In the 2006 movie “The Pursuit of Happyness,” Will Smith plays Chris Gardner, an individual who improbably lands an unpaid internship with a bustling brokerage house in San Francisco. The movie details the real-life drama of Gardner trying to parlay the internship into the highly-coveted job that awaits the top participant in the program.

Admittedly, not all internships are the stuff of Hollywood movies, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important in transitioning from college to the professional world. “A successful internship by a student gives them an automatic edge,” says Jesse Mason, director of cooperative education placement and career services at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. “Employers are looking for people who are ready to hit the ground running. There is a certain skillset that employers are looking for that cannot be acquired in the classroom, it can only be acquired in a real work setting.”

There’s mounting evidence that an internship experience may be as important, if not more, than the degree itself, at least when it comes to landing a first job after graduation. Forbes magazine reported in 2012 a study by Internships.com that showed 69 percent of companies with 100 or more employees offered jobs to their interns that year.

In 2014, the Huffington Post reported on Southwestern University, a 1,500-student liberal arts school in Georgetown, Texas and its annual post-graduate survey, which revealed students who had completed at least one internship were 13 percent more likely to find full-time work than those who did not. More importantly, students with an internship under their belt reported being “very happy” in their work more often than those who didn’t.

Allyson Johnson, public relations account executive with Little Rock-based Sells Agency frequently speaks to college students throughout Arkansas on internships as a pathway to employment. “I’ve worked with a lot of college students and I always tell them get an internship,” she says. “I even recommend getting an internship in a field or a place that they might not want to work or they don’t know if they want to work there. That’s what internships are about—not just for experience but to learn more about what you like.”

Mason agrees, saying one reason for considering an internship outside of one’s preferred field is that beyond industry-specific skills, it also yields general business etiquette and other skills that can be applied anywhere.

“We encourage students to do more than one internship if at all possible because that only enhances their chances of full-time employment,” he says. “Especially in today’s competitive job market, having contacts through internships can be invaluable sources of information during a student’s job search.”

Despite these benefits, Johnson says her message frequently meets with mixed reaction, firstly because internships are generally unpaid and secondly, there are plenty of horror stories about spending a summer getting coffee, making copies or other mundane tasks that don’t challenge interns’ abilities. She said a successful internship starts with the host company having a plan for the extra personnel.

“From our company’s perspective, we want to give our interns an opportunity to really work with us and work with our clients,” she says. “We give them as much actual, billable work as we can. And, if we don’t have a ton going on with clients where we’re utilizing our interns as much, we will set up a project for them.”

Mason says his department works to head off menial internship experiences by setting the proper expectations on the front end with companies: “We make sure the employer knows what they are getting involved in; we will let an employer know that the student has not only read the job description, but has acquired skills along the way that they’ll be able to apply. We stress to the employer that the students we send to them are ready and they’re not prepared to not do anything.”

On the other hand, the level of student engagement and a self-starting attitude is also important for an internship program to yield the desired work experience and industry knowledge.

“(Interns) have to want to be engaged,” Johnson says. “Everyone’s busy all the time so sometimes we can’t use our whole day to teach an intern something. It’s really important they come to us and really want to be involved and motivated. It’s a two-part thing to make a good internship work.”

Internship to Employment

Internships are largely what you make of them. Done right, they are great learning experiences that often result in a first job. Here are a few proven tips from Business Insider for standing out from the crowd:

Do your homework before your first day.

Chances are you studied up on the company before your interview, but don’t forget to go over some basic facts again. Look at the company’s website (paying particular attention to headings like “What We Do” and “Who We Are”); any online press releases or news articles are also a good way to get up to speed.

Dress for success.

There’s an old saying: “Dress for the position you want, not the one you have,” and it’s generally a safer play to be overdressed than too casual. Having said that, find some time to ask the hiring manager or your supervisor what the general dress code expectations are—you want to show people you fit in.

Treat the internship like a real job.

Eliminate the phrase “I’m just an intern,” from your vocabulary if you want to be treated with respect. On the other hand, don’t act entitled or come off like an expert; there’s no quicker way to choke off future opportunities than to be the person no one can stand.

Network.

Job-specific skills are just part of the package; fair or not, it’s often who you know in life, especially for that all-important first hire. Know the difference between developing quality relationships and simply sucking up to people you think can do something for you.

Socialize (with a filter).

It’s perfectly fine to get to know your colleagues, but be careful about social situations outside of work. As an intern you are under a lot of scrutiny and letting it all hang out with your co-workers may not be your best option right off the bat. Be particularly careful about social media interactions, too.