Interns, Get Moving

Right about now, on college campuses around the country, midterm anxiety is heating up. The football season is in full swing. And any advance planning will probably focus on winter-break ski trips. But savvy students are thinking long-term. Career experts concur: the time to start looking for that internship is now.

Why the rush? Not only are there fewer internships than during the boom years of the 1990s but also the tough job market of the past several years has more qualified and experienced candidates competing. Experts agree that diving into the internship fray is almost a requirement for landing a job today. A study from water-cooler site vault.com notes that 86% of college students have completed at least one internship, 69% more than one. According to Job Outlook 2003, a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, human-resources staffing managers agree that their own internship programs are their best sources of full-time employees among recent grads. So what do you need to do?

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USE THE INTERNET TO REFINE YOUR SEARCH Of the many websites out there that list internship programs, a few stand out: internshipprograms.com, internships.com and monstertrak.com. If you're interested in a specific city, try Googling your location and the word internship to see what's around. Then, suggests Peter Vogt, career coach at monstertrak.com, use the Web to find each company's annual report, and read up on its business. It's also smart to go to a library to find articles that have been written about the companies you're applying to.

CULTIVATE THE CAREER CENTER Come spring, the employees at your school's career center will have more friends than they can handle. Smart students are making their needs known when business is slow — right now. The same is true of professors in the department most likely to receive calls if a company has openings in your area of interest. You want to be the person they recommend.

NETWORK Ask around to find the names of students who have landed jobs at the companies you're most interested in. Then call them and ask if they'll spend 15 minutes telling you how they did it. That's a much more palatable move than asking flat out if they'll recommend you for an internship, says Gary Alpert, whose company WetFeet publishes The WetFeet Insider Guide to Getting Your Ideal Internship. Of course, the goal is that they'll think you're such a go-getter, they'll volunteer to pitch you.

MIND YOUR MANNERS In a competitive market — and this is one — it pays to be polite, says Dario Bravo, who manages internship services at the UCLA career center. So dress appropriately when you head out to your interview, and send a thank-you note directly afterward. "Not an e-mail, a paper one," he notes.

You can e-mail Jean, a columnist, at moneytalk@moneymail.com