the conclusion of the course.
IV. Three Written Assignments
Mechanically, each report should have a cover page printed on
8 ½ by 11 paper, which identifies the internship sponsor, the dates
of participation, the full name of the intern, the course name and
number, and the number of credit hours pursued. You may design
attractive cover sheets with company logos or graphics using MS
Word or PowerPoint in portrait layout.
The reports should be typed, double-spaced and in a formal
report format. In addition, they should be neat and free of
grammatical and typographical errors. Your reports should have a
sufficient number of paragraphs to express your thoughts. All
reports should be 3-4 pages using standard margins and 10-12
3
point Times Roman, Arial or Tahoma font. All reports should have
a cover sheet included in the same document as the paper.
Due dates will be given to you by the Internship Director and
will be posted on the following web page:
ww2.lr.edu/bus/internships.htm . Late papers will be penalized
heavily; as a result, you must email or turn these papers in on
time. You may email the reports as a MS Word attachment.
A. Written Assignment One: Goals/Objectives
and Self-Reflection Essay (two parts)
This first assignment will require you to complete two short
projects; first, you will be required to explain the personal,
academic, and professional goals you have for the experience. The
second project will require you to complete a self-reflection essay what kind of person you are and would like to be. Details for each
are listed below; each part should be in essay format.
Part 1: Goals/Objectives of Internship Experience
This paper may be written in first person. Specifically describe
the goals you plan to set and how you will achieve these goals.
Please use concrete examples; avoid general statements. In
developing your goals, please focus on these three areas:
I. Personal Goals - The specific ways the internship could help to
make or verify a career goal, a specific skill you want to learn or
develop.
II. Academic Goals - The specific skills or concepts that you have
learned or want to learn or build from your studies that you could
try out in a work environment.
III. Professional Goals - The things you could do at your workplace
- specific tasks that may help develop your career in this area.
Within these three areas, please focus your answers for each
section on the questions below:
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Is this goal realistic?
Does this goal stretch you and move you? Is it something
you can already do easily?
Can you attain this goal in the time available?
Does one goal consider and take into account other goals
you have set?
Does your goal relate to specific skills and abilities personal, professional, and academic discipline?
Does your goal take into account for limitations or
situations that could interfere with your accomplishing it?
Are you able to measure and evaluate this goal?
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Do all of your goals represent everything you want to
accomplish in your internship?
Part 2: Self-Reflection Essay
The Self-Reflection Essay will require you to think about you and
your life. Take some time to think about the impact this experience
- as well as your college experience in general - may have on you
as a person.
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What am I excited about life right now?
What am I most grateful about in my life thus far?
What is it I have not yet done that I truly desire to do
before I die?
What are the most important things to me in my life right
now?
What are the activities that you love and enjoy most today?
What do you really think should be changed in the world?
What might be my purpose or destiny in life?
What do you most want to be remembered for at the end
of your life?
B. Written Assignment Two: Interview with
Workplace Supervisor/Colleague
The second assignment will require you to select at least one
person to interview in the workplace of your internship. Select
someone who has been working in the industry/area for several
years and has knowledge and experience of more than one
workplace (if possible). This usually means someone who is in
middle management or administrator to a number of people in the
office. Ask to speak with this person for about one-half hour during
or after work to discuss their professional background. You will be
required to write an essay on the information gathered from the
interview. Do not simply list questions and answers. Write this
paper and the final paper in 3rd person. Ex: The (intern, student,
interviewer, yourname or he) asked Mr. Sigmon…… You may also
rearrange the sentence. Ex. Mr. Sigmon was asked…..
Sample Interview Questions (must report on at least 12 of
the 16 questions):
1. What sort of academic background - credentials, degree,
license - do you have and what sort of academic training
and credentials do you think are needed for this sort of
work?
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2. What skills, talents and what areas of knowledge does
someone starting out in this career area need to acquire?
3. How have you developed the skills needed to carry out
your work/run your business/work with others, etc.?
4. How does your company differ from its competitors?
5. At what point in your life did you find out or know that this
sort of work was for you and can you well me how that
became clear or obvious to you?
6. What different sorts of work are available in this
"industry/career?" How do people find out about these
jobs?
7. What professional associations/organizations are related to
this field?
8. How has this profession/area of work developed since you
joined it?
9. What has been the most difficult problem(s) you've faced?
10. What do you find most rewarding about your work?
11. In a given day, what do you spend most of your time
doing?
12. Are there ways that you would suggest to me as to how to
develop my career? Are there
people I need to meet/get to
know to help me?
13. What advice would you give me
about choosing a job and a
lifestyle? Have you ever made a
job change because of lifestyle?
14. If you couldn't find a job in your
field, what other line of work
would be open to you?
15. How well suited is my background
and approach to this kind of
work?
16. Have you any other comments
and/or suggestions for me based
on your experience in the field?
C. Final Written Assignment: What Have I
Gained?
Interns are expected to describe their experience in a formal
report format. The intern must tell what he/she did, what
he/she learned, and how he/she benefited from the
course. It should be descriptive, analytical, and evaluative.
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Historical information regarding the firm should be limited to
½ a page or less. Factual information gleaned from company
publications or any other source should be properly documented.
You will fail this assignment if you plagiarize; in addition, you will
be turned into the Dean of the College.
Since this report is the only information that will be provided
to faculty members, it is imperative that maximum effort be used in
their preparation.
It is essential that the internship reports be written in the
third person and be analytical and evaluative in their content.
Reports should not be exclusively descriptive, since 1/2 page or less
may be used to describe the sponsoring firm and one page may be
used to describe the duties associated with the actual internship.
A significant portion of each report should be analytical in
nature. Specifically, the intern should be able to demonstrate job
expectations, job performance and an understanding of how
his/her work contributed to the day-to-day effectiveness or
efficiency of the sponsoring firm. In addition, the intern should be
able to show practical application of his/her academic preparation.
V. Bi-weekly Reports (weekly in summer)
A journal of activities will be recorded
every working day and emailed to the
internship director every other week. The
intern will email a one line description of
the number of hours worked and the tasks
performed each day. At the bottom of this
listing, write in more detail what was done
during the journal period. Any problems
interns are experiencing or major
impressions should be discussed. The
length of the journals should be one or two pages per journal
period. Late bi-weekly reports will be penalized. The dates depend
upon when interns start working. The bi-weekly emailed reports
count 20% of the intern’s final grade; as a result, timeliness, and
completeness are important.
VI. Final Roundtable Discussion
Interns and Snipes School of Business faculty will meet on
reading day for a round table discussion of the experience.
Students should dress professionally for this discussion. Your
participation in this activity counts 5% of the total grade. Summer
interns will meet during the first two weeks of Fall semester.
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GRADING PROCEDURES
Participation in an internship does not assure the student of
an automatic grade of “A” for the course. Moreover, agreement to
work extra hours above and beyond the number of hours specified
on page 1, Course Procedures, is between the intern and his/her
supervisor and has no impact on the student’s final grade.
Students are expected to perform internship assignments in a
professional manner and adhere to the same fundamental policies
and procedures required of the sponsoring organization’s
employees. Further, interns are expected to report to work on time
or report any delays. An internship is considered an
employee/employer relationship; therefore, convenience absences
other than scheduled (college calendar) vacations, convocations,
and exam periods are to be avoided. Fall and Spring breaks should
be negotiated with internship supervisors and should not be
considered automatic.
Grades for the Internship in Business Program will be
computed as follows:
A.
B.
B.
C.
D.
Three brief reports (15% each)
Bi-weekly reports emailed to director
Supervisor evaluation
Round-table discussion participation
Internship Letter of Agreement on time
45%
20%
25%
5%
5%
100%
Supervisor evaluations take place at the end of the internship
experience. This evaluation is used to describe the intern’s
performance and development as well as personal traits which may
provide clues as to future career choice-suitability. Grades derived
from these evaluations count 25 percent of the intern’s final grade;
therefore, the intern is expected to recognize the importance of
fulfilling all program requirements rather than assume that his/her
supervisor(s)’ grade is the final grade for the course.
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Due Dates
*all forms are available on LAMP or on
http://bus.lr.edu/internships/home
Internship Letter of
Agreement* signed by
employer and intern
On date specified in LAMP
assignments
Journals
Turn into LAMP on dates and time
specified under assignments
Reports
Turn into LAMP on dates and time
assigned under assignments
Round-table discussion
At end of semester or summer
Calendar under syllabus in LAMP
also gives all the due dates.
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