Examination of a paradigm for preparing undergraduates for a career in the retailing industries: mentors, curriculum, and an internship

College Student Journal, Dec, 2005 by Scarlett C. Wesley, Marianne C. Bickle

Students in the Retail Management specialization are required to complete additional courses in management strategies, sales strategies, small business organization and operation, store operations, and three retail electives. Students in the Fashion Merchandising specialization are required to complete additional courses in contemporary trends, durable products, fashion merchandising, merchandising strategies, product analysis, store design, textiles, and visual merchandising. Regardless of the student's specialization, all students majoring in retailing are required to complete a six credit internship experience during their junior or senior year.

Internship Requirements

Prior to participation in the internship, students complete a career development course. This course prepares students for the business environment, provides mentoring efforts in resume and cover letter writing, and career enhancement, as well as teaching interviewing skills. Guest speakers from business to business and business to consumer industries are featured throughout the semester.

Once the student declares his/her intent to begin the internship process, the student is assigned to one of three faculty intern coordinators. The faculty coordinator acts as the primary liaison between the student and company for the duration of the student's internship journey. Together, the faculty coordinator and student work together to secure an appropriate internship position based on the student's goals and mobility. Interns complete their experience during the summer academic session during their junior or senior year. Requirements for completion of the internship include:

1. Work in an approved position for a minimum of 300 clock hours under the direction of an approved employee supervisor. The length of the internship in weeks is not relevant as long as the number of required work hours is completed. Therefore, some student's internships may last only seven weeks, while others may take twelve weeks to complete. Additionally, some students may work more than 300 hours, but this is not a requirement of the program;

2. Submit a weekly e-mail journal to the faculty internship coordinator detailing the activities for the week. The journal should emphasize what the student is learning, application of course information to the industry and number of hours worked each week;

3. Complete a company research paper that includes information about the history of the organization, personnel processes, merchandise to be sold, sales ratios of the organization, promotional activities, and customer service policies. Learning experiences that will prepare the intern for a future in the retail industry are featured in the paper;

4. Complete a store operations project. The objective of the project is to critically evaluate one identified area within the organization and evaluate the level of efficiency. The specific area examined is typically selected by the intern's supervisor. The intern is responsible for examining the situation, identifying the strengths, weaknesses, and identifying solutions. Recommendations and costs associated with each solution are addressed and presented to company executives;