Internships are an important part of any student's career, including those majoring in business. Click here to learn more about internships.

Business internships provide students with mentoring and networking opportunities as well as the chance to obtain references. A business internship also provides students with on-the-job training in their chosen career field before completing school.

According to an article by Elites TV, internships also provide an inside glimpse into the business world, providing observation of the day-to-day operations of business. Internships are valued by employers because of the actual working experience gained through the internship. Many employers use internships as a means of evaluating potential full-time employees.

Business internships can be found at several different types of companies, including accounting firms, grocery chains, insurance firms, department stores chains, marketing firms, human resource management firms, state or federal government and financial services firms.

Typical responsibilities of business interns will include recording financial transactions, conducting front desk operations, providing customer service, entering data, shadowing on-site supervisors, making travel arrangements, promoting sales and any other duties requested by the business.

The amount of time you must intern usually depends on the requirements of your school. For instance, at The University of Maine, interns must spend a minimum of 140 hours at an internship. Students also must complete specific courses and maintain a GPA of 2.5 or higher before enrolling in an internship program. Business internships are typically graded pass or fail and can be paid or unpaid.

At Pennsylvania State University, business interns must make arrangements between the school and a business. These arrangements must include an on-site business supervisor, a university supervisor and a university internship coordinator. All three then review and agree to the student intern’s proposal for completing the business internship. The internship requires a minimum of 120 hours and a C or higher to pass.

At the University of Colorado, business interns can choose from three types of internships. The choices are academic credit without pay internship, academic credit with pay internship and paid internship with no academic credit. All require a university supervisor and on-site business supervisor. Academic credit business internships are graded, require a minimum of 150 hours and a cumulative 2.75 GPA.

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