Information for Employers

Our goal is to assist well-qualified students and interested businesses in finding one another for an internship experience that is beneficial to all parties! We hope that the quality of our students will want you to continually hire our students, semester after semester.

Please email the internship coordinator, Christopher Tamm, ctamm@IllinoisState.edu or call (309) 438-8430 if you have any questions.

General Information about Finance Internships

Background of Potential Interns

Students who are interested in interns range from students who have completed our first finance course (FIL 240, Business Finance) to seniors who have completed several finance courses and who may be a semester away from graduating. Please click here for a list of required and elective finance courses taken by our majors.

Before taking their first finance course as juniors, our finance majors will have completed two semesters of accounting, one semester of statistics, and have shown competency in MS Office programs such as Excel. They will have completed a number of Illinois State University’s general education courses, including courses in composition (writing) and speech communication. In addition, they will most likely be taking, or have recently completed, business core courses in law, management, and marketing.

GPA and other Screening Requirements

Generally we encourage students with a 3.0 or better GPA to consider an internship experience, but we also know many talented students do not achieve that standard. The internship coordinator will work with you to pre-screen potential internship applicants so students who apply will meet your criteria: in terms of GPA, course background, time commitment to your firm and the internship, or any other criteria you desire.

Length of an Internship

Most internships last for one semester or one summer. If it is better for your firm to seek students who can continue working after the academic term is completed, please let the internship coordinator know that to assist in pre-screening.

What You Should Expect from an Intern

Student interns will be motivated to work hard and learn from their experience. They realize that interning helps make them attractive to employers when they are looking for their first post-baccalaureate job; that good references from their internship will assist their job search; and, of course, should they enjoy the internship and if the employing firm rates them highly, that, budget permitting, their first post-baccalaureate job may be at their internship firm.

Having not yet completed their coursework, the knowledge base and skills of an intern will likely not be the same as someone with a bachelor’s degree. But they should have the skills to assist your needs (this is where the internship coordinator’s pre-screening can help) and will have the eagerness to learn and grow into their duties.

What We Request of You

The purpose of the internship is to provide real-world finance work experience for a student. As such, we seek internships that will provide good training and exposure to the finance discipline to give students a chance to see their classroom discussions “become real” on-the-job. It is helpful to us if you create a position description which we can keep on file. The position description should describe the general duties and your expectations for your interns; we can use these to help the pre-screening process and to inform qualified students of available positions. The description can also be used as the basis of an “agreement” with the intern so both parties know from the beginning what the job duties will be to better judge the intern’s performance during their time with you.

Thus, primarily clerical (typing, copying, filing) positions are not appropriate. Entry-level positions or rotating work assignments are beneficial to interns. Projects or team in which the intern can participate gives the intern a sense of accomplishment and returns value to you, the employer. Taking them out to lunch or allowing them to attend training sessions and meetings is a special bonus which the students enjoy and from which they can learn much about your firm and about career paths in finance.

We do ask that the intern’s supervisor provide us with two evaluations, one at mid-semester and one at the end of the semester. These evaluations are important to the intern, as they comprise the majority of his/her semester grade for the internship. Thus, the desire for a good grade is another incentive for a qualified intern to perform well.