You've registered for classes, bought books and are packed up and ready for another school year -- but if you don't have plans to secure an internship, you might be missing out on crucial experience and even a potential future job. According to a new survey by CBcampus.com, CareerBuilder.com's college job search site, 61 percent of hiring managers say they are hiring college students or recent college graduates for internship positions in the fall and 44 percent say they would likely hire college interns as full-time, permanent employees.

"It's never too early to start thinking about internships, and there are a great deal of opportunities that exist as long as you take the time to search and apply" said Nathan Lippe, senior career advisor for CBcampus.com. "Fifty-nine percent of the hiring managers we surveyed say they either have recruited interns in the past or currently recruit interns and another 14 percent say they plan to recruit interns in the future. College students and recent college graduates need to take advantage of this so that they can gain hands-on experience to add to their resumes and build a professional network."

In addition to experience, interns also have the opportunity to make some extra cash. The majority of hiring managers who offer internships (36 percent) say their positions are paid and 14 percent say they have both paid and unpaid positions.

Eighty-four percent of hiring managers say they will begin hiring college interns for the fall between June and September.

Based on the survey results, Lippe gives the following advice to turn an internship into a permanent position:

Be Enthusiastic -- Being energetic and showing your manager how much you enjoy your job goes a long way. Thirty-five percent of employers say the biggest mistake college interns make that would cause them not to hire the intern permanently is not showing enthusiasm for the job.

Go Above and Beyond -- Motivating yourself to do more than just the assigned task will make you stand out among your co-workers. If you're not convinced that managers notice your extra efforts, maybe this will help -- one-in-five employers say not going above and beyond the assigned task would be the biggest mistake a college intern can make that would cause them not to get hired permanently.

Be On Time -- Being punctual shows that you're both reliable and responsible. While there are managers who aren't as stringent when it comes to start times as long as the work is getting done, others expect you to be on time every day. With thirteen percent of employers say arriving late to work is the biggest mistake college interns make that would cause them not to hire the intern permanently, waking up 15 minutes earlier to ensure you're on time is worth it for a shot at a full-time position.

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 2,417 hiring managers and human resource professionals, (employed full-time; not self-employed; with at least significant involvement in hiring decisions), ages 18 and over within the United States between June 1 and June 13, 2007. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

With a pure probability sample of 2,417, one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/-2 percentage points. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About CBcampus.com

CBcampus.com is a division of CareerBuilder.com, the nation's largest job site with more than 22 million unique visitors and over 1.5 million jobs. College students and alumni can quickly target job and internship opportunities for their experience-level from the nation's top employers. They can also post resumes, get the latest news on companies and industries, sign up for automatic job alerts, view local career fairs and tap into advice on everything from writing resumes to on-the-job success. For more information, visit CBcampus.com.

  Media Contact:
  Theresa Chu
  773-527-2437
  Theresa.Chu@careerbuilder.com

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SOURCE: CBcampus.com