An internship (or a residency, if you are a health care administration major) gives you hands-on experience in your chosen profession. You will learn more about your major, make important connections and gain self-confidence. And an added bonus — you may come away with a job offer, as many companies use internships to prescreen prospective employees.
Internships come in many different formats. Your experience may be paid (with salary and benefits determined by your employer) or unpaid (if working for a non-profit). You may work part time while taking classes or full time during the summer or academic year. You may receive university credits for your internship or elect to have it recorded on your university transcript as a non-credit learning experience. Internships taken for credit can be used to satisfy course requirements in your major.
Health care administration majors are the only students required to complete an internship/residency in the department of management and leadership programs. However, all other students in the department are strongly encouraged to complete at least one internship during their college career.
Program Eligibility
Students who wish to complete an internship in the Department of Management and Leadership Programs must:
- Have at least junior standing.
- Be a declared major in the department.
- Have completed the core course(s) of their declared major.
- Have an overall GPA of at least 2.6.
Management and Leadership Programs Intern Projects
Check out some of the things our students did while on an internship or residency!
- New business development: Conducted feasibility studies and developed business plans for prospective businesses
- Health care administration: Learned how a health care facility operated by rotating through the organization's various departments; developed and implemented a significant project for the facility, such as established programs to reduce staff turnover, developed emergency operations plans, and created a program to engage dementia patients.
- Human resource management: Conducted interviews and reference checks for prospective employees; developed salary surveys; helped maintain the benefits program and develop the salary structure; developed HR policy manuals; developed employee training programs.
How to Enroll in a Management and Leadership Programs Internship
Step 1 - Reach out to the instructor of the internship course to discuss your internship responsibilities, credits, and course requirements. Verify that the internship will work for the course and for the credits you would like to receive.
Step 2 - Register on Handshake using directions below:
The internship form takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. Handshake does not have a “save” feature. You must complete the required questions on the form before submitting the experience. If you have any questions about submitting an internship experience on Handshake, please contact Dr. Kristy Lauver, lauverkj@uwec.edu.
- Register on Handshake https://uwec.joinhandshake.com with your UW-Eau Claire credentials.
- Under “Career Center” at the top right of the screen, click “Experiences”.
- Click “Request an Experience” on the top right of the secondary blue menu bar.
- Under “Experience Type”, choose “College of Business-Management and Leadership Programs Internship”.
- Select the term in which you are completing the internship.
- Fill out the information in the reporting form and complete the departmental questions (some may be duplicative).
- When finished, click “Request Experience” at the bottom of the page.
- Attach a copy of the internship description, offer letter, and internship company agreement form to the Handshake Experience. To do this, click on “Experiences” in Handshake, and “View Details” for your internship. Select “New Attachment” on the top left of the page and upload the documents.
- Once complete, the experience will be routed to Career Services and the Management and Leadership Program Department. You will be notified from Handshake and given permission to register for the course if completing the internship for credit.
Documents to Attach to the eForm:
*Students in the health care administration view residency information.
How to Check the Status of an Internship Application:
- Go Handshake and login with your UW-Eau Claire credentials.
- Under “Career Center” at the top right of the screen, click “Experiences”.
- Click “View Details” on your internship.
- Scroll down to the approval section to view the status.
