Internships
It’s never too early to start thinking about internships! Internships can help you explore your personal and professional interests, try out different career options, and network with professionals. Stop in today, and our team can help you find an internship, connect with a faculty advisor, and earn academic credit.
Explore New Pathways. Gain experience. Jumpstart Your Career.
Internships are work-based learning experiences related to your career journey and are an impactful part of helping you achieve your goals and jump-start your future. Internships can be part-time or full-time, paid or unpaid. You can also earn academic credit for completing an internship. One important element that distinguishes an internship from a short-term job is the set of intentional learning objectives that the intern brings to the experience and the employer provides.
Key Steps to Start
- Make an appointment with a Career Coach
- Create your resume, cover letter, and Handshake profile
- Resume Tips
- Example Cover Letters
- In Handshake jobs tab, filter by “Job Type” for “internship” or “UM Collections” to find internships other UM students have participated in.
- Research and review company websites for established internship programs
- Explore your options for work, volunteer, and intern abroad
- Attend a career fair and talk with employers about available internships; connect with professionals in your field through social media and LinkedIn
- Ask professors, professionals, peers, and parents about potential internships
- Consider a micro-internship! Micro-internships are paid professional projects offered through our partner, Parker Dewey. Learn more about Micro-internships here.
Talk with your major advisor about earning credit in your major department for your internship. UM requires a minimum of 45 hours of work to qualify for academic credit, though some departments require more. Academic departments determine what constitutes an internship worthy of academic credit in the department.
Some considerations:
- What course should you enroll in (typically 298/398/498, though it varies by department)?
- Are there any prerequisites?
- What faculty member will you work with? Faculty internship advisors are responsible for overseeing a student’s academic progress throughout the internship and awarding academic credit for their work.
- What are the course expectations? Most internship courses require reflection papers, portfolios, or other components in addition to the hours worked at your internship.
- When will you enroll in the internship course? Depending on the dates of the internship, students may register for internship credit in a semester other than the one the internship took place; however, the two should coincide as much as possible. Some departments have specific requirements. Discuss options with your faculty advisor.
If you’re unable to earn credit in your major department, you may be able to earn credit in another department (such as your minor department, or a department the internship is related to.
Alternatively, ELCS offers CTE 298/498 internship course options that are open to students in any major. Contact Karey.Sabol@umontana.edu to enroll or find out if this is a good option for you.
Learning objectives detail what you hope to learn as an intern. They help tie your internship to your academic program and your career goals. Meet with your faculty advisor to develop 3-6 learning objectives that align with your internship site and role. You’ll need these to complete your learning agreement (Step 5).
- What do you want to experience, learn, create, or understand?
- What skill or insight do you want to gain, enhance, or develop?
- What career readiness skills do you want to demonstrate, polish, or strengthen?
- Only faculty can approve and award internship credit. You may need a course override from the instructor to enroll.
- 1 academic credit = 45 hours of work. Some departments may exceed the minimum. (Faculty Senate Procedure #201.35)
- Credits are assigned under “98” bag number courses (198, 298, 398, 498, 598, 698) in their respective departments.
- Up to 6 internship credits can be applied toward graduation as either required or elective credit. Some departments may exceed this.
- Credit can be offered as a Traditional Grade or as Credit/No Credit. Discuss options with your faculty advisor.
- Credit-bearing internships are offered each semester throughout the academic year.
- A Learning Agreement must be submitted for all credit-bearing internships (see Step 5).
- International students: There are strict legal requirements for international students seeking work authorization to earn pay using the academic credit option. Consult Bodhi Murphy, Director of International Students and Scholars.
All credit-bearing internships must be reported by submitting a learning agreement. Submit your Learning Agreement here, logging in with your Net ID and password. (Note that only students are able to access the learning agreement portal via this link. Faculty and staff will show “account disabled”).
Information you will need:
- Internship supervisor and faculty advisor contact information
- Course Registration information
- Your learning objectives (see Step 3)
- Internship description
This is the part of the experience that matters most! Keep in mind that your internship is providing you with valuable skills that you can add to your résumé and apply to your experiences after college. Follow these tips for a good experience:
- Read the company’s history, annual report, and executive biographies to learn about the company’s achievements, challenges, mission, and values so you can better understand how your contribution will be most meaningful.
- Map and travel your morning commute during rush hour. Pin directions on your cell phone. Identify parking locations, parking cost, or necessary parking pass. Find subway, bus, or rail transit route schedules and locations.
- Update your cell phone with the company address and main phone number, as well as your supervisor’s number. You may have to Uber to/from an off-site meeting, or need to call in sick if you become ill.
- Increase your savings account. If you are an unpaid intern, save enough money to cover your expenses. If you are a paid intern, your first paycheck might take a few weeks (sometimes a month) to arrive.
- Apply for an Experiential Learning Scholarship to help support travel and living expenses for your domestic or international internship.
- Create a positive first impression. Arrive early and dressed appropriately for your workplace. Be punctual, reliable, positive, and professional in your written and oral communications.
- Review Learning Objectives with your supervisor including performance expectations, goals, and evaluation. Confirm work and lunch hour times; holiday schedules; door key code; email address; work phone number; timecard process.
- Bring your driver’s license, social security card or passport to set up your pay (if a paid intern). Bring lunch money, a notebook, an extra copy of your résumé, and any internship paperwork you were asked to sign.
- Use surnames to address senior colleagues (Ms. Miller; Mr. Smith) until you have been invited to use first names. To remember colleagues’ names, write them down on a notepad. Your cell phone should be stored.
- Tomorrow-proof your career by developing new skills and knowledge. Be open to learning opportunities as learning and skill development comes in many forms in the professional workplace.
- Success is a collective endeavor. Network with colleagues and other interns to build a support system. Organizational success is affected by your performance.
- Your work colleagues are colleagues not friends. Avoid conversations about salary, religion, politics, and office gossip.
- High quality work is superior to a quantity of poor-quality work. Take initiative as you will be appreciated for your energy and fresh perspectives.
- Company computers are for company work. No personal emails. Do not share offensive jokes or email inappropriate mimes to colleagues. Do not access sensitive sites via company wi-fi. Do not share your computer with others.
- No ghosting at the workday end. Visit with your supervisor to ask if there is anything further to attend to that day. This encourages open communication and confirms your desire to learn. Say goodbye.
- Both you and your internship site supervisor will receive a prompt by email to evaluate your internship, approximately 4 weeks before the internship ends.
- Results from these evaluations will be shared with the faculty advisor at the end of the internship.
- Some (but not all) academic departments use the results from internship evaluations for grading, assessment, or accreditation.
- Data gathered from these evaluations will be used in an aggregate format to assess and ensure the quality of internships conducted through the University of Montana as well as in annual reporting.
