OSU Entrepreneurial Internship Program partners with businesses seeking interns

Monday, May 23, 2016

The Riata Center for Entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University is seeking partnerships with businesses to host interns for the fall 2016 semester.

Businesses apply to host an OSU student for the paid internship program for 15-20 hours per week during the fall semester. The Riata Center will match a student intern to a business host according to the business’s needs and student skill. The student interns will learn about business models and work on the business’s overarching projects with the direction of the Riata Entrepreneurial Internship Program staff.

“We started this program in 2009 and have been able to match students with host companies every semester since,” said Alexces Bartley, manager of programs and outreach for the Riata Center. “Students are able to learn about a company’s business model firsthand and are then able to take a consultative approach in working with that company to create real value. They develop a major project around a focus area identified by their host company and present their findings and/or solutions at the end of the semester. These projects are designed to have a measurable impact for the host companies.”

In addition to getting paid $10 an hour for undergraduates and $12 an hour for graduates, the students will be enrolled in an entrepreneurship class to receive credit for the internship.

“We formally meet with the students once a month to go over their experiences so far,” Bartley said. “It’s really helpful for the students to share their experiences with the rest of the group and allows them to learn from each other. They also have assignments and journal entries they turn in to us weekly, so we are always aware of how the internship is going and what progress they are making. If they need any help, we are right there to guide them.”

The Riata Center will pay half of the students’ salaries in conjunction with the hosting business.

Businesses interested in hosting an intern can apply at https://riata.okstate.edu/internship/host-company/.

Students interested in applying for the internship program can apply at https://riata.okstate.edu/internship/apply/.