Thinking about an Internship?

Whether you are considering an internship for this coming summer or contemplating one for an upcoming semester, it is never too early to put your plan into action. During these difficult economic times and tight job market, the right internship will provide valuable work experience, as well as a leg up on the competition when applying for future positions.

Performing a Google search online for "internships" amasses an unlimited selection of helpful sites. Some are very specific to particular areas of interest:
healthcare , fashion, finance, science, journalism, music, engineering, federal internships, etc.

An article on the website About.com, Penny's Top Internship Sites for 2009, by Penny Loretto is a worthwhile resource, offering a selective list of general sites to peruse. You can also subscribe to Penny's weekly internship newsletter. In addition, there are a number of other related internship topics that Penny addresses on the site. So, click away.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your internship search, but a good place to start.

By the way, if you aren't familiar with About.com, the site offers many wonderful newsletters on an endless array of topics. I receive a number of their newsletters: for example, newsletters about the places I like to frequent in New York City, specific to the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. These newsletters provide invaluable tips about NYC that would not normally be on my radar screen.


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Mom

"Free" Is the Operative Word for College Students

Consider it your mantra. "Free" sounds and feels good.

I bet I'd be hard pressed to find a college student who isn't familiar with the website Craigslist. However, if somehow it has eluded you, be sure to check it out, and encourage your parents to do the same. Essentially, Craigslist is an enormous site for classifieds and forums. It has an extensive listing of such categories as jobs, internships, housing, as well as items for barter, for sale and for free (there's that word again!). According to the website, Craigslist is located in "more than 550 cities in over 50 countries". So go online, find your state, and narrow it to your region or county. The possibilities are endless on Craigslist.

There's another site that may be less familiar to some of you - - Freecycle. As the name implies, this site is truly free, with the added benefit of saving the environment by recycling, and thereby reducing items uselessly sent to the landfill. Once you join a group in your area, you are able to see what people are giving away. If an item interests you, you arrange to get it. It's that simple. As an example, when my son wanted yet another new instrument to add to his repertoire, we posted an ad on Freecycle. He quickly received offers for 3 guitars, and ultimately found a bass guitar with an amplifier that someone was willing to give to him....you got it, FREE! Similarly, I posted an ad in search of knitting needles and now have an enormous selection of different sized needles, with yarn remnants thrown in to sweeten the pot! You'll be amazed by what people are willing to part with. We're still on the lookout for a harp, and a banjo, and a ukelele, and a...........!

Conversely, it's a terrific way to give away items you may no longer be using. Recently, we cleaned out our garage - - no small feat! We donated countless items to charity. However, we had some items that were less appropriate for donating: old cans of paint, old tires, old Collegeboard SAT and AP books (you remember those! I bet you're smiling.), etc., with no obvious place to dispose of them, short of the landfill. A quick posting on Freecycle, and we received a bunch of responses from interested people. We left them at our mailbox to be picked up. Easy!

So, with a little ingenuity, and thinking outside the box, you may find just what you've been looking for, and it's FREE. Be a treehugger.