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If you are a college student you should become an intern in your last year of school. Being an intern is the best way to learn how the business world works, which will be light-years different than school. It is, of course, essential for a college student to select an internship in their chosen industry. If possible, try to find company(s) that you are interested in working in full time. The best way to find available internships is through your professors or the career services department at your college. Word of mouth with other students who are interning is also a great way to get on from the inside. Attending career fairs is another excellent method to finding internships. Hiring managers, recruiters and HR people are usually manning the corporate booths at a job fair and may be looking for interns. The three most important things to look for in an internship are: 1- Find a company close to the type of organization you want to work for after graduation 2- Find a boss (or bosses) that you can learn from and who will help train you 3- Find someone who has a similar position in the company that you want to fill to be a mentor Don’t think that you will be jumping into real work when you start interning. Even a good manager may give you busy work but it will be with a purpose and you can learn from it. Later on you should be involved with more substantial projects. You will also be getting coffee for the staff, ordering supplies and other mundane tasks that will fill up your day. The real reason you are there is for the following: * To learn how a company works * Learning corporate policies and procedures * Find out how the staff interfaces with each other * Determine how different departments work and the problems of communicating with them * Become exposed to corporate politics for the first time in your life It is important to find someone who has the type of position that you are looking for at graduation and see how they do it. Also, find out what they like and don’t like about it. They can be one of your first mentors Always ask questions and learn as much as you can by watching and listening. In addition, this is a good time to learn about corporate culture which will be different in every organization you end up working. You are in an entirely different world than that of academia so be ready for the change. Internships will reveal what the real world is all about. Jim Stedt is a partner at The Business SoftSkills Company (GetSoftSkillsNow.Com) located in Santa Ana, California. They provide job readiness and workforce success videos for education, business, prisons and individual use. Training is available online, on DVD, or through an affiliate program. These products are the most complete and concise soft skills training packages now available for the price of an average college textbook.
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