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In an employment market that is already struggling, finding entry level jobs becomes even more difficult. For the most part, businesses are hiring fewer new workers than they usually would. In addition to this, they are receiving a record number of applications for an increasingly smaller number of positions. To make matters worse, many employers prefer experience and are, therefore, hiring workers who have been in the field for longer instead of new graduates who are trying to start out.

With the job market as it is, internships have become even more important. Graduates who have participated in one of these programs have a much large chance of finding work within the first six months, because they have both the degree and some experience in their field of choice. When faced with the choice between an applicant from a more prestigious college with no background in the industry and a job seeker from a lessor known academic facility who has participated in an internship program, the intern has a higher chance of being offered work.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, having a college degree is no longer enough to secure an entry level job. Unemployment amongst the portion of the population with at least a bachelors degree recently hit 3.1 percent, which is the highest it’s been since 2003. Since this data tends to be a lagging indicator, the Washington Post says that experts now believe that 4 percent of graduates are currently without work, which is the highest this figure has been since the Bureau began tracking such things in 1970.

Statistics like this only drive home the point that education and experience are both necessary to find an entry level job in today’s employment market. Thankfully there are still plenty of internship opportunities to be had. Anyone who is expecting to be finishing school in the near future should do their best to find one of these programs to participate in.

Would-be interns will be glad to know that they are not limited to only finding this sort of opportunity during the Summer. Many companies are now providing a variety of different programs. New options include such nontraditional internships as those offered in the off season, shorter internships and telecommute programs. There are also paid internships still out there to be had, although these may be more competitive than ever before.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 12:55 pm and is filed under job search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.