A college internship allows students to gain practical career knowledge before graduation. Many college programs require an internship in order to graduate. Students often have the short-sighted view of an internship as a mandatory requirement, like any other course, and fail to consider the long-term value of internships. Academic institutions may treat internships like traditional college courses, but post graduate employers will not and neither should students. Internships give employers a reference for hiring new grads.

In the real-world of work, internships get noticed. Beef up a resume and gain valuable experience via internships.

Start Early
Try to land an internship either before first term enrollment or first summer break. Internships help students learn more about a chosen career field. However, students may find that on-the-job experience unveils disappointing aspects of a chosen career. For example, a student may choose journalism because he or she loves to write, yet completes a disappointing internship at a newspaper and flounders in that environment. Perhaps magazine writing, public relations or teaching is a better fit. By completing an internship freshman year, students may make academic adjustments.

Complete Multiple Internships
Students without a job or students who hold unskilled labor jobs (food service, retail) should definitely invest in multiple internships. Whether students spend each summer with a different employer or in different departments of the same company, future employers will take notice in the resulting resume.

Gain Credit or Not
If your college or university allows an internship/academic credit exchange only once, complete additional internships regardless. Be forward-thinking—build a resume in order to land a job immediately after graduation.

Get Paid or Not
At this stage in life, a nonpaying internship only hurts your pocketbook. Future employers will not base hiring salaries on internship compensation. Think long-term: if a nonpaying internship offers greater experience than a paying gig, find a way to choose experience rather than cash.

Internships serve as the first foray for most college students in to the world of work in their chosen field. In addition to building a resume to impress employers, internships help students narrow career focus. Get ahead of the class—make internships an investment in your future.