Internships

How to find an internship.
What is an Internship?
Benefits of an Internship.

• Another very good Internet resource can be found at  http://www.dcinternships.org/, sponsored by Georgetown University and The Fund for American Studies. Designed for students majoring in public policy, politics, economics and international relations.
  
  

• Sign-up is FREE and simple at FlipDog.com, so visit the site and start applying for jobs, or internships, today! Although FlipDog is primarily focused on permanent jobs, some internships are listed.  Use a search box on the site, using  internships as the keyword .
  
  

• Visit Monster.com's Campus Web page and enter a key word to use their search capability to get a list of internships of interest to you.  Or, go directly to their Intern Center and set up your Username and Password to gain access to a database of internship listings; this applies only to participating schools.  Also, the friendly Monster has a very good collection of articles on Internships. 
  
  

• Quintessential Careers has an excellent compilation of Internship Resources for College Students
  
  

• Find an internship abroad.  Visit InternAbroad.com (see banner at top) and search by location or by internship type (your academic major).
  
  

• Visit Rising Star Internships and do a search. 
  
  

• Internships.com sells a series of printed guides to internships by region.  
  
  

• Use InternshipPrograms.com to post your résumé to employers who are exclusively looking for interns!  You can also search their extensive database of internships, read internship reviews or create your own real-intern profile, or research companies and careers on Wetfeet.com.
  
  

• Go to http://www.studentjobs.gov/Other.htm and click on one or more of the "Student Employment Information" links under "Employment Information".  This site is helpful if you are looking for a government internship anywhere in the country.
  
  

• InternJobs.com is a national database of internships for students and recent graduates.  Internship seekers can search the InternJobs.com database by keywords or location.

• Go to http://wetfeet.internshipprograms.com/ and use The Internship Search Engine.  Search by location and/or type of internship.

What is an Internship?   It is a planned, supervised learning experience - usually conducted in an on-the-job atmosphere at an employer's premises rather than on campus -  in which the ultimate goal is to increase a student's knowledge regarding a certain career field and sharpen skills within a work or service environment.  Internships vary in length from a few weeks to up to a year.  They can usually be arranged to coincide with your academic calendar; for example, you might arrange an internship lasting one quarter or semester, then return to campus.  Summer break is a popular time for internships, since it allow the student to continue a normal academic schedule.  Internships can be a very structured learning experience or they can be designed to meet the expectations of the student; this may depend on whether academic credit is being granted for time spent on the internship.  They can be found in government, industry, professional, corporate, and non-profit settings.  Internships can be done locally, out- of-state, and even internationally.  They can be part-time or full-time, paid or unpaid (the opportunity to gain experience is considered your compensation), and some, as previously mentioned, can be taken for academic credit.    

Benefits of an Internship.  The one thing all good internship opportunities have in common is they provide students with career-related work experience.  Internships are usually win-win situations, even if the employment relationship does not become permanent upon graduation.  You, the student, gain exposure to the real world of work, to another part of the country or world, to a potential future employer, and to experience that can help clarify your goals and objectives during the remainder of your time in college and give you a definite advantage in landing that first permanent position after graduation, whether it be with the company where you did your internship or another employer.  The organization providing the internship has an opportunity to become much more knowledgeable about you as a prospective employee, than they would through interviewing alone, before offering a permanent position.