Dear Joyce: I'm an IT student (information technology -- microcomputer specialist with an emphasis as a business analyst) in my final semester of college and have been looking for an internship/entry-level position for some time. If it is an entry-level position, why do employers require two years' experience? I found the case is the same for some internships. The situation I'm encountering asks the age-old question: How am I supposed to get experience if no one will hire me? -- D.M.

Dear D.M.: I sympathize with your dilemma. Your school dean, professor or career center contact can do you the most good in arranging an internship and you should insist that an all-out effort be made.

I call it accountability and have long urged the view that faculty recruiting students into their seats in vocationally oriented programs bear a high degree of responsibility for the students' employment outcome.

Obviously a student's efforts count heavily. Why are you waiting until your last semester to look for an internship? Internships have almost become a right of passage for graduates. (See an excellent updated report on internship on http://www.pamdixon.com .)

You can't give up even if your GPA is low or even if you have to relocate to get launched in this weak IT job market.

At 3.1 percent, unemployment in the IT sector has bumped up to a 10-year elevation, the highest since the recession of the early 1990s. Just what you wanted to hear, right?

A healthy way to view that disheartening development is as an opportunity to truly learn how to find jobs while others your age are still basking in the glow of the easy job market of the late 1990s. You'll need that skill on the other end of your career, as you hit age 40 in the technical job market, especially if you don't pursue a dual career path by adding management skills.

If you just can't seem to find an entrance sign, you may have to spend several months as an unpaid volunteer in a nonprofit organization to beef up your résumé.

Dear Joyce: I have been working in IT, but permanent jobs have dried up around here. I'm thinking about exploring contract work. Can you think of a book that might come in handy for getting up to speed in this market? -- W.R.

Dear W.R.: Career transition coach-educator Dick Knowdell recommends "How to Find Work in the 21st Century" by Ron McGowan.

McGowan has operated Executives for Rent in Vancouver, British Columbia, for five years, placing contract workers into a wide range of industries.

The book, priced at under $15, is a road map for getting you up and running as a contractor. You can order a copy from the Job Search Book Store at 1-800-888-4945.

Dear Joyce: After reading what annoys recruiters, how about some things about employment ads and interviews that annoy applicants?