An internship is one of the fastest routes to get hired after graduation. The probability of getting hired gets higher for paid internships. According to the Center on Education and the Workforce at the Georgetown University, 63 percent of those who have paid internships get hired within six months after graduation while those who are unpaid have a 37 percent chance. This summer is an ideal time to start an internship. Here are some tips how you can get a cool summer internship this year.

Start looking in your college

A lot of colleges have paid internship programs for their students while some help place their students in paid internships. Ask your college if they have that fits the major you have. You can also ask your professors and ask for their advice which internship is useful for your degree. If your college has no program, you can utilize social media, like LinkedIn, to contact different alumni who have the same major as you or have worked in the same area of interest as you.

Send out your application early

It might be cliché but the early bird gets the worm. Although a lot of companies start recruiting in fall, there are also other companies that receive applications between February and March. It will be twice more effective if you send out not one but a number of applications. Experts say that sending 10 to 20 applications to different internship programs is reasonable.

Be specific

When searching for internships, it will become much faster and easier for you to find one if you are more specific about what you are looking for. You should consider what are you interested in, what skills you need to develop, or what kind of professional relationships you want to nurture.