So, what do you do when you have a ton of things on your plate? What do you do when your life consists of, for example, an internship, a night job and school? Is there a way to balance it all in a way that everything gets the kind of attention that it needs, while you’re able to get the stress-free kind of life that you deserve?

Indeed, it’s not easy, juggling a lot. But yes, a full life of great balance is possible.

Take care of your basic needs first. When people are trying to balance multiple tasks, it can be more challenging than it has to be simply because they neglect to take care of their core needs. Three balanced meals provide you with the fuel that your body craves. Exercise keeps you from getting (more) stressed out. And sleep? It’s not a luxury. Sleep is something that is vital because it gives your body the time that is required to repair and replenish itself. There are only 24 hours in a day, but eight of them should definitely be devoted to resting.

Make a schedule (and follow it). Speaking of needing more hours in a day than we actually get, another thing that can help you with making the most of your time is having a schedule set in place. This shouldn’t just be for your internship, job and school, but also for the eating, exercise, rest as well as your study and commute times. For instance, if you go from your internship to work and it takes 30 minutes to get there, then you need to put 45 minutes to an hour (due to potential traffic) in your schedule. Time is a lot like money. It’s easier to keep up with when it’s accounted for.

Use your “off time” wisely. If you’re in school, you know that you need time to study, but that doesn’t always mean that it’s easy to find. There are moments in your day that you can make the most of, though. Devote a couple of lunch periods a week to your assigned reading material. Sacrifice a weekend a month to do study groups and research. Consider taking the bus into work every once in a while so that you can prep for a test on the ride to your internship. You’d be amazed what creatively carving out a couple of hours a week can do when it comes to your classwork.

Make sure to get off of the clock too. At the same time, all work and no play doesn’t just make people boring; it can also make them exhausted, irritable and full of anxiety. Some people go through their entire school career without taking some time off for themselves. Don’t let that be your testimony. Even if you can’t afford to take a vacation or weekend trips, there are things called “staycations”, which are basically little vacations from the comfort of your own home. Devote at least half a day, once a week, to reading your favorite book, watching your favorite film or even taking in a midday nap.

Celebrate your efforts. When you’re always focused on lab reports, researching essay topics and going over test papers, it doesn’t take long before you can find yourself feeling completely overwhelmed. By taking on an internship, night job and school, you are taking on a lot of responsibility. But you know what? Just for that reason alone, you also deserve a pat on the back, starting with the one that you give yourself. When the employer at your internship gives you a good review, when your boss at work commends your performance, when you ace a test at school, these are all things that should be celebrated. The more you make it a point to congratulate your own efforts, the more incentive you’ll give yourself to keep moving forward until your tasks at hand are complete.

If you plan to fly, start looking early. Pick an approximate date months away and you’re much likelier to find cheap plane tickets. You’ll have time to research which airline offers the best prices around your travel dates, and the more flexible you can be in your planning, the better deal you’ll be able to find. Plus the earlier you plan ahead, the more money you can save each pay period for the your trip.

Consider checking into low fare airlines, like Southwest, for really good deals on tickets. While travel sites like Travelocity and Priceline are great comparison tools, they don’t necessarily offer you the cheapest ticket prices and often charge extra fees so also check into purchasing tickets directly from your airline of choice. You might also want to look online for websites that show you the cheapest times to buy plane tickets. Then, save even more money by only taking what will fit in your carry-on to avoid baggage fees.

The costs of flying snowball quickly, so consider saving money by planning a road trip instead of flying. A road trip opens up the possibilities to all kinds of other vacations. You just never know what you will discover en route to a destination. Find a couple trip buddies (fellow broke interns would be the perfect choice) to keep gas costs really low. Plan ahead and found out what areas have the cheapest gas prices to lower your costs even more.

Once on the road, keep food costs low by bringing a cooler where you can store snacks, sandwiches, fruit, and drinks instead of hitting up the drive-thru and convenience stores. A burger combo here and there is cheap, but if you’re depending on that for all meals, that money will snowball before you know it. Avoid buying food in convenience stores and instead look for grocery stores to keep your cooler stocked.

Whether you fly or drive, once you get to your destination, lodging can get really pricey. If you start early enough, you may be able to find great deals on hotels or motels but you should also consider cheaper arrangements. Hostels, while abundant throughout Europe, are not as common in the U.S. but they’re still around, especially in bigger cities. If you can’t find a hostel and have a tent, consider camping. It will offer a very low budget, if not free, option. Especially if road tripping, camping will save you hundreds of dollars and open up a country worth of places to sleep. Another lodging option is looking into the widely popular site for like-minded travelers called Couchsurfing. Not only will you find people offering their homes for free lodging, you’ll find a local who might be able to offer you a local’s experience of their city. Surfers and hosts alike will tell you that the organization is about a lot more than just a free place to stay so it’s worth a chance!

Summer is an essential time of recuperation for students, even those who have to do an internship. While interning at an investment firm, in your education program, or you healthcare management MBA programs this summer be sure to take some time to stop and smell the flowers so you don’t miss out on summer vacation!

You’ll want to show your supervisor that you have that perfect balance of being able to work independently with little or no direction and working well within a team and following all directions to a T. When you’re given as assignment, don’t ask your supervisor every single question that comes up. Instead figure out what you can on your own and keep a list of the questions you’ll need to ask. You won’t waste the supervisor’s time asking a single question every few minutes and you’ll show more ability to problem solve on your own. When your supervisor is too busy to give you an assignment, offer help, and then offer him or her a list of the tasks you’ll work on until you’re given an assignment. This will show that you can be productive without direction and are proactive enough to find things that need to be done. You don’t ever want to spend time doing nothing. That impresses no one and won’t help you learn. Days when you’re left to your own vices are also times you can use to show your bosses any special skills you have that they haven’t realized yet.

When starting your internship it’s important to know what your strengths and weaknesses are. Not so you can turn down an assignment if it doesn’t fit in with your strengths but show where you can spend any extra time learning how to improve on your weaknesses. Especially on those days that your supervisor is too busy to give you an assignment, you can prove your value to the firm by reading articles, improving writing skills, or brushing up on social media platforms.

Each day at your internship is a possibility to learn something new, so take advantage of that and continue to expand your knowledge as much as possible. The ideal employee never stops learning so start fostering that attitude early in your career. Carry a notebook and pen everywhere with you so you can take notes during meetings, during performance evaluations, and while working on projects. It will help you organize your thoughts, keep track of any questions, and remember anything your boss tells you. If you have to, you may want to schedule your own performance evaluations with your supervisor to show how committed you are to improving.

With a successful internship experience and your public relations degree, you’re creating a path to a successful lifelong career. It takes time and a lot effort to work your way up from the bottom, but with the right attitude, you’ll have the dream job before you know it.

If you’re looking for an internship this upcoming summer or next semester and you would prefer something that’s a little weird over something that’s more traditional, keep reading.

Swim in the ocean for college credit. If you’re someone aspiring to be a marine biologist, the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences has a variety of internship programs. OK, but the “weird” hook is that some of them consists of taking a cruise, swimming in the ocean and publishing data on what you’ve discovered while, well, taking a cruise and swimming the ocean. For more information, visit BIOS.edu.

Work with the dead (kinda). It would make sense being that it’s a pretty lucrative business, but when it comes to interning at a funeral home, for a lot of us, the thought probably never even crossed our minds. However, this isn’t just a job for people who want to work in that field (you can check out FuneralJobs.com for leads). If you’re someone who is currently studying cosmetology or even fashion design, this may be a beneficial route for you to take. Enter if you dare.

Be a sculptor. Literally. The Franconia Sculpture Park is located about 45 miles in the northeast direction of Minneapolis. For the past 15 years, they have been a 20-acre “display case” for over 600 sculpture and installation artists across the world. If you’re accepted into their internship program, you basically work for half a day. The remaining time can be used to focus on your own work and at the end of your internship, your original pieces are made available for viewing. You can read up on the application requirements at Franconia.org.

Go to prison. It’s definitely not a lifetime aspiration for most of us, but if you’re a criminal justice or even a psychology major, this is an option that will put your studies to the test. When it comes to finding an environment that is filled with different kinds of personalities, backgrounds and needs, prison provides a plethora of all of the above. Some people might even say that the old “New York, New York” song could be applied to it because after completing a semester, “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere”, for sure!

Does DNA or paternity testing interest you? The thing about an internship is that so long as there is a business that exists, there’s a great chance that there’s an internship available within it. This would also apply to companies that do DNA and paternity testing and even sperm and egg donor banks. If you’re interested in getting a master of health administration, this might be something that you would be interested in because you can learn (more) about laboratory testing, and science would definitely be applied on a daily basis. These are a bit more challenging to find, but if you Google the key phrases along with your city and state, you should be able to pull up some of the laboratories that are close to you. Call or email regarding opportunities they may have available.

That is if all goes well with their interview.

Indeed, sometimes, when it comes to an internship, people are so focused on how they need to prepare for the interview as well as the interview itself, that they overlook the etiquette involved when it comes to the waiting period between applying for the job (because yes, an internship is still a job!) and getting an official offer.

If you’re looking for some post intern interview tips, here are three of them:

Say “Thank You”. If you were raised in a home where etiquette was paramount, then this might be something that you’re already familiar with because “thank you” notes are things that are customarily given out when people send you a gift or come to an event of yours. Some people don’t stop to think that this would apply to an internship, but the truth of the matter is that by meeting with you, an employer took out the time to consider you to be a part of their company so that you could learn more about it. Time is invaluable and so yes, within 24-48 hours of the interview, make sure to either send them a thank you email or handwrite (and mail) them a note. By the way, in this technological age, the latter will leave a far more lasting impression.

Don’t be a nuisance. In almost every life scenario, waiting can be a challenge. When it comes to hearing back regarding an internship, it can be even more difficult, especially if it’s one that you’re really excited about. Sure, the employer may have interviewed a lot of people (in the case of college internships, that’s oftentimes the case), but just because you didn’t hear from them the next day, that doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten about you. Remember that there is a fine line between being persistent and being a nuisance. Give human resources at least a week to do any follow-up. If you don’t hear from them by then, it’s safe to call (or email) to see if there’s any word. However, if they tell you that they’ll notify you once they’ve reached a decision, make sure to take that very literally. If you’re the one for the job, they will certainly let you know.

Take “no” gracefully. If you’re not accepted for the position, there are two wise sayings that definitely apply in this case: “You can’t win them all” and “Everything happens for a reason”. No one likes rejection, but it’s certainly a part of life, so if you don’t get the internship, try not to take it too personally. It’s actually pretty classy to send the company a thank you for considering you in the first place (at the very least, they’ll remember how professional you are). Then, move on to what your next plan of action will be. Maybe it’s a part-time job. Or maybe it will free you up to look into that online MBA program that you’ve been thinking about. Whatever it is that you decide to do post-rejection, don’t forget that a “no” to one thing is simply a “yes” to other opportunities that lie ahead.

Trim back your social life. It may be the last thing you want to hear, but your social life is the first area you need to address to make sure you can continue studying. That doesn’t mean you have to lock yourself in a room for the whole semester, watching the world go by. But it does mean you have to pick and choose your moments more carefully. There’s something to do every night on campus, but that event, screening, club meeting or party will happen again when you’re not so busy. Keep your social life contained to the weekends, and you can put in a couple hours of work each night of the week. Better yet, split your weekend up. Saturday you can have to yourself (which also means a free night out on Friday), but Sunday you have to buckle down. If you’re not willing to make sacrifices, you’ll never fit it all in.

Take advantage of down time. You may not realize it, but there is a ton of time that goes to waste in between everything you’re doing every day. The walk to class, the car, bus or train ride to the internship, even the ten minutes that you’re waiting to pick up a pizza is time you will never get back. So why not do something with it? Record your lectures, and play them back on your iPod or MP3 player whenever you have down time. Keep a book with you at all times to take advantage of those few unexpected moments that come up. And do a bit of homework over the lunch break from your internship. It may sound severe, but your time is going to be limited, so a little extra discipline is in order.

Ask for help. You may be juggling schoolwork and your internship, but you don’t have to do it alone. Let your family and friends know what you have going on. You’ll be surprised how quickly they offer to help. And there’s no shame in taking it. Your parents could offer to cook for the week, taking one chore off your plate. Maybe a friend will offer to study with you, to help speed up the process. If that’s not enough, let your professor know what’s going on. He wants to see your level of commitment rewarded, and may suggest study shortcuts or offer to keep office hours open for you. And get home tutors for the subjects you need the most help with. The extra expense each week will pay back big time when your impressive internship and sterling grade point average land you a great job.

You Didn’t Represent the Person You Depicted in Your Cover Letter
It can be easy to talk a big game in a well-written cover letter, which you must have had to even get an interview. What’s more important is that you back your cover letter up with your personality once you get to the interview. Don’t freak yourself out beforehand thinking about how you don’t qualify for the position and take the time to focus on how you do qualify and the assets you could bring to the company. In an interview, the less nervous you are, the more easily your personality can come through and the more likely it is that the hiring manager will be able to see those assets.

You Didn’t Ask Any Questions
Do your homework before an interview and research the company. You’ll want to go into your interview with at least general knowledge of the business as a whole and with some research you should be able to develop a long list of thoughtful questions that pertain to the company. The interviewer will appreciate your preparedness and that you’re taking an active interest in the position. Even if your interviewer answers all the questions you prepared, you can think up new ones during the interview. Be sure to write your questions down so you don’t forget them all when it comes time for questions.

You Didn’t Think Before You Speaking
Don’t fear the silence after the hiring manager asks a question. Take a few moments to consider the entire question before answering, no matter how awkward you think it feels. Chances are the manager doesn’t feel uncomfortable at all but rather, respects that you’re thinking about your answer before blurting out the first thing you think of. Taking a few moments will help you collect your thoughts, keep your train of thought and fully answer the questions.

The Company Hired from Within
It’s very common for companies to hire an employee already working for the company. That person comes with experience and requires a lot less training. You just can’t beat them and unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do about this situation. Instead, focus your energy on nailing your next interview and staying positive. A way to avoid losing to a current employee is networking with other people who work for the company. Talk up someone in human resources, a receptionist, or anyone who can give you some insider information about the job and other jobs available.

You Didn’t Express Interest in the Specific Job
If the hiring manager gets the feeling that you want any job instead of the specific job you’re interviewing for, he or she is a lot less likely to hire you. You can show that you’re interested in the actual position by preparing your list of intelligent questions and answering the questions with thoughtful and articulate responses. Find ways you can sneak in any research you did on the company to further show that you care about that job, not just any job.

No interview is a waste as each one gives you valuable practice and practice makes perfect, right? Learn how to improve from your previous interviews. And, don’t get discouraged there is a job out there waiting for you; you just have to get the interview!

Jamie Byers writes for Midwest HR – PEO Blog. Midwest HR offers innovative HR solutions to organizations that are focused on productivity, profitability, and growth

Unique opportunities to multitask. Long gone are the days where employees were hired to do one specific thing. Today’s workforce multitasks more than ever before, executing on a number of projects while continuing their studies and finding time for family and friends. An internship abroad will offer you a similar multitasking opportunity. Not only will you have to learn a new job, but learn a new country as well. There may not be two more complicated tasks to take on at once. So you can expect to come home ready to simultaneously juggle more than ever before.

Expanding your communication skills. As you’re learning what your internship supervisor expects, you’ll also be learning a new language. Even if you’ve previously studied the language spoken in your host country, it will be a whole different thing when it’s all around you every day. If you intern in an English-speaking country, you’ll still be communicating with people who have different customs, slang phrases and interpretations than you, making the possibility of a miscommunication very high. Learning to effectively relate both at your internship and within your host country will insure that you come home a better communicator than ever.

Understanding organization on a whole new level. The more organized your approach to work, the happier your future employer will be. And it takes a ton more organization to land an internship abroad than one in the U.S. An interviewer sitting down with you to discuss a prospective job will understand you were able to nab that desirable internship and handle everything within your personal life to make it a success. Visas, new cell phone plans, forwarded mail, finding new housing and sticking to a budget all went into you sitting before them, and it all reflects well on your ability to grow and expand yourself going forward.

On top of all of the above, you’ll also have the opportunity to become intimately connected with a new culture. You’ll come back with a broader understanding of the world, and your place in it. That’s a valuable perspective to bring to a new job. And maybe you’ll be able to use the travel reward credit cards you get after landing the job of your dreams to pay a visit back to site of your international internship. Why not? You’ve earned it.

Take the time during your daily commute, for instance. There are actually a ton of things that can be accomplished while going to and from work. It’s all a matter of mapping out a plan and following through with it.

If you have to see it to believe it, keep reading.

Listen while you’re driving. OK, the other two suggestions are actually going to be for people who ride to work because as we all know, texting and emailing while driving is not only extremely dangerous, but in most states, it is also quite illegal. If you have a speakerphone system in your car, that’s a cool way to catch up with your mom or out-of-town friend while driving; however, if you’re in school or you have some extra things to prepare for at work, why not pop in an audiobook of your class curriculum or record yourself reading some of the things you need for work and listen to them on your drive in? Not only does that help you wisely use your time on the drive, but it also frees up a bit of your time to do other things while you’re at home.

Utilize your social media tools. There are so many people that get into trouble for checking out their Facebook or Twitter accounts while at work. If you’re carpooling (on the passenger’s side) or you’re taking a bus or taxi into the office, that is the perfect time to catch up with your Facebook inboxes, send out a status update and shout out a Twitter message or two. It’s also a really good time to respond to emails that may have gotten lost in the shuffle and draft up responses that you may forget to get to later if you don’t do it now. Oh, and if you’re thinking about looking for a new job, don’t risk having everyone in the office know by web surfing for positions or applying from your desk; do that from your laptop, tablet or iPhone while on the ride in too.

Map out a plan (or two). Some people ride and daydream. Be the exception and utilize the commute time to actually plan your next steps. If you’re sick of riding the MTA bus or Marta train and would much rather be driving a BMW 1 Series instead, it doesn’t have to be some random fantasy. A lot of times, we don’t reach our fullest potential because we spend more time thinking about what we want to do rather than following a step-by-step list that will get us to our desired destination. If you want a new car, what will it take to get one? If you want to go back to school, be honest with yourself about what’s holding you back. If you’re ready to become a homeowner, write down a list of 10 things that are needed to make that happen. If it takes you an hour a day to get to work, that’s five hours per week (one way) that you can be putting into creating a new and better life for you. And when you think about it, if you use it wisely and consistently, that’s all the time in the world. Your commute could turn out to be the road to your destiny!

There are several reasons why an ability to manage your time effectively could present you in a positive light. First and foremost, it sets you apart from many of your classmates. While there are certainly students that work their butts off to get good grades and earn some extra cash to contribute to their own education, the stereotype of the party-hearty college coed didn’t come from nowhere; there are an equal number of kids who will spend their entire college career goofing off. And there are plenty who simply don’t have the faintest clue how to get organized, work on a schedule, and manage their time wisely (because they never learned or they simply don’t care).

In addition, an ability to organize, prioritize, and complete tasks in a timely manner will show employers just what an asset you can be. Believe it or not, motivated go-getters like you are a rare commodity, and most companies are constantly seeking new hires that bring energy and efficiency to the work atmosphere. Proper time management can not only help you to perform at a higher level and generate more output of work, but it can also set an example for others. Whether workers get disillusioned over time, they become bored and complacent through repetition, or they’re simply burned out from a heavy workload, their productivity can definitely wane over time. But having someone like you around to set the example of an eager, can-do attitude and remind them what it is to take pride in their work can be a huge boon to employers.

Of course, it’s not like you have to stay logged on to http://onlineclock.net all day to ensure that you’re hitting arbitrary time limits for every task. But you do need to take a moment at the beginning of each shift to look over your to-do list for the day, set priorities, and even think about how long each task might take so that you can decide whether or not a long lunch break is in the cards or if you should perhaps skip the trip to your favorite downtown restaurant in favor of the company cafeteria. Engaging in proper time management can help you to complete your work in an efficient manner in order to hit deadlines and demonstrate that you can take your internship to the next level. If you fail to get up to speed by the time your internship is over, don’t expect a job offer to be forthcoming.