Research, Internships and Work-related Experience for Undergraduates
A Bachelor's degree is not enough to obtain a job. Successful job applicants also have skills which they gained from work experience:
- Hands-on skills include those applicable to any work environment as well as the skills specific to that workplace.
- “Soft skills,” such as oral and written communication skills or an ability to work with others and adjust to their needs, are extremely important.
There are three ways to gain these work-related skills:
- research experience
- internship
- extracurricular activities
Research Opportunities
If you are interested in obtaining research experience in Zoology, you are encouraged to study the descriptions of Zoology faculty research interests available on this website, and then contact individual faculty members with whom you think you might like to work. Independent study credit (ZOL 494) can often be arranged for participation in laboratory or field studies.
Other sources for on-campus jobs include:
- MSU's Venture database lists available undergraduate research opportunities in many MSU departments.
- MySpartanCareer - an MSU database of full- and part-time job opportunities on campus.
- Useful supplemental information on finding a student job.
- College of Natural Science Undergrad research
- Many departments have bulletin boards in the halls outside their main offices where jobs in departmental laboratories are posted.
- The Fisheries and Wildlife Department list serve sends out information on many environmentally related opportunities for undergraduates.
Internship Opportunities
An internship is a professional activity in a job situation, under the general supervision of an experienced professional. The student is expected to bring a high degree of responsibility to the workplace.Completing an internship is a way to explore a possible career - to find out if you hate it or love it. An internship also gives you valuable work experience for your resume, where you can itemize the specific skills and knowledge that you gained which are applicable to that prospective employer's needs.
For future employment purposes, the best place to present your internship is in a resume. You also may choose to receive credit while participating in the internship: your experience will be reflected in one line of your college transcript. Zoology majors may apply to the Zoology department to complete 4 credits of ZOL 496. Applications to the department for MSU credit must be made a semester in advance (credit is never awarded retroactively.) You will be expected to spend a semester (15 weeks) working a 40-hour week. The grade will be based upon both a daily journal and the written results from a project conducted with the host institution or facility.
Each institution will have different application deadlines and prerequisite requirements, so it is wise to begin a search for a suitable program in your freshman year. Spending an hour or two per week on this search will enable you to be well-prepared for an internship in your junior or senior year. Start your research with these web sites:
- MySpartanCareer - a job database which contains some internships.
- CNS Career webpage
- The Employment Resources webpage of MSU's Fisheries & Wildlife Department has many useful links to environmentally-related jobs.
- MSU Career Network Services - lists upcoming job fairs and campus visits from employers as well as useful information on internship searches, writing cover letters, composing resumes and other career information.
Some companies or agencies, such as zoos or environmental organizations, may only use their own websites to list internship opportunities for a short period of time. MySpartanCareer contains a list by state of companies and institutions. Other possible internship locations include the individual websites for:
- Hospital laboratories
- Foundations (Examples: Heart; Lung; Cancer)
- Businesses (Examples: Eli Lilly; Parke-Davis)
- State Health laboratories
- DNR research laboratories
- Federal government (Examples: National Marine Fisheries; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
- Private institutes
- Federal institutes (Example: NIH)
You may be able to find an unadvertised internship through a contact, so don’t be afraid to ask questions. Finally, the Zoology Undergraduate Programs Director may be able to help you identify relevant programs.
Work-related Experience
Most employers want applicants to have some relevant experience. This experience ranges from hands-on skills (such as typing or filing skills or familiarity with a variety of computer applications) to “soft skills” like an ability to work with others and adjust to their needs. Other ways to gain work-related skills while a student include:
- volunteer work. Service Learning Center, 27 Student Services, has volunteer positions in many fields.
- holding an office (or other extensive involvement) in a student organization. There are many student-run groups at MSU. The Department of Student Life web page has links to the MSU student government and a list of student organizations
- an intensive field or laboratory program. Frequently these are sponsored by an institution and may last from 8 to 15 weeks. Find out which programs best match your interests by talking to your professors. A web search also may help you locate these programs. Students pay “tuition” for these programs. But many of these institutions usually are not either academically accredited or associated with an academic institution, so the “course” will not transfer into your MSU record.
- Summer field courses are available to MSU students at the Kellogg Biological Station. These are MSU courses: upon completion they are immediately part of your MSU record. A part-time job working in the library or research labs may be possible too while you are at KBS.