Internships for Information Systems Majors: Requirements and Opportunities

For Information Systems (IS) majors, internships offer invaluable opportunities to gain practical experience, earn academic credit, and explore potential career paths. These internships bridge the gap between classroom learning and the professional world, providing students with hands-on experience and a competitive edge in the job market. This article will explore the requirements, benefits, and key considerations for IS internships.

The Value of Internships for IS Majors

Internships provide IS students with several key advantages:

Practical Experience: Internships allow students to apply their academic knowledge to real-world scenarios, developing practical skills and a deeper understanding of the IS field.
Career Exploration: Internships offer a chance to explore different roles within IS, helping students identify their interests and strengths.
Networking Opportunities: Interns can build valuable professional connections with industry professionals, potentially leading to future job opportunities.
Academic Credit: Many universities offer academic credit for internships, allowing students to advance their studies while gaining practical experience.
Enhanced Resume: Completing an internship significantly strengthens a student's resume, making them more attractive to potential employers after graduation.

Key Requirements for IS Internships

While specific requirements may vary depending on the university and the internship provider, some common elements are generally expected:

Academic Standing and Coursework

Enrollment: Students must be currently enrolled in good standing in an undergraduate or graduate IS program or a related field.
Minimum GPA: A minimum GPA may be required to ensure students have a solid academic foundation.
Course Prerequisites: Some internships may require the completion of specific IS courses, such as database management, networking, or software development. For CSUF students, students must have attained at least junior level status and completed a minimum of two management information systems classes or two management science classes.

Internship Structure and Duration

Minimum Hours: A minimum number of work hours is typically required to earn academic credit. For CSUF students, The minimum length of an academically-related internship is 120 hours (10 hours per week for 12 weeks).
Duration: Internships usually coincide with an academic semester (Fall, Spring) or the summer period.
Supervision: Interns are typically supervised by an on-site work supervisor who provides guidance and feedback. The internship site supervisor is usually the on-site work supervisor of the student intern and completes an evaluation of the intern and internship, and initializes this evaluation on the learning evaluation form.
Academic Component: Internships often include an academic component, such as a research paper, presentation, or project, to demonstrate learning and application of knowledge.

Role and Responsibilities

Relevant Tasks: Internship positions must relate to a student’s academic major/goal and provide professionally-oriented activities.
Meaningful Work: The position should allow the student to use knowledge gained in the classroom and provide hands-on experience.
Limited Clerical Work: Clerical or non-professional tasks must be limited to a small percentage of the overall responsibilities. For CSUF students, clerical or non-professional tasks must be limited to 20% or less of the overall responsibilities.
Analysis and Design: The tasks should incorporate elements of analysis or design, demonstrating critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Moreover, there may be information technology jobs whose tasks are so routine and structured that they cannot be certified for academic credit since they contain no element of either analysis tasks or design tasks. Many jobs will contain a blend of tasks that are both routine and non-routine.

Documentation and Approval

Job Description: A job description should detail what the intern intends to accomplish on the job during the internship period. The position description should describe in some detail the duties the intern will be expected to perform.
Learning Agreement: A learning agreement outlining the internship goals, tasks, and responsibilities may be required.
Faculty Approval: An MIS faculty member, serving as an internship evaluator, must review the prospective internship opportunity to determine if it can be approved for credit. The internship evaluator is usually an MIS faculty member charged with establishing and certifying the academic learning component of the internship.
Reference Materials: The student must provide a list of topical article references that pertain to the internship position. The paper must cite the topical article references found by the intern during the initial certification by the internship evaluator. All these references must be presented in APA format.

Financial Considerations

Paid vs. Unpaid: IS internships can be either paid or unpaid, depending on the organization and the demand for IS skills in the local economy. Another question that students often ask is whether MIS internships are paid or unpaid. The answer is that some are unpaid and some are paid. Whether they are paid internships or not typically depends on the kind of organization that is offering the internship (business or nonprofit) and the aggregate demand for persons with MIS skills in the local economy.
Compensation: For CSUF students, the student must receive monetary compensation for the work they perform.
Benefits: The sponsoring organization is responsible for providing both Worker Compensation and third party liability coverage for student interns.

Finding and Securing an IS Internship

University Career Services: University career centers provide resources such as job boards, resume workshops, and interview preparation to help students find internships.
Online Job Boards: Websites like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Glassdoor list internship opportunities in various industries.
Networking: Attending industry events and career fairs can provide opportunities to connect with potential employers.
Faculty Connections: IS faculty members often have connections with local companies and can help students find internships.
Direct Application: Students can directly contact companies they are interested in working for and inquire about internship opportunities. Create a job description that details what you intend to accomplish on the job during the internship period. Contact potential employers, send resumes, and be interviewed. It is not the responsibility of the internship coordinator to get you a job.

The Application Process

Resume and Cover Letter: A well-crafted resume and cover letter are essential for showcasing skills and experience. Applicants must submit a resume and a brief letter of interest outlining their goals as an IT professional-in training.
Interviews: Prepare for interviews by researching the company and practicing common interview questions.
Portfolio: A portfolio showcasing projects and accomplishments can demonstrate practical skills and abilities.

Examples of MIS Internship Projects

Internships should provide students with professionally-oriented activities that reflect the work of a new entrant in the IS field. Some examples of suitable MIS internship projects include:

Web Development: Significant development of web site with concurrent writing of technical documentation of site architecture for internal web maintenance staff AND some documentation of software use for end-users.
Database Management: Assisting with database design, implementation, and maintenance.
Network Administration: Supporting network infrastructure, troubleshooting issues, and implementing security measures.
Software Development: Participating in the development, testing, and deployment of software applications.
Data Analysis: Collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data to identify trends and insights.

The Internship Evaluator's Role

Under all circumstances, an MIS faculty member (serving in the role of internship evaluator) must review the prospective internship opportunity. This typically takes place just about the same time as the organization is about to offer the position to the student who has applied for it. The internship evaluator will determine if it can be approved as an internship project for credit. Before a student can register for the internship, there are two preliminary deliverables that must be submitted and approved. The student must submit a list of tasks and project goals that will be performed in the internship position. The student must provide a list of 10 or more article/paper references that topically pertain to the internship position. As soon as possible, students should use the university library’s online databases to find articles relating to the tasks and occupations of the internship. Up to 3 of the articles can be selected according to their topical relationship to the domain of the internship. For example, if the internship is taking place in a government agency, the student may also use some articles, papers, or manuals that describe the domain and activities of that agency. Students are usually discouraged from using books as internship references. This is because books tend to become “symbolic references”: they look very impressive on a list of references but are not read in-depth or referred to in any detail during the internship or the writing of the internship paper. Occasionally, the internship evaluator will allow the student to use existing project documentation from the organization sponsoring the internship. Under all circumstances, ALL references on the list must be submitted in APA format. In addition, the student should also include access instructions for each article or paper that is referenced: a web link or, in the case of articles retrieved from the university’s online databases, a record or accession number for the article along with the name of the online database from which the article was retrieved. The internship (site) supervisor and the internship evaluator (faculty member) review the set of tasks specified in the Academic Internship Agreement. The student discusses with the internship evaluator the set of 10 references (see below) that relate to the nature of the internship occupation.

The Academic Internship Agreement

A student and employer could identify, within the organization for whom the student currently works, a significant extra project (160 hours or more in duration over 10-15 weeks) that appears to match the qualifications of an MIS-related practical learning experience. However, this project would have to NOT BE PART of the student’s usual work responsibilities. It is important to realize that not all computer-related jobs constitute an MIS internship. Many part-time jobs offered by companies to students simply involve repetitive technical work assignments with computer hardware, routine software maintenance, or data entry tasks. The key issue for prospective interns to understand is that there are some internships or part-time work opportunities in MIS that may be worthwhile to pursue but may not qualify for the academic certification necessary for awarding college credit. Moreover, the experience of the MIS faculty is that most organizations providing internships are very willing to modify internship requirements to incorporate task assignments that meet the requirements for academic internships - to incorporate some element of analysis or design tasks.

MIS Internship Programs

MIS internships provide MIS undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Business and Management with working experience and elective credits for the MIS major. After completing a screening process, students register for the elective course entitled MIS 350I (Undergraduate) or MIS 650I (Graduate): MIS Internship. Students are able to earn between 1 and 8 credits per semester. This is intended as a supplement to the Individual Internship guidelines for the College of Business and Management, as well as all procedures and documentation provided by the university’s Career Center. Before reading this, students should already have read those College of Business and Management guidelines online.

Benefits for Organizations

Organizations participate in the internship program for a variety of reasons. Some organizations view the internship program as a substitute for a formal, in-house training program. Others are simply anxious to get a 'preview' of our better students. Still others may find the program provides a good source of talent that can be used in filling temporary slots caused by vacations and/or sick leaves. While internships exist primarily for the benefit of the students, many organizations have found that they receive substantial benefits from the relationship. In particular, they gain the opportunity to influence and evaluate future professionals in their field. Students also serve as great public relations agents in terms of attracting full-time employees to your organization. Perhaps equally importantly, the work given to the intern can free up your permanent employees to do more advanced work of a higher priority. An internship is a short-term learning experience.

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