By AUDREY PERRY
Summer internships can open up a whole new world for BYU students said Bill Price, director of the Institute of Marketing at the Marriott School of Management.
The Institute of Marketing holds an Internship Open House every February to teach students the advantages of internships and how to get them.
The Institute of Marketing had its fourth annual Open House Thursday.
During the meeting, students who had completed internships last summer gave advice to students thinking about participating in a summer internship in the future. Price also spoke and answered questions.
Internships are beneficial in many ways for students, Price said. He said the ideal time for students to do an internship is their junior year.
“We try to get students when they are juniors for two reasons — first, to put a real wonderful element on their resume, and number two, when they come back for their senior year, they have learned a lot,” Price said.
Students may actually learn that they don’t like what they are going into, but they still have the chance to focus on what they learned when they return for their senior year, he said.
“Those who participate (in internships) know how to apply the theory in the textbook. (These students) have more job offers and they make more money … If you have had an internship with a JC Penney or a Sears, everybody wants you because you have had experience with the best, and they are willing to offer you more money,” he said.
Dawna Baugh, faculty advisor for the Institute of Marketing, said she agrees that internships give students a great advantage.
“I think the biggest benefit is that they get a taste of a job they might want to work for or a company they might want to work with,” she said.
Students also get up to three hours of BYU credit for their internship, as well as a wage.
“I made actually more money than I would have here while I was on the internship, and although that isn’t always the case, most of them do pay. I think the minimum I have ever heard of was $8 an hour,” said Jim Pier, 26, a senior from Provo majoring in retail management. Last summer, Pier interned at the Sears home office outside Chicago, Ill. He spoke to students at the meeting about his experience.
Pier said he received many benefits from his internship, including experience at a corporate level, a good reference on his resume, a scholarship from Sears and a job offer. However, he said the most valuable thing he gained was experience in interviews.
