In the midst of exploring campus, adjusting to lecture classes, enduring midterms and sustaining passing GPAs, officials at many universities say college freshmen nationwide are increasingly paying visits to career centers.

According to the Associated Press, college career offices in the University of Hartford, Duke University and Temple University — to name a few —have reported an increase of more than 20 percent in freshman career counseling appointments and attendance at career center programs, compared to previous years.

However, being new to college and being unfamiliar with the job market may still be challenges for first-year job seekers.

“There is no doubt the first few months of the college transition are overwhelming, and most freshmen struggle adjusting to where they fit in on campus. Nonetheless, they need to be ready to go with things and have their resume in place,” said Mike Gaul, Career Services director of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“Freshman reputations start the moment they step on campus. What’s great is that recruiters are in touch with who the up-and-comers are, and who are the leaders or future leaders of clubs and majors. Recruiters are in touch with what’s going on in campus, so it’s important to get off to a good solid start in college,” Gaul said.

Those recruiters — from more than 160 confirmed companies — will be on campus for Ag Career Day and looking to hire.

“We look at our interviews last year, 82 percent of our interviews here took place from career day through the Finals Week in December. Fall has really become primetime recruitment season,” Gaul said.

For Agriculture and Life Sciences students, many of the orientation classes require a resume as an assignment.

“If your resume is ready to go, the most important thing you need to do is dispel the campus-wide myth that there’s nothing out there for freshman,” Gaul said.

“Many freshmen will go to career fairs thinking, ‘Nobody is going to talk to me, there’s nothing out there’ — that’s the farthest thing from the truth. There are so many companies that are going to hire freshmen,” Gaul said.

Landing an internship during the first year of college “shows initiative to recruiters and employers,” Gaul said. “It may not be the most glamorous job, but it sends a message: ‘I’m not afraid to work.’ It will open up doors for bigger and better opportunities, and ultimately internships have become the feeder system for the fulltime employment these days.”

A recent study performed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers reported that of the students hired from the class of 2009, 44.6 percent came from employers’ internship programs and 34.9 percent came from their co-op programs.

The study also showed that students who have taken part in an internship are a better “risk” in terms of retention. Within one year of hire, approximately 86 percent of those that have taken part in an internship at the hiring organization — and 85 percent of those who served an internship elsewhere — are still on the job, compared with about 81 percent of those who didn’t do an internship.

Gaul said working in a non-related major position seems to be another resolute reason why many freshmen do not value early internship opportunities, he emphasizes, however, that the greatest thing about an internship is that it’s not a marriage.

“They’re a three-month experience and you can walk away from it in the end with two directions: either, ‘I want to do this for the rest of my life, or I want to explore this career path,’ or ‘I didn’t enjoy this and it reinforces in me that this is not the right career path for me,'” Gaul said. “Never again in your life will you have the opportunity to sample these experiences.”

“If you had two people side by side, one with a resume that emphasized internship and leadership experiences, opposed to someone that solely emphasized the academic experience, the internship candidate would win out.”

On a final note to freshmen about internships, Gaul advises: “Don’t waste your first year. [Internships] will pay dividends down the road and will open up a lot of doors.”