GOOGLE, GE, JP MORGAN, GOLDMAN SACHS, MORGAN STANLEY, ELECTRONIC ARTS, DOMINO’S PIZZA AND THE FBI AMONG NATION’S BEST

Vault 2010 Guide to Top Internships Offers Insight into Finding and Landing the Best Internships

New York, NY, (January 12, 2010) Vault.com, the web’s most comprehensive resource for career intelligence, has released the Top 10 Internships in America for 2010, as well as the Top 10 internship programs across a number of industries and categories, such as best perks and most unusual experiences.  

According to Vault research, 50.4 percent of undergraduate career centers reported that the number of students applying to internships has increased in the past year.  With an uncertain job market driving the competition for internships to unprecedented levels, the 2010 Vault Guide to Top Internships helps students sort through the confusion, and compete more successfully for internships of their choice.  The guide provides students with an edge, offering profiles of 785 different internship programs that include employer information, hiring manager contact details, descriptions of the type of work available, application deadlines and tips on getting hired.  

“This is the guide that started it all for Vault,” said Vault.com Executive Vice-President Yazad Dalal.  “And now, the Vault Guide to Top Internships has become one of the most important resources for college students and graduates looking to enter a challenging job market.  Internships provide the best opportunity to enter the work force and this guide is the tool that gets you there.”

The Top 10 Internships for 2010 are:
 
Capital Fellows Programs
Garmin International
GE
Google, Inc.
INROADS, Inc.
J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank
KPMG
Nickelodeon Animation Studios
Smithsonian Institution
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
 
Vault’s editors select the Top 10 internships from a pool of hundreds that represent career opportunities and a chance for students to flex their professional muscles.  Putting themselves in the shoes of students and young professionals, editors ranked internships based on a criteria they felt mattered most—pay and perks, on-the-job training, unique experiences and resume radiance.  

“In this economy, having internship experience on your resume at graduation is crucial.  No matter what career you want to pursue, there is an internship for you—thousands of organizations, from tiny nonprofits to national foundations, small research centers to government agencies, and small publishing houses to multinational corporations, all offer internships," says Carolyn C. Wise, senior education editor at Vault and editor of the Vault Guide to Top Internships.  "The Vault Top 10 Internships represent the programs we feel are the best all around.”
 
According to the editors, each top internship has its own unique benefits.  Garmin International hires about 90 percent of each intern class to full-time positions; GE offers great pay and housing assistance; and INROADS, Inc. offers a multiyear internship with placement in Fortune 500 companies and access to scholarships, free tutoring and an alumni network of 20,000.  

Last year, Vault.com also expanded its rankings to better pinpoint specific industries of importance to business professionals.  "We realized that we had hundreds of amazing internships," says Wise.  "In the industry rankings, we are able to highlight great programs that are overlooked in the overall Top 10 list, but excel within their market."

Vault’s Top 10 Finance Internships are:
 
The Boston Consulting Group
Goldman Sachs & Co.
J.P. Morgan’s Investment Bank
KPMG
Lazard
Morgan Stanley
Northwestern Mutual Financial Network
PricewaterhouseCoopers
RSM McGladrey | McGladrey & Pullen
Sponsors for Educational Opportunity
 
Editors note that The Boston Consulting Group offers the best program of any consulting firm in terms of compensation, percentage of students offered full-time positions, and on-the-job opportunities; Goldman Sachs, in addition to its prestige, offers interns the opportunity to do the work of entry-level investment bankers; Lazard’s small size offers interns an opportunity to work with upper-level managers; and that while Northwestern Mutual Financial Network missed the main Top 10 list for the first time in 12 years, its participants undergo rigorous training and can take the state licensing exam to become real insurance representatives while still interns.  

Vault’s Top 10 Creative/Liberal Arts Internships are:
 
Electronic Arts
Entertainment Weekly
The Kennedy Center
Liz Claiborne
Museum of Modern Art
The New York Times
Nickelodeon Animation Studios
Random House, Inc.
Smithsonian Institution
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
 
Editors found that Electronic Arts exposed interns to senior management and mentoring activities, while also picking up free and discounted games; Entertainment Weekly offered paid internships and allowed writers to get their work published; The New York Times provided valuable clips, generous scholarships and a strong resume radiance when searching for full-time employment; and Liz Claiborne offered hands-on experience on projects in various fields of fashion.  

In addition, when it comes to best perks, Disney interns get free admission to Disney World and Disneyland; Domino’s Pizza offers an in-house fitness center; Google provides free gourmet food, massage therapy, a gym, bike repair, dry cleaning, a hair stylist and more off-beat perks; Oracle provides a helicopter ride to interns over and under the Golden Gate Bridge; and Southwest Airlines provides free space-available flights anywhere the airline flies.  

Some of the most unusual internship experiences include opportunities to take a cruise to Antarctica and go scuba diving around Bermuda through the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences.  In addition, the FBI allows interns to work on analytical chemistry, molecular biology and computer research projects while the Martin Agency offers interns a chance to create their own ad campaign.  

For a complete list of all “Top Internships in America,” please visit www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/topinternship.

For the complete directory of the 785 internship program highlights and application information, please purchase a print or PDF version of the 2010 Vault Guide to Top Internships from the Vault Online Book Store.

About Vault
Vault.com is the web’s most comprehensive resource for career management and job search information, including insider intelligence on salaries, hiring practices and company cultures.  Vault features thousands of profiles on occupations, industries, companies and universities, as well as career-related articles, videos, blogs and research tools.  The company publishes more than 120 print and online titles, from the best-selling Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms to the Vault Guide to Schmoozing.  Vault’s clients include Fortune 1000 advertisers and recruiters, the country’s top universities and graduate schools.

CONTACT:
Jon Minners
jminners@vault.com
646-792-6205

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