Treating it as identical to a sales internship is the first thing to go wrong in most business development intern job descriptions — and the second is that they list requirements without ever describing the work. A student reading one cannot picture a Tuesday, so they either do not apply or apply to forty postings indiscriminately, and you get volume without fit.
The template below is the opposite shape. It opens with what this business development intern would actually do — map the target market and identify accounts worth approaching, among other things — states what success looks like by the end, prices the role as a number, and sets out a selection process built around a ninety-minute exercise: pick ten accounts from a described segment, say why, and write two outreach emails. Everything in square brackets is yours to fill in; everything else is ready to post.
The template — copy this
Business Development Intern — [City] ======================================= ABOUT THE INTERNSHIP [Company name] is hiring a Business Development intern for a 3-month internship based in [City]. This is a working internship on live projects — not a training programme and not shadowing. In your first week you will map one segment, take your list through a review, and book your first meetings. You will have a named mentor, a scoped project, and a review at the midpoint and at the end. WHAT YOU WILL DO • Map the target market and identify accounts worth approaching • Run first-touch outreach and book discovery meetings • Support proposals, decks and follow-ups • Maintain pipeline reporting WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE A set of qualified meetings that came from the intern’s own outreach. We will tell you at the start exactly what we will be assessing, and you will get written feedback at the midpoint so nothing at the end is a surprise. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR • BBA, MBA, B.Com, B.Tech or any degree with strong written English. Final-year students and recent graduates are both welcome. • Working familiarity with market and account research • Working familiarity with cold email and LinkedIn outreach • Working familiarity with proposal support • Working familiarity with pipeline tracking • Working familiarity with written and verbal communication • The ability to ask a clear question when you are stuck, rather than staying stuck WHAT WE OFFER • A stipend of [stipend] per month, paid monthly • A 3-month internship starting [start date] • A named mentor and a weekly one-to-one, not an unassigned desk • A certificate and a written reference reflecting your actual work • Time with the people who actually make the decisions, not only with your mentor • A pre-placement offer for interns who meet the bar — this is a real path, not a maybe SELECTION PROCESS • Application review — we read every application and reply either way • A 20-minute screening call about your background and what you want from the internship • A practical task: a ninety-minute exercise: pick ten accounts from a described segment, say why, and write two outreach emails. It is timeboxed, we will tell you what we are looking for, and someone will read it and give you feedback either way. • A final conversation with the team you would be joining • Decision and offer within a week of the final round HOW TO APPLY Apply through this listing by [application deadline]. Attach your CV. If you have written anything persuasive — a proposal, a pitch, an outreach email you were proud of — send that too. [Company name] is an equal-opportunity employer; we assess every application against the same criteria, and we reply to everyone who reaches a screening call.
What this business development intern will actually do
These are the responsibilities the template uses. They are deliberately concrete: an intern can picture the work, and you can assess against them at the end.
- Map the target market and identify accounts worth approaching
- Run first-touch outreach and book discovery meetings
- Support proposals, decks and follow-ups
- Maintain pipeline reporting
What to screen for in a business development intern
Is their outreach researched, or a template with the name swapped? That one question separates candidates for this role far more reliably than the CV does, because almost nobody applying has directly relevant work history. The practical way to ask it is a ninety-minute exercise: pick ten accounts from a described segment, say why, and write two outreach emails — timeboxed, reviewed, and with a line of feedback back either way.
- Market and account research
- The one to insist on. Depth here beats a passing acquaintance with everything else on this list.
- Cold email and LinkedIn outreach
- Working familiarity is enough at intern level — this is learnable on the job if the first item is genuinely there.
- Proposal support
- Working familiarity is enough at intern level — this is learnable on the job if the first item is genuinely there.
- Pipeline tracking
- Working familiarity is enough at intern level — this is learnable on the job if the first item is genuinely there.
- Written and verbal communication
- Working familiarity is enough at intern level — this is learnable on the job if the first item is genuinely there.
Why this JD converts
- It separates research from outreach, which is what BD interns are actually good at and what most JDs mash together into "generate leads".
- It defines the outcome as meetings the intern sourced themselves, which is countable and which they can put on a CV honestly.
- It asks for researched outreach rather than volume, which is both better BD and a screenable difference — you can see it in their first ten emails.
What employers get wrong hiring business development interns
- Treating it as identical to a sales internship
- BD is research-heavy and slower-burning. Candidates who wanted one and got the other leave.
- No definition of the target segment
- An intern told to "find leads" with no segment produces a list nobody uses. Name the segment in the JD; it also attracts candidates who know it.
- Measuring only volume of outreach
- You get 400 templated emails and a damaged domain reputation. Measure meetings booked, not emails sent.
What to pay a business development intern
For a three-month, in-office internship at a mid-sized company, the benchmark band for this role in a tier-1 metro is ₹12,000–₹34,000 a month, and roles priced in the upper-middle of that band fill fastest. Adjust down for tier-2 cities and remote work, up for large enterprises and GCCs. State the number in the JD — "as per company norms" reads as "low", and the strongest applicants filter it out before you ever see them. For this role specifically, the thing candidates weigh against the stipend is a set of qualified meetings that came from the intern’s own outreach — a credible answer there is worth several thousand rupees a month in how fast the role fills.
Who to open this business development intern role to
The template uses a deliberately wide eligibility line: BBA, MBA, B.Com, B.Tech or any degree with strong written English. Widen it rather than narrowing it. Long undifferentiated requirement lists measurably suppress applications from candidates who would have succeeded, and the effect is strongest among exactly the candidates most internship programmes say they want to reach. BBA, MBA, B.Com and B.Tech — strong written English matters more than the degree, and it is easily screened with a single written exercise.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between a BD and a sales internship in a JD?+
BD is research-heavy and slower-burning; sales is outreach volume and closing. Candidates apply expecting one and leave when they get the other, so the JD has to be explicit about the mix. If your BD internship is mostly cold calling, describe it as sales and you will keep the people you hire.
Should we name the target segment in the JD?+
Yes — it makes the role concrete and it attracts candidates who already know that market. An intern told to "find leads" with no segment produces a list nobody uses; an intern told "D2C brands doing under ten crore in Maharashtra" produces something the sales team can work.
How should a BD internship be measured?+
Meetings booked, not emails sent. Measuring outreach volume produces four hundred templated emails and a damaged sending domain. Say in the JD that the measure is qualified meetings, and you will attract candidates who research before they write.
Can we use this business development intern template commercially?+
Yes — copy it, edit it and post it anywhere, with no attribution required. On JD length and structure generally, the master internship job description template covers what applies to every role; this page covers what is specific to hiring a business development intern.