The importance of internships

You're young, vibrant and full of energy. You're also in school, kinda broke and have no work experience. What's a student to do?

Get out there and work!! The question is, how?

Having run out and received 2 (yes 2) completely unrelated degrees, I can tell you the secret to success is getting the experience before you officially graduate from school.

The market is completely and utterly saturated with smart and experience individual. Without even a hint of experience on your belt, you may not stand a chance. Your best bet while you're still in school is to get an internship. Your college or university may have a cooperative education program waiting for you to tap. These programs are excellent because you have the continuous update of fresh information from your classes as well as a means of supplementing your income. Co-ops also usually have resources such as job boards, job coaches and a set of employers who regularly visit the school for acquiring talent as part of their co-op fees. Job coaches usually help with straightening out your resume and cover letter but are generally just administrative staff who may not have direct experience in your field. However, they can still do some mock interviews for you to practice, that's much better than no support at all.

For better assistance, it is more useful to find a real recruiter to spruce up your resume and provide additional coaching, especially since as a new-comer to the industry, you may not know what employers are really looking for. An inexpensive solution is having your resume fixed up by ResumeGuru, a set of ex-Fortune 500 HR specialists and recruiters (http://resumeguru.us).

The best thing about co-ops is that your experience even goes on your permanent education record! Unlike 75% of young graduates, you will have definitive proof of your experience right after graduation, and that is invaluable when securing your very first full-time permanent position.

So given that your experience is on your transcript, do you care whether or not you're being paid? No, payment and salary should NOT be an issue. By simply having the right experience, your return on investment will come when you get that first real job in the world. In this economy, real experience far outweighs your finances. If you're as talented as you say you are, don't worry, a well-funded employer will come to woo you with a salary and benefits.