Many of you may have been interns at some point during your college careers, and you already understand the value of the experience. Organizations in many career fields offer internships.  An internship provides an opportunity for you to gain skills, make contacts in the field in which you are interested, meet new people with similar interests, and often leads you to full-time employment.  In essence, an internship can get your "foot in the door".  Most internships are anywhere from 15-35 hours a week, 3-4 months.  Unfortunately, most internships provide minimal, if any, compensation.  Don't let this discourage you!  The benefits can outweigh the costs if you remember that the internship is a temporary stepping stone that will aid you in your long-term pursuits.  It will also allow you time to job search (which is quite time-consuming) while gaining skills employers are looking for.  Here are a few internship sites to get you started, or you can check out current internship directories in a career office nearby:

www.internshipprograms.com
www.idealist.org
www.internationaljobs.org