Many of you may be graduating this year, and although it’s only February, it’s not too early to start thinking about what you plan to do after you graduate. Some of you may already have graduate school plans, intentions to travel or a job already lined up. If that’s the case, congrats! However, others of you might not have anything decided yet — and that’s okay, you’re not alone!

But if you do want to start thinking about finding a job after you graduate, a great site called Zumeo can help you along the way! With Zumeo, you can set yourself apart from other job-seekers by creating a three-in-one “mini professional website” that includes a professional profile, your resumé and portfolio.

Once you have your professional website set up, Zumeo will browse through its thousands of job listings to match you with those that you’d be a fit for. Zumeo also does the homework on top employers to provide you with the important information you need about entry-level positions and internships and the hiring process, as well as connecting you with people who know recruiters at each company!

Zumeo also has a cool social networking feature. Once you’ve got a professional resumé and profile set up, Zumeo searches your social networks — including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter — to show you your friends that either work at a relevant company or can potentially connect you with someone who does.

Let Zumeo help you achieve your career goals. Not only will Zumeo help you find your dream job, but it provides you with the tools and resources you need to actually land it!

The trick to getting cheaper international flights

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5 Easy ways to ruin your finances

The problem of making too much money…yes it happens

How to get internet videos on your TV for cheap

The easy way to curb your impulse buying

Dress well, even on a college budget

Stop procrastinating for good

Here’s something you probably already know…high school students aren’t exactly happy with their education. At least that’s what Jezebel is telling us. Apparently high school students feel like their education is not preparing them enough for college.

And frankly, I don’t blame them. Not just because I think there should be more emphasis on math and science or something like that, but because I genuinely feel that high school doesn’t do enough to prepare students for college inside and outside of the classroom. Networking? Time management? These things matter too, a lot more than AP scores or SATs.

1. Survival Skills. I’m not trying to take us back to the days of home economics, believe me. But I think there is something to be said for high schools offering their students the means to learn some basic survival skills. A few quick and easy snacks for late night studying. Some meals that can be made in the dorm room. A few basic rules for laundry room virgins. These are things college students need to know, but I’d be really surprised if any high school offered courses in them.

2. Networking Skills. Colleges put a lot of emphasis on these skills because they’re a great asset when trying to find a job, but they’re also a great asset when applying to college. Think college interviews. Meetings with advisors. Getting to know faculty parties. All those events that colleges throw with alumni and business partners who they’ve already hired from? All the people these students meet? Wouldn’t a few tips offered up in high school go a long way?

3. Computer Skills. College is about presentations and research papers, Excel spread sheets and charts and graphs. And while some colleges require students take basic computer classes, they wouldn’t need to if high school classes taught more than basic typing. I understand that resources are limited and not all schools have access to enough computers for students to learn these skills but those that do should take full advantage of them.

4. Writing Skills. Whether you’re a science major or an English major you will be spending a large chunk of your time in college writing. But more college students than we realize enter freshman year without even understanding how to cite sources properly. Research skills, writing skills, the ability to analyze an argument. These are the types of skills high school seniors should be learning in English classes. Not how to best beat that AP Lit. test.

5. Time Management. Every high school senior should be heading off to college to take this one because let’s face it, just about every high school senior needs it. In high school we didn’t really need time management skills. We went to school, did our thing, went home, did the homework we couldn’t avoid and repeated the process. Now things are just a little bit different. There’s all this free time and it seems like we should be able to get things done but five hours on Facebook go by fast. Teaching students how to organize their life, schedule their classes, and make time for school and a social life would probably be the greatest skill high school teachers could give soon to be college freshman.

Your turn. What do you wish your students had taught you about preparing for college?  

[There are over 100 million sites on the Internet. 100 million! You might think you know about all the important ones (CollegeCandy, Gmail, Google, Facebook…), but there are thousands of other sweet sites out there (likeRescueTime, Bake It In a Cake and Jog.FM) and more showing up every day! We get it – it’s not easy or fun sifting through the crap and porn to find those gems, so we’re gonna bring the gems to you. Just sit back, kick up those feet and allow us to introduce you to the diamonds in the internet rough.]

Any of your professors, parents, or alumni friends (or CollegeCandy’s editor!) will tell you that one of the most important things you can do in college to help you get a job after graduation is networking. Establishing solid relationships with your professors, peers, and alumni in your field can lead to opportunities that might not otherwise be open to you.

So you set up accounts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and add everyone you meet in order to expand your social network (and hopefully your real-life network, as well). Now, that’s all great, but it means nothing if you don’t maintain those relationships!

And that’s where FellowUp comes in. FellowUp helps you manage all your social networks by putting them all in one place. Simply log in and see what all your connections are up to and send birthday or congratulatory messages. FellowUp helps you make new connections by showing you potential connections and the contacts and interests you have in common.

FellowUp also helps you follow up with connections after a meeting with features such as writing yourself a quick note on the meeting, send a thank you email, and set reminders to follow up with a new contact. It’s like having your very own personal assistant on hand — but it’s free (and takes only a few minutes)!

Even beyond professional networking, FellowUp is great for managing your personal relationship as well — have you ever had a friend get upset that you didn’t wish them a happy birthday on Facebook? A little ridiculous, maybe, but it happens… but FellowUp ensures that it never happens again! Genius!

Pretty cool, eh? Well, there’s plenty more web where that came from. Check out the other sites that are on Laura’s web radar!

The following post is written by Josh Olson from UNC, one of our many friends at Uloop, a student powered marketplace. Read more great posts in their blog.

Straight from the dorm onto the street. This might seem to be the fate threatening college students graduating in our current economic doldrums. But there may be hope. There are methods for making yourself more appealing to potential employers. There are ways to manicure your resume; and there’s always the internship option. But you already knew that.

Here are some somewhat less conventional ways to avoid those unemployment lines after graduation.

1. Build a personal brand. This involves gaining experience, having concrete accomplishments, and establishing yourself as “somebody” in your job-market. It is closely intertwined with networking (see No. 3 below) because it requires that you figure out where the big-shots in your industry gather. Do they flock to the Twitterverse? Do they go to conventions? Building a personal brand necessitates that you answer these questions, do something noteworthy, and then go where the big-shots are to gain visibility.

2. Develop the Skills that Your Future Employer Needs. Ask yourself: “Do I have skills that a future boss would need?” If the answer is no, simply figure out what those skills are and develop them while in college. This is closely allied to No. 4 (start a small business) because there is no boot-camp like business to force you into obtaining new skills.

3. Network (Twitterize). In olden times, those who succeeded in life were those who had connections. This is still true today. Fortunately, today you don’t have to rely on an aristocratic pedigree: you can engineer a connection network via social media. In particular, Twitter is excellent for allowing you to meet and network with people you would never have met otherwise. In the Twitterverse you can rub elbows with the big-shots, who are much more accessible there than in any other context.

4. Start a Small Business. This has three advantages. First, it will build your character and work ethic. Second, it will prove to prospective employers that you won’t be dead weight. Third, it will force you to develop many skills that will prove attractive to employers. Concrete accomplishments are more impressive than beautiful resumes. Businesses want doers and go-getters. Entrepreneurship is a marker of these traits.

Job Wanted.

When we all entered our senior year of high school, the question on everyone’s mind was where they’d be going to college. We worked our asses off to get decent SAT scores and spent every weekend for months writing essays about why we were more wonderful than the thousands of other students applying for the same coveted place on campus.

Four years and a degree later, I now find myself asking a different question: I did all of this for what, exactly?

Of course, I’ve had the time of my life in college. The parties, the late night gossip fests with my roommate, the 4 a.m. diner visits – all of it was totally worth memorizing SAT vocab words and relearning geometry. But when it’s all said and done (which in my case is way too close for comfort), with $120,000 down the hole, what does my little graduation certificate get me exactly?

Apparently, not much.

As news of the drop in the unemployment rate circulated last last month I felt my heart skip a beat. “Thank God! I won’t be spending the next four years in my parent’s basement mailing my resume to every company in the country.” But I spoke to soon. The truth is, while the unemployment rate is, in fact, down, the unemployment rate of recent grads is up.

According to Don Lee at the Los Angeles Times, “For 20- to 24-year-olds, the jobless rate rose four-tenths of a percent to 16% in November.” It doesn’t seem like much, but that is not good for us seniors. “The unemployment figure for college graduates in that age group was 10.6% in the third quarter — the highest since early 1983 and more than double the rate for older college-educated workers.”

Apparently an undergraduate degree isn’t worth much anymore, since now we are also competing for jobs with adults who have lost their’s due to the recession, and they are packing a whole lot more work experience on their resume than we are.

I’ll give you a moment to cry.

And now I’ll give you 5 things you can do right now to set yourself apart from the millions of other job-hunters out there so you can beat the odds and not take your place on your parents’ couch come May:

1. Network!!
Lisa Quast, President and Founder of Career Woman, Inc. says, “Networking is a great way to get to know people who could potentially help with your job search.  Research local associations and groups you can either join or attend individual meetings so you can expand your circle of friends and make new allies.”

2. Plan Ahead
This means more than tweaking your resume every semester. Take some time now to really consider what you want to do after graduation and work towards that goal. It looks much more appealing to the people hiring to see that you were focused and built up your experience in that specific field than to see a resume spanning from marketing internships to the pre-med fraternity and everything in between.

3. Build Relationships
Dr. Debi Yohn, author of, “Parenting College Students: 27 Winning Strategies for Success” urges the importance of teamwork to employers. “Employers are hiring more than a degree.  They are hiring a complete person.  With the competition in the job market, an employer will be attracted to a person that is multi faceted, interesting and can show that they can get along with people. Being successfully involved in outside activities or teams can be an indication of future success.”

4. Be Prepared
When it comes time to interview, preparation is about more than picking out the right outfit or practicing in front of a mirror. There is a lot to learn and in order to stand out, you must internalize it all. According to JR Rodrigues, a hiring manager with 25 years of experience, the biggest issue with recent college grads is their “lack of preparation and general lackadaisical attitude.” He recommends setting yourself apart by “coming to an interview prepared and then carefully follow[ing] through with the entire hiring process.” That means researching the company, knowing your answers and doing the important follow-up after the fact.

5. Get Experience
This goes without saying, but get out there and do something now. Get an internship, get a job, just do something that proves you’ve got the skills (even basic office skills are important!) to handle a real job and you can do more than regurgitate information on a written exam. Grades are important. Leadership is important. But when you’re competing with a lot of people (many with years of experience under their belts), experience and knowledge are the most important.

It’s finally here: week ten of my summer internship at Magazine X in New York City. I’m proud to report that I’ve made it through numerous days of unpaid labor and braved the horrible commuting conditions (apparently Mother Nature decided that this summer was going to be characterized by either torrential downpours or blazing heat, and nothing in between), and I actually managed to have a pretty good time while doing so. I only had to get someone coffee twice (and I could get myself one too, so leaving the office for a Starbucks run wasn’t too awful), and I have a ton of good clips to add to my resume.

So what have I learned?

Taking the steps to make connections is totally worth it, especially in an economy that’s making it so hard to get jobs. Sometimes I felt like I was harassing editors or taking away from their precious time when I asked them if they had fifteen minutes to sit down with me and talk about their careers or give me advice. Maybe I really was bothering or inconveniencing them, but I never had anyone turn me down and I ended up having conversations with a number of people that I will definitely use as references when I’m trying to get a real job next year.

If you work with other interns, don’t even think about getting all competitive/weird/crazy with the hopes that your boss will think you’re the better worker and more deserving of a job later down the road. Don’t try to out-do your fellow intern. Share tasks, work together (I promise, you’ll get things done faster and your manager will be impressed with your cooperation with your cubicle-mate), and make a friend! You’ll be much happier if you have someone to laugh with, complain to, and crack-out with (long days staring at a computer screen can make you a little cuckoo if you know what I mean) than someone who hates you because you treated this internship like a reality show. Which it is not.

There are tons of homeless weirdos in midtown, probably because they figure that surrounding themselves with wealthy white collar workers will up their chances of getting some spare change. The intern that I work with has an oddly strange friendship with one of them, who she refers to as “Homeless Puppy Man” (I’ve seen a tiny hairy creature sitting on his lap. I guess it’s a dog but I always thought it looked more like a ferret…), and yesterday a different homeless person drew her a portrait. I’m not kidding.

The best breakfast to get you through the day is, by far, the turkey bacon-egg white-cheese on an English muffin breakfast sandwich from Starbucks. Seriously, it’s the perfect blend of protein and carbs to keep you alert and full until you can finally sneak away for something to eat at 3 p.m.

Find a comfortable pair of shoes and wear them every day, especially if you’re frequenting the subways during rush hour (you’ll get stomped on) or running errands for your bosses (you’ll still get stomped on). You should also find a good bar for post-work happy hour. I just won a free happy hour at a pub in Midtown, and all of my friends will get half-priced drinks from 6 to 9 on the night of my choice! It really is the best way to de-stress, especially if the bar you choose is across the street from your favorite cupcake shop (mine is, and I’ve had a few red velvet cupcakes this summer… to say the least).

I’ve learned many lessons since graduating from college. I’ve learned that buying a pair of shoes isn’t as important as eating dinner, that keeping in touch with friends is hard and that your first job out of college isn’t always as amazing as you think it will be.

But the biggest and most important lesson I’ve learned is that networking is the key to success.

You may not want to believe it, but when it comes to getting ahead in life, it’s all about who you know. Every single job (from full time gigs to random babysitting jobs) that I’ve gotten since I graduated from college has been because I had some connection to the person hiring. Whether it be the college I went to, the sorority I was in, or just some random person who knew my mom, I would not have gotten the position if that connection hadn’t been there.

And it’s not like I wasn’t qualified.

I went to highly regarded university where I maintained a 3.6 GPA. I held internships, jobs and leadership positions. I had an exceptional resume and did everything in my power to prepare myself for the big job hunt post graduation. But while some of that mattered, what got me to stand out in the endless pile of resumes (of equally impressive candidates) was the fact that someone knew me.

Networking and making yourself known to people in your industry of choice is the best thing you can do to find a job. People are more apt to hire you if they know you, so getting people to know you should be your first priority. It’s not hard and it’s never too early to start.

Here are a few tips you can use to make yourself known to the right people:

1. Find Networking Events: Every industry has them and while they may be boring and stuffy, you should definitely attend. But don’t just go and stand around. Go out of your way to introduce yourself to people. Your confidence will impress people, and your interest and knowledge about the industry will make you memorable.

2. But Don’t Act a Fool: Networking events are often held during Happy Hour and will usually have some booze. It’s totally acceptable to have one drink to loosen up those nerves, but it is not OK to get drunk and say something stupid. You want to be remembered for your intellect and professionalism, not for telling that story about the time you had a threesome with the offensive linemen of your college football team.

3. Stay in Contact: Whether it’s a professor, a family friend, an old boss, or someone you met at a networking event, you must keep in contact with them if you want them to remember you. Send follow up emails to keep you fresh in their mind so they think of you when a position becomes available. The emails don’t have to be long – just a “hello” to keep you on their radar is good enough.

And even if that person is not not one who does the hiring, knowing them can still help you get ahead; you can use them for a reference, or they can recommend you to the person who is. I’ve made tons of friends at various journalism networking events and they are always informing me of new opportunities popping up at their companies and passing my information along the people who are hiring. Had it not been for them, my resume would have surely been lost in the shuffle.

4. Every Opportunity is a Networking Opportunity: I know it seems totally fake and borderline douchey to try and network with everyone you meet, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, right? If you meet someone (anywhere) who works in your industry, get their information. You never know just who can help you get to the top and the more people you meet (and impress!) the better chance you’ll have.

On top of all of that, she’s only 21 and still a student at Northeastern, studying Spanish, Management Information Systems and Finance, currently on internship in NYC doing data analysis for a mega media company. Not to mention, she’s sassy, hilarious and can we say: Coolest. Hair. Ever. When I discovered this girl, I knew I had to bag an interview, so I contacted her via YouTube to grab her attention (don’t laugh). It worked and we quickly began collaborating on this interview, on top of a few other projects in the works. Sarah Merion is an inspiration for college girls who want to be entrepreneurs while still in school and proof that maybe, just maybe, the finance world isn’t as screwed as we thought.

5 Questions We Ask Everyone:

1. What is your most ridiculous college memory/most trouble you’ve ever gotten into?
Haha, no comment. Definitely did not involve me dancing on a bar. Hoo boy.

2. What are five things you can’t live without?
1. MAC foundation.
2. iPhone! Hello Tweetdeck, I love you.
3. Pink and black Herve bag. I seriously carry it EVERY. WHERE.
4. Hanky Panky underwear
5. Classic cherry chapstick. Wait, no! Friends! The TV show. Oh also, vanilla Yoplait light yogurt. And Kashi GoLean. Kashi GoLean Crunch. Grande non fat cappuccino with one Splenda. Shoot, that’s more than five, isn’t it?

3. What’s your motto/advice you live by?
Break the rules.

4. What is your favorite song to belt out at the bar/in the car/for karaoke?
“Take Me Home Tonight” by Eddie Money in the bar, but I’m not gonna lie, once, I rolled the windows up to my car I sang every word to the entire Celine Dion CD. Yes. I know every. Single. Word.

5. Ten years from now you will be….
Skinny. Rich. Married. Kidding! No, I’ll be really fit, not skinny. Kidding aside, I’ll own my own business. Either be a solopreneur or some sort of entrepreneur starting many different companies. I’ll be active in many different philanthropies and I’ll continue spreading my message about social media and inspiring Gen Y.

5 Questions just for Sarah Merion

1. Your motto is “Break the rules.” Now, does that mean break the social norms and go out on a Monday night when you have a final tomorrow or…?
My motto is “Break the rules” because when you break the rules or step outside the mediocre, then you create your own game. No one can beat you when you create your own path. Do something that scares you, make yourself totally uncomfortable. Life doesn’t have to be about the “norms” and staying on path. You will always succeed when you push yourself to go against the grain.

Now, I’m not saying go out and break the law, skip class and be a bum. What I’m saying is, challenge yourself, push boundaries and do something that people might look unfavorably upon. No one ever got noticed by doing what everyone else did. Even though blood and needles terrify me, one day I stopped and thought “Hey, I could be a surgeon” and I seriously thought about it. I realized it wasn’t my calling, but I wanted to because I COULD.

2. You talk about Gen-Y a bunch.What the heck is Gen-Y and what’s their deal?
Gen-Y is our generation, that age range from about 10-25. We are the internet babies in a way. Our biggest problem is that we have big goals and aspirations, but we don’t act nearly enough on it. We’ve been spoiled by the internet and technology and instead of harnessing it for our good, we’ve been expecting instant gratification. They talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.

Gen-Y needs to step it up, break the rules and work hard. We’re in a rough time right now and people have been saying that we won’t be as successful as our parents. That’s a really scary thought. But, we can fix it! Gen-Y can take full advantage of all our opportunities and create their own lifestyle, instead of simply expecting it.

3. How did you get into all of this? What were the obstacles? Did all those super serial Finance major peers think you were nuts?
Honestly, I was just bored one day. I was in school, not working and I just got the itch to do something. I found this guy @LewisHowes on Twitter and he really turned me onto Social Media, we connected and before I knew it I was his assistant. I wasn’t getting paid, but I was getting a ton out of it. He was mentoring me and I began building a network on Twitter. My parents, peers and classmates were appalled. They couldn’t believe I would just work for free.

I started living by “break the rules.” I’d always been very organized and planned everything and all of a sudden I found myself just jumping into the social media world, going against the grain and standards of the “typical” finance student.

At the time, I was in a very competitive program at Northeastern for International Business. This program requires you to both go abroad and study in a foreign language for a semester on top of a six month internship in that company. It’s widely renowned and I was mere months away from going when I started getting into this social media world. I started doing workshops at Northeastern and MIT and eventually wrote the grant to go to SOBCon. After the conference, it was settled. I knew I had to drop out of the IB program and focus my energy on what I was succeeding in. I never regretted my decision to completely switch paths and my successes have proved that it was the right choice.

4. We recently wrote an article about “Facebook bullying.” Since you are such a prominent figure in social media, and also a college girl, what advice would you have for girls about getting attacked through social media (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, AIM, etc…)?
Not to be a mom, but just ignore it. Don’t engage in the behavior. The other person looks like they’re just talking to themselves. Or, just write an article about it that a ton of people read. Look who’ll be laughing then!

5. You’ve made your professional name through Twitter, LinkedIn and your site. We like to tweet and blog about boys, booze and bathing suits. Are we totally screwed down the line in our professional careers?
Honestly, I started out writing a really racy “Sex & The City”esque blog before I realized how I wanted to make my name. I took it down because I really believe if you don’t want something you write to be on the front page of the paper, then don’t write it at all. I decided to focus on a different area and leave the racy stuff offline.

But no, if you do it the right way, you won’t be screwed. You just need to step back and assess your goals. If you want to be a corporate lawyer, maybe you shouldn’t write about your sexcapades. However, you can be a professional woman and if you’re creative and savvy about it, you can create your own niche and write about whatever you want. Just OWN it.

Thanks Sarah! We’ll keep on blogging about lip gloss then… in a fierce and professional way, of course! Sarah will be attending CollegeCandy’s Cocktail Hour in NYC! Come stop by and say hello!

Melanie currently interning in NYC, taking full advantage of all margarita specials and those blonde summer boys. Stalk her on Twitter: @tinkermellie

Last spring, I was gearing up to graduate and was waiting for the job offers to come rolling in. Instead, the only opportunity that came my way was a summer internship. At the time, I was making plenty of money waiting tables, but I knew that the added experience of an internship would add to my credentials– even if it meant taking a pay cut. So I moved to upstate New York to a place that was a five-hour drive from everyone I would care to visit.

When I first got there, I quickly realized that this job sucked. My boss, the woman who had hired me, misinformed me when I had inquired about the hours, the workload, and the learning potential of the position during my interview. However, by the end of August, when it was time to pack up and move on, I realized I had just had one of the best summers of my life.

Before I go into the ways that you, too, can make the most of your summer internship, let me explain why mine was so terrible. I had been hired by a nonprofit regional theater company as an administrative intern for their summer season. As an English major who was trying to break into theater, that sounded right up my alley when my boss had described my duties. However, when I arrived, I quickly learned that the majority of my time would be spent serving as assistant house manager — ripping tickets and listening to patrons bitch for 8 shows a week.

Though I had thought that I would build my portfolio by working side-by-side with the theater’s Educational Coordinator, my first week was spent vacuuming dust off of the theater’s 500 seats and battling the cobwebs that had set in while the venue was dark for the winter.

But I came out OK and you can too. Here are some tips for making the most of that craptastic summer internship:

1. Make friends.

All work and no play…. right? Hey, if the workload sucks, at least you can form a support group and walk away with some valuable new relationships. I had another intern who had the same responsibilities as me, and though our personalities are very different, we couldn’t help but develop a strong friendship. I was the crazy one who showed her how to open up, and she was the level-headed one who talked me off a ledge every time I freaked out about a bad decision. Now, she lives in Japan– go figure– and we Skype several times a week.

Besides the other intern, I got to a point halfway through the summer when I decided to show everyone the “real” me. Take this advice with a grain of salt, because there is a fine line between work and play, but halfway through the summer, I totally let my guard down and started partying it up. I learned how to work the room, and one night, one of my coworkers informed me, “Kathryn, you ARE the party.” Later in the summer, I organized a keg party that everyone in the company attended- young and old, interns and lifers, actors, tech crew, directors- everyone. When the summer came to an end, even the box office team gushed that nobody had ever brought every department together like that.

2. Take on more responsibilities.

I was clearly not going to build my resume simply by performing custodial duties every week. So I made it clear that I was willing to work extra hard in order to be given more tasks. I spoke to the Educational Coordinator and expressed my interest in evaluating script submissions for her, and she gave me scripts to read in my own time (yes, I am a nerd, but at least I was using the skill set I had developed in college). When word spread that I was willing to work outside of my normal intern duties, I was rewarded by the Costume Supervisor, who paid me an extra $40 a week to serve as a dresser on one of the shows. In Intern World, $40 goes a long way. If there’s anything I’ve learned from internships, it’s that everything is what you make of it. You’re not going to get experience if you go home every day and bitch that you just spent 8 unpaid hours making photocopies. But if you put yourself out there, you can garner an infinite amount of experience.

3. Network.

Making yourself known and networking is one of the most invaluable perks that can come with an internship, if you take the initiative. By taking on more responsibilities and becoming the Social Mascot of the company I worked for, I met a LOT of people. I didn’t have to volunteer with the Education department, but not only did doing so boost my resume, it allowed me to get close enough with the coordinator that she offered to serve as my reference when I left the internship. Besides, industry professionals started where you are now, so use the “intern card” to your advantage. Ask one of the head honchos of the company to have an informational meeting with you. You will get to describe your skills set, receive advice, and display initiative that your self-appointed mentor will appreciate. How can someone say “no” to a struggling intern? Even if you’re stuck in a department that isn’t right for you, reach out to a coworker and ask if you could shadow him or her for the day. Hey, it doesn’t hurt to ask.

4. Read.

If you’re bitching about spending several hours a day filing and photocopying, you might as well find a way to make these menial tasks matter. Photocopying contracts? Read them. Filing meeting minutes? Read them. You’ll learn about everything, including the microscopic details that your superiors schedule four-hour fourways to brood over at length. If you’re given a document, your boss trusts you with it. Look at what it is, and take in the info. Do NOT repeat any of it, because many items will be confidential, but there’s nothing wrong with seeing how other professionals handle their business affairs, is there? Because hey– you’ll be there one day.

5. Speak up.

If you’re not being challenged, or if there are flaws in your intern program, keeping mum won’t help. Find someone you trust- another colleague, your internship coordinator, maybe even your boss- and express the fact that there’s room for improvement (politely, of course). Chances are, the company won’t want to risk losing a free employee halfway through the summer when the pool of applicants has already dried up. It’s even better if you have a plan, so you can suggest an alternative. It’s pointless to wait until your exit interview to gripe about how miserable you were this summer, so stand up for yourself and see if you can make a change NOW.