Your summer job could be an internship which could be your first step towards a permanent job in your chosen profession. An internship can help a college graduate get his foot in the door. High grade point averages and a major in a hot field may be all you really need in today's job market but an internship counts as experience.

The pay for an internship is usually low but those jobs in technical or scientific fields usually pay more and lead to higher salaries. There are even internships which do not pay at all but it is a worthy sacrifice for the experience. Plan to wait tables on the side.

Finding one of these jobs is so much easier now. No more filtering through old out of date catalogues. Http://www.internshipprograms.com allows you to search by company, region, profession, and even pay. This site has a searchable database of US jobs only. It will give you the details of the job and where to send the application.

Other features:

• Chat
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• Other resources for interns
• Employer postings