It's time to get a summer job in business.

If you want to be a businessperson after graduation, you're not alone. "Despite the recent uncertainties in the stock market, a lot of students out there are still searching for jobs in the corporate world," says Nancy Saunders, business counselor at the Office of Career Services (OCS).

For many Harvard students, the first step along the path is that initial summer business internship. Working for a company over the summer can help students test the waters of a certain industry.

"It's unrealistic for a freshman to know what they want to do," Saunders says. She says summer internships are "an opportunity to try a few different jobs, and to use these experiences to narrow your focus."

"People should be encouraged to try different things in the first two years," she says, adding that the summer after junior year is particularly important: "It's the last opportunity to gain ground in the field you're interested in pursuing, and position yourself to be the highest possible candidate as a senior."

These benefits are only magnified in the competitive corporate job search.

A recruiter for Goldman Sachs, one of New York's top investment banks, warned students at the Career Forum last month that their chances were less than optimal: out of 6000 students who recently applied for full time positions at the firm, Goldman only accepted 120.

Saunders includes among the advantages of a summer internship such perks as getting a directly related industry job, making contacts and developing mentoring relationships.

Indeed, many summer business experiences for juniors can lead directly to future employment opportunities, as companies offer full-time positions to their most talented and hardworking interns.

"Known quantities are always more reliable than unknown quantities," she notes. "There are a lot of risks associated with hiring someone, a company could waste up to six or eight thousand dollars in hiring and training someone who doesn't work out."

So with all these rewards for landing a summer internship, how do you get started?

Saunders counsels her students to first learn as much as they can about an industry by reading about the firms and attending their on-campus information meetings.

"Hopefully by your junior year, you'll start to know some likely prospects," she says.

A good place to start looking, Saunders says, is the OCS Web page (see sidebar). In addition to general information on both summer job and full-time recruiting, the Web site offers a schedule of meetings, resume drop-off dates and interview schedules.

Even outside the recruiting process, the Web page has a list of non-recruiting companies to which students apply directly. These companies, however, require applicants to do a little more homework, finding out for themselves what each company requires.