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Nothing is more important than getting that first job, but in professional fields such as finance, it is sometimes difficult to get a foot in the door straight out of school. Many new graduates find themselves in that traditional catch-22: They can't land a job because they lack experience, but they lack experience because they can't get a job.
Internships are an ideal way for students to get real-world training and practical experience. While internships can take a variety of forms, almost all of them provide invaluable feedback and experience for you to put on your resume for future prospective employers.
Valuable Insight
Let's say you do an internship in banking, only to decide later that a banking career is not for you. Was it wasted time? Not at all. It's time well-spent, because finding out what you don't want to do before investing in a full-time job is important. At the same time, however, you will be able to demonstrate your initiative to future prospective employers by having narrowed your career options.
Experience
Whether your internship experience yields an ideal career field for you to pursue or merely one to avoid, you gain experience you cannot get in the classroom -- like how management and office politics work. The internship experience will also complement your resume, which will be heavy on coursework when you go to look for a job.
Timing Is Everything
Getting an internship earlier in your college career is probably better than later on, but it is almost never too late to get involved. The first two years of school may not give you enough exposure to the goings-on in a real company, but by your junior year, you should have courses that will equip you for an internship. Summers are a good way to commit a lot of time to the internship and possibly even pick up some money in the process. Not all internship programs pay, but the ones that don't pay typically offer college credit for the work you do for them. Regardless of which one you choose, prospective employers will respect the experience gained.
Where to Look
Most colleges and universities have internship programs arranged with local businesses, and larger universities even have arrangements with Fortune 500 companies in the major US cities. So one of the first places to look is in your school's administrative office. But there are other avenues to pursue, too. For instance, Monster has listings for finance internships.
