Business Experiences
What is a Business Experience?
A business experience is any opportunity for students to engage in a business setting allowing them to employ the skills learned in the classroom. Objectives and learning goals are expected to be predefined by both the organization providing the opportunity and the student accepting the experience. Business experiences can take place at anytime during the academic year and can be as formal as a for-credit internship or co-op, or as informal as an informational interview or job shadow experience.
The College of Business Administration and Graduate Programs Office offers the following programs - Bachelor of Business Administration, Master of Business Administration, Executive Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in Accounting, Master of Arts in Economics, Master of Science in Financial Engineering, and the Ph.D. program. Majors and concentrations include: Accounting, Business Management, Computer Information Systems, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Human Resources, International Business, Marketing.
Posting a Business Experience, Internship, or Job
The College of Business Administration and Graduate Programs Office partner with the Career Services Center to make sure our postings are made available to the largest population of qualified students possible. In order to make sure that your posting meets our requirements we provide a posting template which can be emailed, faxed, or mailed to the locations provided below. The Business Experiences Manager, Yvette Clayton, is available by phone, email, or personal appointment to assist in the creation and completion of your template form.
Phone: 330.672.1285
Fax: 330.672.3381 (Attn: Bus. Experiences)
Mailing Address:
Yvette Clayton
Office Of Business Experiences
Kent State University
College of Business Administration (300E)
PO Box 5190
Kent, Ohio 44242-0001
By completing the template you are agreeing to post your position on the Experience.com job board, thus complying with EOOC regulations. (All paid internship postings must include an hourly wage.) In addition to the posting on the Kent State Experience.com job board, the Office of Business Experiences also had a dedicated listserv used for these postings only. Students are familiar with its purpose and often eagerly await new postings.
Our partnership with the Career Services Center is important to us and to the greater Kent State University community. While we encourage you to start with us for business-major related Business Experiences, many companies and organizations are large and have opportunities that are across all majors. Likewise, the Univeristy holds two job and internship fairs annually. To obtain more information about these and other services, please contact the Career Services Center by phone (330.672.2360) or email (cscjobs@kent.edu). As always, the Office of Business Experiences will be happy to connect you if you start with us.
The Business Experience Initiative
This initiative was launched as a part of Kent State University's 21st Century philosophy to prepare students for the world beyond the classroom. Feedback and research showed that from the organizational perspective students:
- Need opportunities to develop their skill sets before beginning post-graduation employment
- Need to interact in a "real world" setting to ease the transition from the academic to corporate environment
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Need to gain an understanding of the performance and professional behaviors expected of them by their employers
From the student perspective, they want experiences which:
- Are commensurate with their skills and talents
- Expose them to a "real world" setting beyond the classroom
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Produce meaningful outcomes
The objective of this initiative is to expand our partnerships and collaborations with regional businesses and organizations to create positive, enriching experiences for our students. The student may accept an assignment at anytime in the organization's business cycle that best facilitates that learning experience.
Students and Business Experiences
Students often seek credit for their experience by way of the "internship course". Generally, in order for credit to be awarded, the experience must be with an organization that typically hires entry-level employees, last at least 120 hours over the course of the term, be paid (although some exceptions are made for non-profits), and include a formal evaluation to be completed by the student's supervisor. Applications for credit are started by the student and completed in the department in which the student is seeking credit. Even in the event that the student is denied credit, the internship may still be completed so long as the student and employer reach agreeable terms.
In addition to the formal internship program, there are a number of students looking for short-term (paid and unpaid) experiences, which they typically refer to as internships -- especially in the summer months. We encourage and seek to develop these opportunities for our students throughout the year. There are no formal requirements for these experiences, although to maintain a level of program quality we prefer that they are rigorous and include learning goals and objectives. Likewise, the Office of Business Experiences seeks to track student involvement in these informal experiences as well, so does do outreach to the hosts in the form of a program/student evaluation.
Mentoring programs are another way we connect students to the Business Experience. We are always seeking additional executives, alumni, and recent graduates to serve as mentors to our many levels of students. Our premier program, the MBA Mentor Program is a formal program connecting our full-time MBA students with a mid or top-level executive in the field of their interest for the academic year. Those interested in mentoring an MBA student should contact The Office of Business Experiences at 330.672.1285 or submit an application (here).