The daunting task of landing a full-time job is increasingly difficult during the current economic climate, as the national unemployment rate climbs to 8.9 percent, and nears an all-time high of 11 percent in North Carolina. Taking this into consideration, I am not surprised that many new grads are becoming less optimistic about their job prospects.

If you're a recent UNC graduate and your career search is not panning out, don't fret. Forget any negative stigma that has sometimes been attached to the intern position and consider applying for an internship as an alternative to indefinite unemployment. Instead of being saddled with grunt work and coffee runs, interns are being assigned more responsibility and are seeing more opportunity for advancement within the workplace than ever before.

Like other businesses in Chapel Hill, my employer is committed to supporting the university and to providing its students with valuable work experience. I work for Koroberi, a Chapel Hill-based integrated marketing agency that has traditionally offered UNC students real-world work experience through our year-round internship programs. Despite the current state of the economy, this summer is no exception.

This semester, I have seen more graduating students apply for the summer internship than ever before. The caliber of talent I see streaming out of UNC is very high, and while in the past, we typically have reserved the internship positions for enrolled students, we changed the qualifications for this summer to include recent graduates. After filling our position this summer, we have decided that we may continue to do this in the fall and spring semesters. We are looking for candidates who want to create a solid career foundation by assuming significant responsibilities and primary duties that are key to resume-building.

Since 2003, Koroberi has built a successful partnership with UNC's School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Kenan-Flagler Business School, recruiting students from various disciplines including accounting, marketing, advertising, public relations and graphic design. We treat interns as an integral part of the agency team, and rightly so. Students who have participated in our internship program have gone on to successful careers in the Triangle and across the country.

Interns at Koroberi often transition from credit positions to hourly or full-time jobs with the agency, such as in the case of current account executive Matt Murphy, who interned with Koroberi in 2006. Koroberi currently employs several other UNC students who started as interns, as well, including Amanda Chen, who began her internship with Koroberi in 2008 in the accounting department and became a staff member upon graduating in December. "Since my first day at Koroberi, I have been given the responsibilities I would expect to have in any other full-time job," says Chen.

Even in a down economy, internships provide an opportunity for graduating students to begin a career and to acquire valuable referrals and employment references. I strongly encourage students facing unemployment to take full advantage of the internship programs that many Triangle companies offer.

Emily Fuleihan is a senior account executive with Koroberi, Inc. For more information about Koroberi, go to www.koroberi.com.