It used to be that, just five or six years ago, you could graduate from college pretty much assured you’d have a job. Of course all that has changed since 2008 and the recession, with close to half of new college grads unable to find a job.

This is the year to get a great internship, but you need to start right away. There is good news: According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), intern hiring is up 8.5% this year. There is tons of information out there about internships, but what are the key steps a student or new grad needs to know? To help, I’ve distilled them into 5 simple actions.

Do you have a “fixed” or a “growth mindset”? Does your mindset change depending on the situation? According to psychologist Carol Dweck, those with a fixed mindset see intelligence as something that doesn’t change as opposed to those with a growth mindset who assume one is always learning and growing, thereby increasing intelligence. This can also be viewed in terms of attributes like athleticism, and facility with numbers or the written word.

Career paths are long and confidence is an ephemeral thing. And in my experience, women need their confidence replenished more than men.

I have a number of presentations and workshops coming up this fall, and I’ve been thinking about how to structure my talks for maximum value and interest. In my research, I found a Tim Sanders blog post with a phrase that particularly bears repeating: “Do your research about the audience, where they need to be moved to, and how that intersects with your expertise or experiences.”

Upon meeting someone new, virtually my first question is always: “What kind of work do you do?” Typically followed by “How did you get your start?”

This is a guest post by HR consultant Judy Lindenberger on one of my favorite topics: standing out on LinkedIn.

I love LinkedIn. It’s one of the best networking tools out there to help you expand your reach. It’s “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” for the business world. But it can be a big, foreign maze. To stand out in the LinkedIn crowd, here are ten quick tips:

Penelope Trunk’s blog post today on what college students should do now offers some great wisdom. But the one tip that really caught my eye was her suggestion to take a Myers-Briggs test to understand what you’re good at. She also suggests that if your score doesn’t agree with your chosen major, you should change it.

In my line of work I spend a lot of time reviewing peoples’ profiles on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, et al. One of the biggest mistakes people make is having a less than appropriate photo on their profile.