Hershey Internship 2027–2028: Programs, Deadlines & How to Apply

Last updated: August 2026

The Hershey Company is no longer just a chocolate company (its North America Salty Snacks segment (SkinnyPop, Dot's Homestyle Pretzels, Pirate's Booty) grew net sales 28% year over year in Q4 2025, with Dot's now the #1 pretzel brand in the US. Its internship tracks increasingly reflect that shift. Here is the 2027–2028 cycle at The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY): a fall application window, a 3.2-preferred GPA, and one eligibility rule that filters out more applicants than anything else) no visa sponsorship.

Quick Facts

The Hershey Company runs real, paid summer internships (12 weeks) and co-ops (Jan–July or July–Dec) across Finance, Supply Chain, Sales/Category Management, Engineering, R&D, and Data Science: primarily at its Hershey, PA HQ. Apply in the fall window (~Aug–Oct 2026 for Summer 2027). The GPA preference is 3.2, and there is no visa sponsorship for interns.

Externships are short, remote projects where you finish real work for a real company. The Beats by Dre Consumer Behavior Externship and TikTok Social Media Externship build the consumer-insights and brand story Hershey's commercial tracks reward. Explore all Externships.

What Is a Hershey Internship?

A Hershey internship is a paid, structured early-career program at The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) (the $11.7B maker of Hershey's, Reese's, Kit Kat (US), Jolly Rancher, Twizzlers, SkinnyPop, and Dot's Homestyle Pretzels, and the #1 confectionery producer in North America. Hershey runs 12-week summer internships and ~6-month co-ops across Finance, Supply Chain, Sales/Category Management, Engineering, R&D/food science, and Data Science, primarily at its Hershey, Pennsylvania headquarters and technical center. Interns and co-ops do real work) building selling stories from shopper data, SOX and FP&A analysis, supply and demand planning, plant process engineering, and there is a documented return path into full-time Retail, Analyst, and corporate roles. One important disambiguation up front: this is The Hershey Company, the CPG maker, which is a completely separate company from Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (Hersheypark), the theme-park and hospitality operator that runs its own separate "Leadership Internship" and seasonal roles. Most of the "Hershey internship" chatter you'll find on Reddit is actually about the theme park.

When Do Hershey Internship Applications Open for 2027–2028?

Hershey recruits its summer intern cohort in a fall window and routes most early-career roles through evergreen "Future Opportunities" postings plus a Talent Community. Summer 2027 dates are unpublished; the documented Summer 2026 Finance posting went live August 8, 2025, and a co-op posting for Spring 2027 appeared July 20, 2026. So expect Summer 2027 postings to open roughly August–October 2026, on a rolling intake. All 2027 dates below are labeled expected. Because postings are evergreen and drawn from as team needs arise, applying early, and joining the Talent Community for alerts: matters more than hitting a single deadline.

Why You Must Apply the Week Applications Open

Hershey uses standing "Future Opportunities" intern and co-op postings that collect applications continuously and are drawn from as specific team needs arise, so applying early (once fall postings open) genuinely matters, and joining the Talent Community gets you alerts. But before you spend that effort, check the two filters that quietly decide most applications. First, visa sponsorship: every Hershey intern job description states, verbatim, that Hershey will not provide immigration-related support for internships and will not sponsor (such as H-1B) for entry-level roles should you later apply, so international students requiring sponsorship are effectively excluded from both the internship and the full-time path. Second, GPA: 3.2 is the stated preference for corporate Finance and Supply Chain, and Category Management sets a 3.0 hard floor. One more thing to get right: make sure you're applying to The Hershey Company (the CPG maker, careers.thehersheycompany.com), not Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (the theme park), which is a different company with its own internships. Hershey also discloses that it uses AI-enabled tools to help screen and match candidates, with final decisions under human review.

Which Hershey Internship Programs Should You Target?

Hershey's early-career lineup spans commercial, finance, supply chain, engineering, and R&D tracks. The lineup below reflects Hershey's own postings.

See live reqs on the official interns hub. Note: a standalone "brand/marketing" summer intern posting was not found live: CPG marketing entry runs mostly through the Category Management track and full-time Associate Brand Manager pipelines.

What Are the Eligibility Requirements?

From current and recent official JDs (Category Management, Finance, Supply Chain Co-op):

• Class year: Currently enrolled undergraduate: sophomore, junior, or senior standing (varies by role). Finance requires a rising Junior or Senior; Supply Chain Co-op requires sophomore or above.

• GPA: 3.2 preferred for Finance and Supply Chain. Category Management sets a 3.0 minimum (3.2+ preferred). GPA is a real gate.

• Majors: Function-dependent: Business Administration, Finance, Marketing, Economics, Analytics, Mathematics, Supply Chain Management, Accounting, and relevant Engineering (chemical, electrical/controls) all appear.

• Location: Must commute or relocate to the assigned site: Hershey, PA for most corporate roles, Bentonville, AR for the Walmart Category Management team.

• Visa: NO immigration-related support or sponsorship for internships: stated explicitly and repeatedly across every JD reviewed. The single most important eligibility filter.

The Hershey Company vs. Hersheypark: Make Sure You're Applying to the Right One

This is the most common mix-up in "Hershey internship" searches. The Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) is the CPG confectionery and snacks maker headquartered in Hershey, PA, and it recruits interns at careers.thehersheycompany.com. Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (which operates Hersheypark, the theme park and hospitality business) is a legally separate company with its own "Leadership Internship" and seasonal marketing intern roles at hersheyentertainmentandresorts.com. They are not the same employer, and most of the "Hershey internship" discussion on Reddit (r/Hersheypark) is about the theme park, not the CPG company. If you want the corporate CPG internship described on this page, apply through The Hershey Company's careers site and check that the posting is for a corporate function (Finance, Supply Chain, Category Management, R&D) based in Hershey, PA or Bentonville, AR.

What Skills Does Hershey Look For, and How Do You Build Them?

Because a standalone Hershey brand/marketing intern posting wasn't live in this research pass, the skills below come from three function-specific JDs read in full (Category Management (Bentonville/Walmart), Supply Chain Co-op, and Finance Intern) supplemented by the shared CPG marketing-intern market snapshot for the primary role. The through-line is analytical: Excel and PowerPoint fluency, fact-based problem-solving, and clear communication to senior management appear in every JD, with enterprise data tools (Nielsen, IRi, SAP, Alteryx, Power BI) close behind.

How Is Demand for CPG Marketing Interns Moving Right Now?

Build These Skills Before You Apply

And every skill in that chart maps to a remote Externship where you finish a real project before Hershey's fall window opens.

How close is the overlap? The Beats by Dre project is consumer-behavior analysis that yields the shopper-insight evidence Hershey's Category Management interview probes for, and the TikTok project builds the brand and social story that maps onto Hershey's marketing pipeline.

What Is the Hershey Application and Interview Process Like?

Hershey's intern funnel is interview-driven and relatively low-friction: Glassdoor rates intern interview difficulty at 2.8/5, with ~26 days application-to-hire:

1. Apply early via the interns hub. Filter by function/location on careers.thehersheycompany.com/go/Interns and open the relevant "Future Opportunities" posting for your track. Submit resume, work history, and screening answers via the SuccessFactors portal.

2. Join the Talent Community. Get alerts when Summer 2027 postings go live (expected Aug–Oct 2026). For campus students, attend Hershey campus recruiting: 27% of intern hires came in that way.

3. Video interview. Usually one behavioral (STAR) interview with two team members (~30 min), tailored to your resume. Accepted-offer reports describe it as "very chill."

4. Background check + drug test. Standard CPG-manufacturing pre-hire checks.

5. Offer. Typically ~2 weeks after the interview, per self-reports.

Two things to note. There is no standardized timed online coding/aptitude assessment for the corporate intern funnel: expect behavioral video interviews, sometimes with a role-specific skills test or case study for Sales/Supply Chain. And Hershey discloses AI-assisted matching and scoring on submitted materials, with final decisions under human review, so a clean, keyword-aligned resume matters.

What Students on Reddit Say

First-hand threads about The Hershey Company (the CPG maker, not the theme park) are limited; the ones below are paraphrased, with the entity flagged.

How Do You Stand Out for a Hershey Internship?

Three moves, all executable now. First, clear the two hard filters before you invest: confirm you don't need visa sponsorship (Hershey provides none for interns or entry-level roles), and get your GPA story straight against the 3.2 preference (3.0 floor for Category Management). Second, build analytical proof (a project that turns shopper or consumer data into a recommendation, using Excel/PowerPoint and, ideally, a tool like Power BI or Nielsen/IRi-style data. That directly matches what the Category Management and Finance JDs ask for. Third, apply the week fall postings open and join the Talent Community, since intake is rolling and drawn from as team needs arise. Prepare tight STAR stories tailored to your resume) the interview is behavioral and resume-driven, and make sure your resume is clean and keyword-aligned, because Hershey discloses AI-assisted screening. And double-check you're applying to The Hershey Company, not the Hersheypark theme-park entity.

What Other Companies Should You Consider?

Hershey sits alongside the other major CPG food and snack companies with structured, well-regarded intern programs. If you are building a CPG internship list, these are the natural neighbors:

Our remote Externships map the whole CPG landscape with real, finishable projects.

FAQ

Does The Hershey Company offer internships?

Yes. Hershey runs 12-week summer internships and ~6-month co-ops (Jan–July or July–Dec) across Finance, Supply Chain, Sales/Category Management, Engineering, R&D/food science, and Data Science, primarily at its Hershey, PA HQ. Apply at careers.thehersheycompany.com/go/Interns.

When do Summer 2027 applications open?

Not yet published. The Summer 2026 Finance posting went live Aug 8, 2025, so expect Summer 2027 postings around August–October 2026. Join the Talent Community for alerts, since intake is rolling.

What GPA do I need for a Hershey internship?

3.2 is the stated preference for corporate Finance and Supply Chain roles. Category Management sets a 3.0 minimum (3.2+ preferred). GPA is a real gate.

Does Hershey sponsor international students or visas for internships?

No. Every intern JD states Hershey will not provide immigration-related support for internships and will not sponsor (e.g., H-1B) for entry-level roles later either. This is the single biggest eligibility filter.

How much do Hershey interns get paid?

No official rate is published. Community and aggregator data: Engineering interns ~$25/hr (Indeed), a ChemE year-long co-op at $23/hr (Reddit), a remote Data Scientist Intern at $42/hr (Levels.fyi, Master's-level), and Glassdoor's broad ~$26–$47/hr estimate. Treat all as unofficial.

What is the Hershey interview like?

Usually one behavioral (STAR) video interview with two team members, tailored to your resume, plus a background check and drug test. Average difficulty is low (2.8/5), ~26 days to hire, 67% positive on Glassdoor. There is no standardized timed online assessment for the corporate funnel.

Is there a Hershey marketing or brand internship?

A standalone The Hershey Company brand/marketing summer intern posting was not found live in this research. CPG marketing entry tends to run through the Sales/Category Management intern track and full-time Associate Brand Manager pipelines. Note that "Marketing Intern" roles branded "Hershey" are usually Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (the theme park), a separate company.

Do Hershey interns get return offers?

There's a documented return path: successful interns interview for full-time entry-level Retail/Analyst roles (Category Management) or may be considered for full-time employment (Finance), but Hershey publishes no conversion percentage.

A Hershey internship is a real, paid path into one of North America's strongest CPG companies: if you clear the visa and GPA filters and bring genuine analytical proof. Spend the runway building it: a remote Externship turns interest in consumer brands into a finished project you can point at the day Hershey's Summer 2027 postings open.