Still waiting for that dream job to arrive to you on a silver
platter? Without doing some work on your own, chances are that you
could be waiting for a long, long time.

Amidst the current state of employment scarcity, experience is
key when one seeks to obtain a job. It has become commonplace for
employers to hire those who have had prior and related work
experiences, and thus, internships are must-haves for getting ahead
in the job market and students know that January and February are
not too early to start looking.

Even though a number of internships are unpaid, and some even
require menial tasks such as making copies and coffee, these
short-term work experiences, often completed during the summer,
provide beneficial job training and experience in a desired field
or career area. By simply having an internship, one can build
career networks and find mentors, gain experience that cannot be
taught in a classroom and earn letters of reference for future
employment and graduate school.

But for someone to get hold of an internship, one must be
willing to put forth the effort.

By now, virtually all students are aware that internships can
give them an edge on their job market competition. As a result,
internships, paid or unpaid, have become much harder to acquire and
one’s resume and networking skills desperately need to grab
hold of an employer’s interest. Unfortunately, many students
do not understand that the process of searching for an internship
is multi-tiered and that it requires a variety of resources.

“It all sounds so easy at first. Students tell themselves
‘I want to get a summer job!’” explained Amy
Hoag, coordinator of internship services at The Career Center.
“It can be a huge and overwhelming process, but it’s
not all that difficult; it just takes time and
organization.”

A number of students also fail to recognize the internship hunt
as their own responsibility. The Career Center, located inside the
Student Activities Building, changed its name from Career Planning
and Placement because too many students were demanding job
placement without pulling their own weight. Still, students are not
left on their own, as there are many courses they can take in their
search — they just have to cooperate and be patient.

The Career Center is a great place for students to begin their
internship search. Besides providing mock interviews, resume
critiques and a library of books on choosing a career, the Career
Center offers other helpful agents for finding internships.

Using MploymentLink, the Career Center’s new online
recruitment system, which Hoag describes as “all-in-one
shopping” for career opportunities, students can search for
job and internship positions and campus interviews. It is a logical
place for students to conduct their searches since it allows them
to pinpoint jobs according to industry and location, therefore,
streamlining the vast amount of results one could get through
Internet searches.

Information about internship programs can easily be found on
company websites — you just have to know how to look. Hoag
advises against doing a Yahoo search, unless you really want a
broad spectrum of job possibilities. Instead, one should taper
their search to a more specific level, like researching individual
corporations. Websites for employers such as NBC, Microsoft and MTV
all have links that provide details about how one can apply for
internships.

Other resources that can be used through the Career Center are
internship and experiential-learning websites. Via the many links
that are listed online, one can search for internship opportunities
with companies and organizations like TV Internships, Environmental
Careers Organization and Wet Feet Internship Programs.

The Career Center also guides students through
University-sponsored summer opportunities such as the Public
Service Internship Program in Washington and the New York Arts
Program, both having deadlines in the fall. PSIP offers selected
students the chance to explore everything from congressional
organizations and judicial offices to museums and broadcast media
jobs. With the New York-based program, possible employers range
from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to Jazz @ Lincoln Center.

And since many internship deadlines are looming ahead, the
majority around mid-February and mid-March, the Career Center is
hosting an Internship Fair on January 20 from 2 to 6 p.m. in the
Michigan Union.