Internships are a great way for students to develop new skills and networking opportunities. And a recent study published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) suggests that many employers later hire their interns full time—making internships an excellent way to start a new career.

According to the NACE survey, about 59 percent of interns later become full-time employees of the company they intern with. And the number of interns hired this year should increase: employers expect to raise the number of internships they offer by about 9 percent over last year.

Students are most likely to find internships by looking at campus event calendars. NACE reports that employers ranked online networking as one of their lowest ranked recruiting methods. Instead, many employers relied on career fairs, on-campus recruiting events, and information sessions.

It can be difficult for military veterans to transition from military service to civilian jobs. To ease this process, Helmets to Hardhats (H2H) assists veterans searching for career and training opportunities in the construction industry.

H2H connects veterans with employers or apprenticeship programs. The H2H website features a variety of building and construction careers, such as HVAC technicians, carpenters, and sheet metal workers. Employers also often post administrative, engineering, and management positions on the H2H website.

Veterans who create an H2H online profile can browse hundreds of career and training opportunities and forward their profile to employers. H2H regional directors—who have a strong background in military service, the building or construction trades, or both—assist veterans through the process. Regional directors offer practical information about career opportunities and help veterans determine which crafts best fit their skill sets.

Interested in working for a nonprofit or government agency but worried about repaying federal student loans? If so, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program can make it affordable for you to pursue the career you want.

Under this program, full-time nonprofit or government employees may qualify for forgiveness of the remaining balance on their student loans after making payments for 120 months. To qualify, borrowers can work in any level of government—federal, state, or local—and in a variety of fields, such as emergency management, school library services, and public interest law.

Public service loan forgiveness is more useful for some borrowers than for others. The standard repayment plan for most federal student loans is 10 years, so many borrowers end up paying off most or all of their loans before they are eligible to have their loans forgiven.

Borrowers who will take more than 10 years to pay off their loans, such as those with Income-Based Repayment and Income-Contingent Repayment plans, may benefit the most from this program. These borrowers' repayment schedules are tied to their levels of income, allowing them to make lower monthly payments over a longer period of time.

More education leads to higher employment for young adults, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Among 24-year-olds surveyed for the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), those with more education were more likely to have jobs.

Data from the survey show that, among 24-year-olds no longer enrolled, 92 percent of college graduates were employed. By comparison, 76 percent of high school graduates who had never enrolled in college—and 60 percent of high school dropouts—were employed at that age.

Young women and men who graduated from college and were no longer enrolled were equally likely to be employed. However, employment of high school dropouts varied by gender: 69 percent of young men were employed at age 24, compared with 49 percent of young women.

These data are from the most recent survey for the NLSY97. Participants in this survey represent a national sample of young adults who have been interviewed every year since 1997.