by Paula Santonocito, AIRS Staff Writer

Why not consider an intern to cure some of your recruiting ills? Operating under the premise that on-the-job experience is valuable learning experience, many colleges and universities include internship programs as part of their curricula. These programs vary from stints that involve several weeks to work commitments that encompass an entire academic year. The basic concept is that, in lieu of attending classes, a student has the opportunity to obtain first-hand knowledge of his or her field. The student receives academic credit for the learning experience and is sometimes compensated by the employer for work performed.

While it's doubtful a college intern is the candidate to fill a vacant CFO slot, interns can and should be considered for entry-level positions. Not only are most students eager for the experience and anxious to prove themselves, interns are in the final stages of their education and will soon seek long-term employment. Your intern today may actually turn out to be your CFO a few years from now.

There are several ways to find college interns. One method is to research the colleges and universities in your area. Visiting a college's Web site will often provide information about its internship programs. These programs are usually listed by academic major, so it's best to try to match a position or position category with a particular discipline. For example, the details about an accounting internship will mostly likely be referenced under accounting degree requirements. General internship information may also be included in a department or division overview.

Online locations are other places where companies can recruit for interns. Because these sites are designed for student use, they offer the opportunity to connect with the prospective interns directly. Academic advisors also use the sites to locate internships for their students.

Review.com (http://www.review.com.), a service of The Princeton Review, is a site geared to assist students in educational matters, which include finding internships. Selecting the "Career" tab offers a drop down menu, and "Internships" leads to a page where internship information can be obtained by choosing a location and/or a field.

The "Field" listing at Review.com is extensive. It includes common categories, such as engineering and retail, but it also includes more unusual categories, like animal rights and comic books. An internship seeker also selects from a "Weekly Compensation at least" menu that ranges from "None" to "$500."

The ability to narrow the focus with regard to job category and compensation at Review.com is advantageous to the student and to the employer posting the position. This initial screening is a first step toward ensuring a match between candidate and company.

Billing itself as "The Internship Search Engine," InternshipPrograms.com (http://www.internshipprograms.com.) claims to be the largest internship community on the Internet. Noting that it had more than 100,000 unique visitors during the month of March, there is no doubt that InternshipPrograms is a popular college hangout. Yahoo! Internet Life magazine (May, 2000) listed InternshipPrograms.com among "The Top 10 College Sites."

Like Review.com, InternshipPrograms is easy to use. A student wishing to find an internship simply chooses the "Search Internships" tab. This leads to a page with "Location Search," a listing from which a student may choose a specific city and state (or multiple cities and states), and "Category Search," a listing of job categories. It is also possible to search by "Category" only, or just by "Location."

In addition, there is a "Browse Internships" feature at InternshipPrograms with "International," "US City and State," and "Company Name" as browse options. Choosing "Company Name" returns an alphabetical scroll menu of companies offering internships. Selecting a company name then returns information about positions available within that organization. From a student standpoint, it's an ideal way to check out opportunities with a specific employer. From a recruiter standpoint, it's an interesting way to find out what the competition is doing.

Selecting "US City and State" may also offer some insight. You can choose to view a listing of internships for an entire state, or select specific cities from a scroll menu. Either way, by using the "US City and State" option you can find out about internship programs in your region.

Back to College http://www.back2college.com/library/intern.html., a site aimed at returning students, includes a list of online internship sources. Many of these sites, such as CareerBuilder Internship Search and CareerPlanit Internship, are places that list a wide range of positions. Other sites are more specialized. The Mighty Internship Review, for example, features newspaper, magazine, and radio journalism internships, while TV Jobs lists internships in the television industry.

Participating in a college internship program is a smart recruitment decision. Not only do you have the opportunity to fill an open position, you may be providing training for a long-term employee. In addition, offering an internship puts a positive spin on your corporate image. Contributing to the community will be viewed favorably and may lead to other candidates. Why not let a college intern contribute to your company's operations?

-- Paula Santonocito is a writer and communications professional who has written about a variety of business and management issues and is now a contributor to AIRS research. AIRS is a global leader in Internet recruitment news, information, training and tools. Copyright © Hanover Capital Management Corporation 1997-01. All Rights Reserved. For more information about AIRS, please go to http://www.CollegeRecruiter.com/pages/airs.php.