Professional sales majors to be guaranteed paid internships

Bloomsburg University students majoring in professional sales and marketing will have access to a guaranteed paid internship with Paychex, Inc. starting in the Fall of 2022. Bloomsburg University is the first school that Paychex is partnering with for guaranteed paid internships.

Paychex, Inc. is a leading provider of integrated human capital management solutions for payroll, benefits, human resources, and insurance services. The company services more than 700,000 clients in the United States and Europe and is the largest human resources company for small to medium-sized businesses.

“This is an incredible opportunity for our students in professional sales and marketing,” said BU President Bashar Hanna. “Many thanks to Dr. (Monica) Favia (chair of the Department of Marketing and Professional Sales) and Scott Barr of Paychex for putting together this first-of-its-kind program. It will provide our students real-world job experience in a very competitive field.”

The internships will begin as virtual but will transition to a hybrid model later.

“Paychex has been very supportive of our marketing and professional sales program,” said Favia. “They want to be the employer of choice, and this is a big step in that direction.”

Barr, district sales manager for Paychex’s Allentown office, has been impressed with BU’s students.

“The Paychex-BU partnership started years ago with the sales competition and just grew from there,” said Barr. “I was immediately impressed with the quality of students that Professor Favia was turning out, and through my many contacts with them, found that they were truly “field ready.”  We have been fortunate to hire a number of the graduates of this program and look forward to more. Multiple departments at Paychex worked together to gain approval on the internship program, and it will open many doors for Bloomsburg students.”

BU was first named among the top North American schools in 2015 by the Sales Education Foundation’s (SEF) listing of the best universities offering professional sales education. BU is one of only five Pennsylvania institutions included in the listing. SEF recognizes institutions for elevating the sales profession through university education.