Internships: The Where and What

Now that you know why you should do an internship before you graduate and you have an idea when the most productive time would be to participate in an internship, the next question is, “Where and how do I locate an internship and what should that internship consist of?”

The major reasons for participating in internship work experiences are to develop skills; learn first-hand about a career field; make valuable connections and business contacts; obtain another work experience item for your resume and gain references for job searches or graduate school applications.

Internship experiences can be “credit-bearing” or not. If you need credit to complete your degree and your major and/or degree will grant credit, so much the better. The way many Montclair State students prepare to earn credit for their internship experience is through the Cooperative Education Program.

Plan ahead and do an internship for credit through the Cooperative Education Program

It takes planning and preparation to participate in cooperative education. You should start the process at least one semester ahead of the time you want to be working at your internship. You must work at your internship and enroll for a course that runs consecutively. You can either locate a co-op work experience through our database or find it on your own.

If you develop your own co-op work experience it must meet our Cooperative Education requirements. It must provide hands-on learning; have qualified supervision and meet hours/week and start and end date requirements to merit earning academic credit.

There are many sources for locating internships, such as: Listings on the main Center for Career Services page, by attending the University Career and Internship Fair each fall and spring semester, or through online searches.