About our Paid Internship Program
Imagine an opportunity where classroom studies are applied to practical experiences: where participants have a special opportunity to contribute to a company, learning and working with the best in the business.
Our paid Internship Program is an opportunity for students to obtain real-life work experience in the discipline of their degree. Our program is ingrained within real transformational business projects that make an immediate impact on our business and customers, giving program participants practical experience for their resume upon graduation.
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What do our former interns have to say about our internship program?
“Getting to work on projects that are actually being used by the business and real code rather than just an internship project that may or may not be used. Knowing it has real implications makes it more enticing to learn and work with.”
Key Internship Program Dates
The exciting Internship Program runs for 12 weeks from mid-May to mid-August. You will intern in one of our IT or Program Management functional areas based upon your skills, experiences, and coursework. Challenging, real-world assignments will help build your resume with practical experience. Interns will also have the opportunity to participate in many leadership development, networking, and community-building activities.
Key Dates
- May 22, 2023 – Internship program begins
- May 22-26, 2023 – Orientation program onsite in Greenville, WI
- June 30, 2023 – Mid-term evaluations completed by IT Manager
- August 4, 2023 – Final evaluations completed by IT Manager
- August 7-11, 2023 – Intern presentations on their accomplishments. Recognition luncheon.
- August 9, 2023 – Interns complete experience survey
- August 11, 2023 – Internship program ends
Interns who complete our Internship Program are eligible for extended employment from mid-August through mid-May of the following year. Interns who complete our Internship Program are also eligible to apply for full-time job postings.
Internship Program Eligibility
Program Emphases
Our program is right for you if you’re interested in the following functional areas:
- Project Management
- Business Analysis
- Quality Assurance
- Software Development
- Desktop Services
- Infrastructure
- Program Management
Additional Program Qualifications
- Have completed Sophomore year by the beginning of the program start date
- Solid record of academic achievement
- Self-motivation and sense of ownership and accountability
- Ability to work in a team environment as well as independently and professionally
- Demonstrated leadership skills through student organizations, athletics, volunteerism, or similar activities
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Detail-oriented with excellent time management and organizational skills
- Flexibility and ability to thrive in a rapidly changing, highly complex environment
- Ability to start on the program start date and work the full 12 weeks
- Must be a US citizen, a lawful, permanent resident, or have authorization to work in the United States
Programs of Interest
Explore the various emphases our Internship Program offers.
IT Project Manager Intern
This position is responsible for assisting the PMO (Project Management Office) team with project planning and PMO administration. Summary of essential job functions:
- Manage small scope, short-duration projects, including resource assignment, project plans and budget monitoring.
- Assist the Senior PMs with monitoring time accounting, setting up projects in Microsoft Project Online, updating resource assignments, following up with team action items, and updating status reports.
IT Business Analyst Intern
This position is responsible for assisting the Application Services and Business Analysis team with analyzing issues, defining, and documenting requirements, and developing and testing solutions to support business processes for applications. Summary of essential job functions:
- Coordinate with business owners, Information Technology professionals, and software providers on a project basis to deploy new business process improvement projects. This includes gathering functional requirements, creating functional design specifications, unit, and functional testing, coordinating user acceptance testing, and creating support team documentation.
- Troubleshoot functional application issues. Develop and implement solutions in coordination with applications development, business users, third-party support, and other resources.
- Work with business functional teams on configuration changes and design for performance improvement.
IT Quality Assurance Analyst Intern
This position is responsible for assisting the QA team with testing application development solutions. Summary of essential job functions:
- Build test cases and execute functional test scripts to support user story requirements for application development projects.
- Log defects and track resolution activities.
IT Software Development Intern
This position is responsible for assisting the application development team with building applications, testing application code, and documenting final solutions. This position will be responsible for learning software solution delivery and applying those steps to development work for new functionality, enhancement, and support of existing applications. Summary of essential job functions:
- Design, develop and unit test solutions in a variety of technologies, including Java, MuleSoft Anypoint, JavaScript, Microsoft Azure, and Salesforce related technologies, SQL, and others as needed.
- Work with mentors to learn the development and deployment model using a variety of development and operations tools, such as the Atlassian development suite.
Digital Shelf Intern
This position is responsible for assisting the Digital Shelf team in the creation and enhancement of our product experience on our website and across multiple marketplace platforms. Interns will be exposed to various functions within this organization which may include:
- Content Management
- Content Syndication
- Graphic Design
- Data Analytics
- Data Governance
Summary of essential job functions:
- Participate in creating and/or gathering digital assets, including product images, videos, and marketing tiles
- Assist with creating and/or editing product title, descriptions, and featured bullets, adhering to SEO best practices
- Support in the syndication of product images, marketing tiles, and enhanced content to our portfolio of marketplaces
- Assist with KPI reporting and utilizing these reports to identify trends and opportunities
- Under guidance, manage the availability, access, and integrity of our product data
Program Management Intern
This position if responsible for assisting the program management team to manage the intake and delivery of technology solutions. Interns will be placed in Information Technology areas that focus on the following business areas based upon interests, skills, experience & coursework:
- Customer Service
- Sales
- Marketing and Ecommerce
- Supply Chain
- Corporate Functions – HR, Legal and Finance
- Merchandising
- Data Analytics
Summary of essential job functions:
- Work closely with their respective program manager to gather high level requirements and build business cases for proposed technology solutions.
- Manage the project funnel and identify trends in service desk tickets for potential enhancements.
Still Wondering about our Paid Internship Program?
Here’s more from our past Interns
“I was brought on to the School Specialty PIM Support team as an intern in August of 2020. In the midst of the pandemic, I was unsure of what was in store for me. During my first week of training, I began to wonder if this role was for me. After graduating from UW-Stout in the spring of 2020, I was not sure what to expect from a Support BA role. My concerns and worries were quickly put to rest when I began meeting different people and groups within SSL. My opinion and thoughts on how to solve issues, communicate with business users, and questions that I had were heard. Everyone was welcoming to the new kid on the block and asked my thoughts on different issues that arose. One thing that stands above the rest at School Specialty is the value that collaboration has. Interacting with different groups of the business to find out problems and provide solutions is something that I look forward to week in and week out. SSL was also reassuring when I decided the Support Role might not be for me. They gave me the opportunity to try my hand at being a Project BA, as well as being brought on as a full-time employee, and that is where I have been for the last 6 months. There are new challenges with this role, but knowing I have a great team behind me makes me proud.”
“A big takeaway I have from this internship is being able to understand how my studies can be related to real-world tasks and projects. My previous semester, I was struggling a lot to see how the courses I am taking can benefit the world and others around me because I do want to make an impact. This internship has provided me some insight into the IT world and how what I learn can be impactful. It further made me want to continue to work in IT, as well as experience other IT roles. I also learned a lot from being a part of a support and project team. I had never worked in any type of support prior, so this was beneficial to experience the behind the scenes work of an application. It is something that I now have a new perspective on, and will continue to have when using different school applications. I learned a lot about the process of projects and by just being a part of different project teams. These experiences helped me see how a company progresses and how many different positions make up a project team. I now realize how big projects are and what type of impact they do have on the customers, employees, and the company. Having never worked in a professional business environment like this before, I think this whole program has helped me in every aspect.”