30 in 30: Go the Intern Route

Karen Bloom, a recruiting specialist at Bloom, Gross & Associates, tells us that if you haven’t had any internships or volunteer work in your field of interest, you’re not doing yourself any favors in a tight job market. You may need to start out as an intern and work your way toward a full-time offer—think of it as a trial run rather than an internship, and try to make yourself indispensable so that it becomes easier for the company to keep you around than watch you walk away. Theodore Bressman, editor of The Intern Memo, agrees: “Being an intern may seem lowly for a college graduate, but keeping a good spirit is all you can really do until you prove yourself and they take you on full-time. The truth is that an internship is a great way to naturally ease into a full-time job, so look at it that way.”

Many great entry-level jobs never even make it onto jobs listings sites and instead are filled out of the pool of available interns. Needless to say, the only way to get those jobs is to be an intern in the right place at the right time.

Furthermore, by taking on an internship you give yourself something to talk about when you’re interviewing for jobs and you’re asked, “What have you been doing the past few months?”

Looking for a job in the new year? Be sure to stay on top of all the essential job-hunting tips from Gradspot's new series, 30 in 30: The Insider's Guide to Job-Hunting in '09. If you'd like to share your own tips with the Gradspot community, email 30in30 [at] gradspot [dot] com with your tip, your occupation/industry of interest, and your name as you'd like it to appear on the site.