The never-ending search for ways to better your chances of finding a job post graduation does not stop once you are back in the classroom for the year. There is a lot of competition out there (just look at all those kids in your classes!), so getting some internships under your belt is important. And now, yes now, is the time to start looking for internships for the spring semester and even the summer.

The importance of internships cannot be overlooked. Not only are they resume boosters, but good ones also provide you with excellent experience in the field of your choice. That way when you show up to your first day of work, you aren’t lost in a sea of papers and Excel spreadsheets.

But where can you find these coveted positions? Every student and their over-zealous mother is searching sites such as Monster.com and fighting over the internships available there. But here are some other sites that not only offer amazing internship opportunities (that are actually useful and not just a place to surf Facebook all summer), but also other services and advice for the budding, young intern.

InternCircle.com is a social networking site for interns and employers. When you join InternCircle you fill out a profile that tells potential employers where you received your education, what positions you have already held and what position you are currently looking for. You can post your resume and be found by employers, or go searching through the database yourself. The advantage of this is that the community is smaller and hands on, so everyone on there is actively seeking quality interns.

Not only can you directly connect with employers and companies, but InternCircle also lists social venues and events, house listings and news and advice from InternCircle and other industry experts. It also offers a form of mutual selection between the internship-seeker and the employers that guarantees a worthwhile internship experience.

Another helpful website is InternQueen.com. The Intern Queen, Lauren Berger, has her own website which offers personal intern coaching, advice and special offers for interns. Berger offers resume and cover letter makeovers as well as a 15-minute consultation to answer any questions you may have. InternQueen.com offers really awesome internship listings (seriously, these are internships people would kill for) on Quarterlife.com, which is another social networking site for students and employers.

A third site that is a valuable networking tool is LinkedIn.com. By joining LinkedIn and creating a professional profile, students and intern-seekers open up the avenue to be found by recruiters in their desired industry. Not only that, but you can form connections with previous employers and co-workers that work as a reference and/or good connection for all future jobs.

Just when you thought you were going to be stuck getting coffee and organizing files alphabetically for yet another semester, or, worse, finding no internship at all, these websites came to save the day. And your future. If you’re looking for an internship (and you should be, people!), these are definitely the places to go. You may not find an internship as awesome as mine (right here at CollegeCandy.com), but I’m sure there are other great ones out there.

I remember having a drunken bonding moment with a really cool guy in college a few years ago, and he asked for my number. I asked for his screen name instead. I mean, IM-ing someone is so much more casual, and so much less stressful. You don’t have to feel your heart thumping through your chest as the phone rings. Is he going to answer? Is it going to go to voicemail? Is he blocking me? What do I say if he picks up?

With IM, you can see if he’s away or idle, and choose your own adventure from there. You can leave a casual “Just wanted to say I had a great time last night” IM, rather than starting a phone call with the same line and then struggling to make small talk. Likewise, you can make small talk behind the shield of the IM window, where he can’t hear your voice crack, and where you can copy and paste the whole convo to all of your girlfriends and get advice while you try to weed out his intentions.

And then came Facebook. The social network has made quite the mark on the dating scene. There’s the poke, which can be viewed as casual, flirty, or creepy. There’s the “it’s complicated” label for the relationship you’re in (finally- you can be open about having a f*ck buddy without warding off the rest of the male population!); and of course, there’s the wall post, which makes the casual IM seem like the awkward phone call of yesteryear.

I mean, the Facebook Comment is meant to be a quick exchange, with no pressure to make conversation. When you make a phone call, you have to come up with a discussion and keep the ball rolling. When you IM, there’s still the slight chance that he comes un-idle and writes back. With the F/B comment, it’s open and shut. Even if he writes back immediately, you can pretend you didn’t read it, and wait until the drunken-hookup hormones die down before you decide whether you want to pursue a fling or keep it casual.

Even better, the post-date phone call screams “interested.” So there’s not really a way to let someone down gently. You meet, you have a date, you feel a connection. Then you wait three days. If he calls, he wants you; if he doesn’t, you’re done. But Facebook gives people a chance to be “friends” first (and I use the term loosely, since Facebook friends and true camaraderie are entirely different entities). But the “friending” option is beneficial in two crucial ways. One, you don’t owe a Facebook friend anything. You don’t owe him a date, just like he doesn’t owe you an explanation if his last fifteen comments are from blonde supermodels in training. Two, since you don’t owe him a date, you can safely flirt through F/B until you know it’s time to make a move.

Say you meet someone at a party, and your buzz makes you believe you could be compatible. He calls, and you’re pressured to make some sort of plans. Then you have to fake food poisoning and skip out on the check because the beer goggles have flown off with the force of a Kansas tornado. However, if you have access to his Facebook, you can check out his interests, his friends, and, most importantly, his photos. You can also poke and message for an undetermined amount of time, and bide your time until you’re ready to meet up again.

Yeah, Facebook and Myspace have their flaws, which you’ll discover when you’re denied a job because a recruiter saw your kegstand photos during a background check. But they’ve changed the face of relationships. And personally, I think the dating scene has gotten easier. Nobody ever got an STD from a cyber-poke.

[photo from jupiterimages]

Admit it: you love Facebook. And MySpace. Maybe you have a blog, or you comment on one. Blogs and social networking sites are a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, post pictures and pontificate on your latest drama.

But who ELSE is keeping track of your online persona?

Well, for one, your future employer. By now you’ve probably heard that many HR people head straight to Facebook or MySpace after that big interview you thought you nailed. Maybe you never got around to removing “getting wasted” from your interests, or de-tagging that picture of you with a cigarette in one had and a drink in the other. Things like these are warning signs to future bosses–if they think you spend most of your time drinking and smoking, they’re going to wonder whether or not it will affect your job performance.

What about a work blog? My friend, lets call her…Jonie, kept a blog while working as an assistant for a crazy financial guy. It was juicy and hilarious and a great read and…she got caught. She didn’t get fired, but she pretty much had to resign soon after. She never used her own name on the blog, nor did she use her boss’s name or the company’s information. But somehow her boss got a hold of the link, and he knew right away who it was about. Busted, big time.

What about your friends, enemies, frenemies, ex-boyfriends, etc? I just recently remembered that I still have the user name and password to the secret Live Journal of a now ex-friend. Is she gossiping about the demise of our friendship? Let’s hope not…because I could read all about it if I chose to! Even this blog got yours truly in trouble recently for dishing about some personal stuff–it doesn’t matter HOW they find the post, only that they found it in the first place. What’s read can’t be unread, loves!

The worst, as far as I’m concerned, is your PARENTS. I had a very private blog that I only told a few friends about, where I kept accounts of all my college goings-on. Well, stupid me updated it once while I was home for vacation, leaving the link in the “recently browsed” list. Guess who found out about my nefarious behavior, including showing up to an internship incredibly hung over? Yeah, that would be my parents. Whoops.

So what can you do to prevent that awkward “I saw what you wrote about me” or “I just don’t think you’re the right employee for us” moment? Here’s a quick plan of action:

1. Have a look at your Facebook and MySpace accounts. Is there anything there you wouldn’t want your teacher/parents/boss to see? Consider taking it down.

2. Privacy settings are your friend! MySpace lets you set your profile to private, Facebook has about a million different settings–you can make your photos and your wall available only to friends or certain networks, for example, or remove yourself from being searchable at all. Keep in mind that now anyone can join big city networks like New York, NY–so if you belong to one of these, its a good idea to restrict access to friends-only.

3. Nothing you publish on the web is really private. A locked diary stashed under your bed? That’s private. A blog that’s password protected or published anonymously? Not private. If someone besides you knows the password, imagine a worst-case scenario–what if the password were leaked, and someone else saw what you wrote? Would all hell break lose? Consider taking it down.

4. Give yourself a quick Google. After searching my full name (in quotes), I found an old Bebo page I created over a year ago and forgot about, a piece of my writing which was published in an online journal, an article from a school newspaper in which I was quoted, and another online profile for a “what I’ve been reading”type of website. Pretty innocuous results, but who knows what you might dredge up about yourself?

5. When in doubt, delete delete delete! I recently decided to get rid of my MySpace and Friendster accounts, and just stick to Facebook. The less opportunities people have to find out more info about you, the better.

Finally, remember when your mom used to “if you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, don’t say it at all?” Well, we all know that’s crap (who doesn’t love some good gossip?), but you may want to take Mama Sarah’s revised saying to heart: “If you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, don’t publish it on the internet”.