While job prospects for new graduates are extremely low, a new report found that students who opted for internships during their college career fared better than those who did not. Visit http://www.experience.com to learn more about internships.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers' 2009 Student Survey found that only 19.7 percent of graduates from the class of 2009 who applied for jobs had one by the end of April. Of those, about 23 percent of graduates with internship experience had a job, while only 14 percent of students without internship experience managed to find work.

"It’s not surprising that employers look first to their interns - who have a track record with the company - when they have jobs to fill," NACE Executive Director Marilyn Mackes said.

The survey further found that more than 50 percent of college seniors who responded to the report had internship experience, but less than 25 percent of them received job offers from the organization they interned with.

"The Class of 2009 saw significant cuts in hiring, and even an internship is not a guarantee of a job offer," Mackes added. "However, the numbers show that, especially in a tough job market, the student who has an internship has a distinct advantage over students who don’t have that experience."

More than 35,000 students representing more than 840 colleges and universities throughout the country took part in the survey, which was conducted between February 19 and April 30. Of those students, 16,500 were graduating seniors.

The major reason students are having trouble finding work - internship experience or not - is the state of the national economy. During September, the country lost 263,000 jobs while the unemployment rate increased to 9.8 percent.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of unemployed people in America has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million since the recession began in December 2007, and the unemployment rate has doubled to reach its current rate.

One program that provides internships for college students has helped a group of large companies save millions of dollars.

The Environmental Defense Fund's Climate Corps is made up of students preparing for internships with Fortune 500 companies. The students in the program are responsible for finding solutions to make corporate operations more green, save money and lower carbon emissions.

This year's program, which was made up of 26 MBA students, worked to identify energy efficiency measures that will collectively save 22 companies and one university about $54 million.

The companies will see the millions of dollars in savings by avoiding the production of about 100,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases and saving about 160 million kilowatt hours each year.

The companies involved in the program include eBay, Dell, Sony Pictures Entertainment, TXU, Stop and Shop/Giant and the Houston Rockets.

According to an article by Grist, actual savings at the companies are yet to be seen, as many already have energy efficiency programs in place. If the measures can be implement, however, the companies will see a large return on investment, as they only spent about $260,000 on intern salaries during the 10-week program.

The long-term result of the program could be even more beneficial to society as a whole. In essence, the program is working to create a new corporate class of green financial engineers and future CEOs who view environmental performance as an important bottom-line concern.

"Many of these companies have people working on energy efficiency but it really helps to have another set of eyes on the ground," Millie Chu Baird, Climate Corps project director, said in the article. "Even if a company thinks it's doing everything it can, we found often it can be doing more."

When you're fresh out of college, your first goal is often to find potentially great entry level careers. While knowing what type of career you'd like to have is first and foremost, knowing where to look for jobs is almost equally as important.

Although large cities like New York, Los Angeles or Chicago may seem the most appealing when it comes to finding your first job, those cities aren't always necessarily poised for long-term success. In fact, there are several smaller cities that saw tremendous growth during the first half of this decade.

Fortune recently released its list of the metro areas that had the fastest local gross domestic product growth from 2001 to 2006. Lake Charles, La., came in first with a GDP growth of 119 percent. The city, which has a population of 192,856, had a GDP of $13.8 million.

Lake Charles also has been faring relatively well as of late. Even though the city saw its unemployment rate increase from 7.3 percent to 7.6 percent during August, that rate was still lower than the national unemployment rate at the time of 9.7 percent. And despite the slight increase in unemployment and a .6 percent decrease in total non-farm jobs from last year, Lake Charles managed to add 300 jobs from July to August, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Second on the list is Casper, Wyo., with a GDP growth of 85 percent. The city, which has a population of 73,129, had a GDP of $5.7 million. This city also has fared relatively well as of late despite the current economic recession.

Even though Casper saw its unemployment rate increase from 6.6 percent to 6.9 percent during August, that number was still lower than the national unemployment rate during the same month. However, the city saw a 3.2 percent decrease in non-farm employment from last year and lost 200 jobs from July to August.

Third on Fortune's list is Palm Coast, Fla., with a GDP growth of 84 percent. The 91,247-person city had a GDP of $1.4 million. Unfortunately, the recession seems to have taken its toll on this city.

Even though Palm Coast saw its unemployment rate decrease from 16.2 percent to 15.7 percent during August, that number was significantly higher than the national unemployment rate at the time. And while the city added 100 jobs from July to August, it saw a 7.7 percent decrease in non-farm employment when compared to last year.

The 25 cities that saw the biggest GDP growth from 2001 to 2006 include:

1. Lake Charles, La.
2. Casper, Wyo.
3. Palm Coast, Fla.
4. St. George, Utah
5. Port St. Lucie, Fla.
6. Farmington, N.M.
7. Midland, Texas
8. Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
9. Baton Rouge, La.
10. Las Vegas, Nev.
11. Prescott, Ariz.
12. Bakersfield, Calif.
13. Longview, Texas
14. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
15. Panama City, Fla.
16. Lake Havasu City, Ariz.
17. Ocala, Fla.
18. Victoria, Texas
19. Fairbanks, Alaska
20. Hanford, Calif.
21. Bend, Ore.
22. Clarksville, Tenn.
23. Hinesville, Ga.
24. Houma, La.
25. Odessa, Texas

When you're in college, one of your primary goals is to plan out what your optimal first entry level job will be.

It's not only important to figure out what you enjoy doing and what you are good at doing, but also how you can use those skills in a specific career field. As your first choice for a job may not be one that will lead you far in the future, it's important to keep an eye on the career fields that will be the most promising.

Earlier this year, CareerCast.com evaluated more than 200 professions in order to determine the best and worst jobs. Those jobs were evaluated based on five criteria common to every position, including environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress.


The top 10 jobs include:

• Mathematician - Applies mathematical theories and formulas to teach or solve problems in a business, educational, or industrial climate. Works an average of 45 hours per week and earns about $94,160 per year.
• Actuary - Interprets statistics to determine probabilities of accidents, sickness, death and loss of property from theft and natural disasters. Works an average of 45 hours per week and earns about $88,146 per year.
• Statistician - Tabulates, analyzes and interprets the numeric results of experiments and surveys. Works an average of 45 hours per week and earns about $72,197 per year.
• Biologist - Studies the relationship of plants and animals to their environment. Works an average of 45 hours per week and earns about $74,273.
• Software engineer - Researches, designs, develops and maintains software systems along with hardware development for medical, scientific and industrial purposes. Works an average of 50 hours per week and earns about $86,139 per year.
• Computer systems analyst - Plans and develops computer systems for businesses and scientific institutions. Works an average of 45 hours per week and earns about $75,160 per year.
• Historian - Analyzes and records historical information from a specific era or according to a particular area of expertise. Works an average of 45 hours per week and earns about $61,209 per year.
• Sociologist - Studies human behavior by examining the interaction of social groups and institutions. Works an average of 45 hours per week and earns about $63,195 per year.
• Industrial designer - Designs and develops manufactured products. Works an average of 45 hours per week and earns about $58,206 per year.
• Accountant - Prepares and analyzes financial reports to assist managers in business, industry and government. Works an average of 45 hours per week and earns about $59,173 per year.

The 10 worst jobs include:

• Lumberjack - Fells, cuts and transports timber to be processed into lumber, paper and other wood products. Works an average of 45 hours per week and earns about $32,124 per year.
• Dairy farmer - Directs and takes part in activities involved in the raising of cattle for milk production. Works an average of 52.5 hours per week and earns about $33,109 per year.
• Taxi driver - Operates a taxi cab over the streets and roads of a municipality, picking up and dropping off passengers by request. Works an average of 47.5 hours per week and earns about $21,127 per year.
• Sailor - May perform any number of tasks involved in the operation of ships, boats, barges or dredges. Works an average of 50 hours per week and earns about $34,160 per year.
• Emergency medical technician - Attends to situations which demand immediate medical attention, such as automobile accidents, heart attacks and gunshot wounds. Works an average of 40 hours per week and earns about $26,158 per year.
• Roofer - Installs roofs on new buildings, performs repairs on old roofs and re-roofs old buildings. Works an average of 42.5 hours per week and earns about $34,164 per year.
• Garbage collector - Collects refuse on a designated municipal route and transports trash to disposal plants or landfill areas. Works an average of 42.5 hours per week and earns about $30,189 per year.
• Welder - Joins or repairs metal surfaces through the application of heat. Works an average of 45 hours per week and earns about $33,127 per year.
• Roustabout - Performs routine physical labor and maintenance on oil rigs and pipelines, both on and off shore. Works an average of 50 hours per week and earns about $29,140 per year.
• Ironworker - Raises the steel framework of buildings, bridges and other structures. Works an average of 45 hours per week and earns about $32,129 per year.

One college in California is getting help from the state in order to train students for entry level jobs in the green industry. Visit http://www.experience.com/ to learn more about entry level jobs.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently announced that the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, Calif., will receive $815,000 from the California Clean Energy Workforce Training Program. The funding will be used to train students to work in utility-scale solar energy.

"This program represents the kind of innovative thinking needed to steer our economy toward a greener future while targeting the unemployed, underemployed and new workforce members at a time when we must do everything possible to help Californians return to work," Schwarzenegger said.

The certificate program, which is expected to start as early as January 2010, will provide students with entry level training for work on large-scale, commercial solar farms. That training differs from that which teaches students how to install individual solar panels on homes and businesses.

The utility solar training program will be part of the College of the Desert's energy enterprise center, which focuses on training students for jobs as wind turbine technicians. The grant itself will be used to cover costs for materials, curriculum development, employee placement programs and instructors.

Of the 34 organizations to receive a share of the $27 million in state money and private partnership matches, College of the Desert was the only organization located in Riverside County.

The federal Bureau of Land Management has received several proposals for solar plants in the Blythe and San Bernardino County areas. Each plant could create 400 initial construction jobs and about 70 permanent jobs.

Most IT students could greatly benefit from partaking in internships (Click here).

A recent study from Computerworld found that there are often significant gaps between what tech-savvy graduates learned during school and what CIOs need from new IT staff members. This proves even the smartest graduates could benefit from internship opportunities.

Internships help students grasp what will be expected of them when they enter the workforce, which is particularly important to companies that don't have the time or money for on-the-job training.

Here are the biggest gaps that CIOs from the insurance, financial services and entertainment industries see between what IT graduates know and what they need to know:

• Inadequate grip on business realities - Many college graduates have unrealistic expectations. More internships and a map of skills and talents required to be successful in different IT jobs could greatly help close this gap.
• A narrow worldview - Companies expect IT professionals to be aware of and knowledgeable about cultural differences. This can easily be achieved by colleges promoting courses in global business practices and cultures.
• Social networking skills but wobbly relational skills - While most new graduates are proficient in using a myriad of social networking sites, texting and other forms of electronic communication, many have difficulty reading interpersonal signals and communicating with others.
• Lack of career focus - CIOs often think that college graduates don't receive the proper amounto f advice about hwo to match their talents and interests with specific IT jobs.

A recent report from the American Institute for Economic Research ranked the best areas throughout the country for students to attend college. The rankings are based on various criteria, including internships offered in the area.

The report found New York City; San Jose; Boulder, Colo.; and Ithaca, N.Y. as some of the top destinations for college students.

Researchers considered data on more than 360 metropolitan areas and came up with the top 75 destinations for students. The cities are ranked in four categories, organized by population.

Data considered included the academic environment, including the number of college students per 1,000 residents; quality of life, including cost of living and the number of cultural and entertainment venues per 100,000 residents; and professional opportunities, income per capita, unemployment rate and yearly increase in college-educated people moving into or out of the city.

The top five areas in the major metro category are:

• New York
• San Francisco
• Boston
• Washington
• Seattle

The top five in the midsize metro category are:

• San Jose
• Austin
• Hartford, Conn.
• Raleigh, N.C.
• Denver

The top five in the small metro category are:

• Boulder, Colo.
• Bridgeport, Conn.
• Ann Arbor, Mich.
• Gainesville, Fla.
• Madison, Wis.

The top five in the college town category are:

• Ithaca, N.Y.
• State College, Pa.
• Ames, Iowa
• Champaign- Urbana, Ill.
• Iowa City

"Your college years are shaped by the classes, the professors and the campus, but they're also shaped by the location of the school," Kerry Lynch, senior economist for the American Institute for Economic Research, said.

While students and families may have a sense of their surroundings, the institute recommends they should consider factors such as opportunities for internships, access to cultural activities and what kind of people their neighbors will be.