Southeast students meet the real world through internships

It's an introduction to the real world of employment. Students at Southeast Missouri State University in nearly every discipline are required to complete an internship after they complete their course work and before they graduate.

Each department handles its own internship program at the university. Each has its own set of requirements. Depending on the discipline, a student can complete an internship with a local company or in a larger city. Some have interned at Disneyworld. Students in performing arts do internships in New York where there more are ample opportunities than in Southeast Missouri.

For the student it's a way to get experience in his chosen field of study. It's also a way to see if the internship field is what he really wants to do.

"It's a way to sort of try them out," said Cindy Gage, a senior account executive with Red Letter Communications in Cape Girardeau, which has hired interns from Southeast for several years. "You can see if they're a good fit for you and can see if they enjoy working there."

"It's really an opportunity for the intern to get a feel for that type of work as well as an opportunity for the employer to evaluate the student in the position he's going to be working in," said Jack Sterrett, professor of management and marketing at Southeast.

Everybody benefits from an internship: the students, the business and the university.

"It helps us magnify the importance of the program," said Sterrett. "It's a real attraction to our program. It helps in marketing to students, getting them to major in our area."

The path to an internship can begin either with a company that wants the extra help, a student who has an idea she wants to explore, or a faculty member approaches a company with the idea of placing an intern there for experience. Through the years, Gage said, Red Letter has hired interns in each of those ways to work in the video aspect of the business, graphic arts and some in administration and account management.

The employer is asked to put together a profile with a description of the job for which he wants the intern. The employer also specifies the job the intern will do before meeting with the college department head to finalize the agreement.

Both small companies and large corporations have hired interns, although corporate rules often limit participation from larger companies. Smaller companies "always need additional help," Sterrett said. "Smaller companies many times don't have in-house expertise in all areas."

For them having an intern can be the best use of their budget, especially if a student wants to work in a technological position that requires specialized training.

An intern can be a boon to a not-for-profit organization as well as for the student, said Chuck Martin, director of the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"For a not-for-profit, if they have a valid need, it's good to hire an intern as opposed to hiring somebody full time and it possibly not working out," Sterrett said. "There are so many advantages. You have an intern getting experience and it's certainly an advantage to the employer."

Interns the CVB have hired included a student who developed a PowerPoint presentation for the Heart Association, a marketing major who coordinated the Harley-Davidson motorcycle riders rally and marketed a coupon booklet to participants one year, and a student who coordinated submitting activities among all the publications the CVB sends information to for inclusion. A student from the university's geography department once helped Martin with a directional sign program by pinpointing to the 10th of a mile the distance between the sign and an attraction.

In the management and marketing department, Sterrett said, students who haven't decided on a field of interest usually meet with him and he sends them to a career adviser for aptitude tests and counseling to see where they might best fit. Individual departments decide their criteria for an internship. Marketing and management requires a minimum of 150 hours which averages over a semester to about 10 hours a week. Sterrett said his department places about 50 to 60 interns in a year.

Some students take the initiative to propose an internship to suit his studies, but others apply for available internships just like they would for jobs. The students learn not only the job search process; they develop an advantage when they look for their first job.

"Students who don't complete an internship in the area in which they are majoring might be at somewhat of a disadvantage," Sterrett said.

An internship gives the student "real world" experience to bring to a potential employer.

"It helps with the transition from school to work," Sterrett said. "We have the students in our department put together a resume, write a letter of application, and go through the interviewing process. There could be two or three candidates applying for the same position."

Students also learn what else is expected of them in the real world.

"They're starting to learn the importance of taking the earrings out of their ear and the stud out of their tongue," Sterrett said. "This starts the transition. The student learns to understands why it's so important to take them through these hoops."

As in every other situation, some placements don't work out, but mostly the experience is a positive one. Martin at the Convention and Visitors Bureau recalled one intern who stayed in touch with the office after her semester was over. The CVB staff as a group went to her wedding.

"We have had some gems," he said. "It has been a wonderful experience for our organization. We have had some very high caliber students."

Gage at Red Letter agrees.

"We have had some interns who did not work out," she said. "What you see is not always what you get. For the most part the interns have been wonderful -- hard working, well mannered and talented kids."