Internships are extremely important and beneficial to college resumes, so if you have the opportunity to apply for one, I would 100% recommend it. Internships are huge resume boosters and will no doubt give you an advantage over the competition when it comes to real world job seeking after your college graduation. The key thing to note, however, is that with internships, planning ahead is always your best option.

Most do not work like jobs in terms of the actual hiring process. With jobs, ads are posted and can be filled within only a few days because the start date is almost immediate. With an internship, the process is quite different - the actual start date could be months away, which is why you need to think about it in advance.

If you're thinking about applying for an internship with a major corporation (or with one that you anticipate will be accepting applications from thousands of students around the country), you will definitely need to apply for this months in advance. Many summer internships are filled by the spring, and, in turn, ones for the fall are filled during the summer.

While most internships are filled months in advance, this does not make it true for all internships. Colleges all over offer internships with various departments or with school-based organizations that you can usually apply for toward the beginning of the semester. While they may not seem like the most exciting ways to spend some of your free time, they will definitely add value to the resume you send out to that internship you really want.

The main thing is that if you're just starting to think about internships and haven't found one you're interested in yet, it's never too early to at least start drafting and preparing your resume. You won't be able to apply for a job or internship without one, and you want to be prepared the minute you see one you like.

About the Author:

James Allen is the USA Director of Marketing for RedStarResume, a business that provides resume and cover letter writing services for students, graduates and young professionals.