What is a Micro-Internship?
As you consider your workforce needs in the coming months, we wanted to share a new opportunity to engage our students in micro-internships. Micro-internships are short-term projects or internships where students can collaborate with employers on strategy, research, data analysis, or other master’s-level business projects that will provide a learning opportunity while meeting a workplace need.
Timing and Length of Internships
Micro-internships typically take place during the summer (June to early August) and range between 2-4 weeks, but will be dependent on the scope of the project. Employers and students should discuss and agree to the specific terms of the project, including weekly time commitment and number of weeks before an offer is made. Note: Employers do not need to provide work authorization for currently enrolled international students completing internships during Summer Term (late May-Aug) for Curricular Practical Training (CPT). Please contact us with any questions.
Compensation for Micro-Internships
Candidates should be offered fair market value for their work. Competitive pay typically results in a larger pool of qualified applicants. View our Employment Reports for internship monthly salary data.
Post Your Micro-Internship: Two Options
We offer two options for posting your micro-internship, depending on whether you have a payroll process that can accommodate micro-interns.
Does your company have a process for managing payroll for micro-internships?
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If Yes: Post Your Opportunity on Career Central
Career Central is MIT Sloan’s career management system and jobs platform. You can post your micro-internship just as you would a job or internship posting. You will select Micro-Internship as the job type; and enter in the length of the internship in number of weeks, and estimate the total time commitment for the project.
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If No: Post Your Opportunity for MIT Sloan students on Parker Dewey
Parker Dewey offers a platform for micro-internships allowing you to post your project in minutes. The way the program is organized, students are not your employees or contractors, eliminating administrative work on your company’s part. When you post your opportunity, you will have the option to make your post viewable to MIT Sloan students for a short period after the post; and later, to search applicants by MIT Sloan. All projects are priced with a fixed fee, and students receive 90% of the payment (Parker Dewey retains 10% to cover expenses). There is no additional cost if you decide to hire someone for a traditional internship or full-time role after the engagement. Please see Parker Dewey’s FAQ for more details.
Unpaid Micro-Internships
While we anticipate most of the posted opportunities will be paid, we expect to offer limited supplemental funding to students for unpaid internships. This supplemental funding is possible because of the generous support of alumni to the MIT Sloan Immediate Needs and Emerging Opportunities Fund.
If you would like to post an unpaid opportunity for students, please Post Your Opportunity on Career Central. We occasionally have students who accept unpaid opportunities in non-profit sectors or to gain specific experience, and these students may be eligible to apply for funding support through the school. Students applying for funding will be asked to sign an IPIA, which will apply if significant MIT resources are used for their project.
Important consideration for unpaid internships: Please note that funding for unpaid internships is limited to $15/hour, up to a total of $6000 for the summer; so if you have the ability to pay market rate for your internship, we highly recommend it as a way to increase the number of qualified applicants in your candidate pool.
Tips for Creating a Successful Micro-Internship
MIT Sloan students are seeking growth potential, as well as functional and industry experience. Students are particularly interested in contributing to the strategic planning, finance, and product management/development functions in our top industries: Consulting, Finance, Technology, and Healthcare/Pharma/Biotech. View our Employment Reports to learn more about opportunities accepted by past classes, including industry, function, and salary.
We Encourage Managers to:
- Offer valuable learning opportunities and provide a paid experience.
- Foster connections, teamwork, and/or networking opportunities for students: Schedule regular check-in meetings with students and connecting students to relevant colleagues within the organization.
- Consider additional supports and supplies students might need to complete the experience, including computer access, as well as access to networks, shared files, databases, and relevant software.
