Is an internship viable even after graduation?

I agree with Todd, above, that an Internship is an excellent way to gain important experience early in your career. But I very much disagree with his assertion that you should not seek an internship at a place you want to work for. You can look at this another way:
What better way is there for you to get to know the Company of your choice?
What better way is there for you to see full-time, interesting employment opportunities arising than to work WITHIN a firm?
Finally, what better way is there for you be become personally and professionally recognized by a supervisor who is looking to hire a full-time person? If you do good work at a Firm, you can only enhance your chances of getting hired on full-time.

I got my first professional job after Graduate School working as a temporary employee. Within a few months I got hired on permanently. In this manner I got to work for a top-flight, nationally recognized engineering firm, pattern that continued throughout my career.

So don't necessarily avoid firms that you ACTUALLY want to work for. Once they get to know you they will ACTUALLY want to keep you! And if the you don't like the pay, with 2-3 years of high-quality experience, you can work nearly anyplace you want.

Pete Sturtevant, P.E.

I totally agree with Todd's response. If you are about to graduate soon, your first choice should be to try for a fulltime opportunity rather than taking an internship. I know its very difficult, as most companies will demand that they are looking for atleast some years of work experience.
Many of the time the university would have some department which offers career advise. They will help you prepare your resume, answer questions asked by interviewers, etc. The university usually has a career fair where students can talk to companies directly. Most of the time the university you allow you to attend these career fair even if you are a recent alumni. Companies that usually come for career fair are aware that students can never have an industry level experience so they are willing to accept fresh graduates. This is usually the best chance of getting in a tech industry and start your career. Some university allows students from other university for their career fair. You can be on the look out of there are such career fair in any other university where you might be eligible to meet companies representatives.

Not all students get lucky through the career fair. Many companies will also have programs to hire fresh graduates. You might want to look for career sites for entry level engineers position or visit the companies website directly and apply through that. Most of the times there are chances that you might have an interview call. I would also suggest you to apply for some position where they companies ask for around 0-1 or 0-2 year experience.
if you had worked on some projects during your coursework then you should add that in your resume. Adding projects help the company HR or Teams that are going through your resume make a better judgement in deciding whether your background will be a good fit for the position they are hiring.
Lastly I would also suggest you to prepare yourself for interview, and revise all fundamentals you studied in your engineering program, incase you get a call. You dont want to miss an opportunity when it arrives.

Good luck.

Mohammad,

It is. The company that I work for only hires first level Software Engineers through our Intern Program. The reason is because we have so many talented Interns that we want to be able to convert as many as we can to full-time, if they perform well. When new graduates reach out to me to find out if there are entry level opportunities, I explain this to them. Not all are willing to go do this, but we do pay our Interns well. If you are more interested in a certain company, and not just looking to work anywhere, then I would recommend reaching out to a Recruiter.

This is a tough call Mohammad. If you accept an internship after graduation, I can see how this could attach a cheap price tag to your services. At the same time, getting that experience is just too valuable to pass up. You could do internship work for a time then leave after 6-months or so when you've gotten a taste of the work and the life. That goes onto your resume as you look for work elsewhere. In other words, perhaps DON'T seek internship with the firms that you REALLY want to work for. Seek internship work at firms that are NOT your first choices. That way, you do not become labeled as a 2nd string engineer in the eyes of the firms you really do want to start a career at.

Yes it is an option, if you can afford it; afford the time and the investment in your time too (before seeking a job). There are lot's of companies that offer internships, that will give you the opportunity to work with some form of payment or remuneration. But I would consider looking for specific companies that you WANT to work for, firstly. It's critical that you don't just 'go and work for a company just to get experience'. Think of it as an investment into your career and your future. It's also okay to ask what are the possibilities of a position within the company after the internship...

Internships are also great opportunities to see if you like the particular job/employer. You can find out a lot about an industry in a few months, and whether you would like to stay on in that industry. And additionally, it's a great opportunity to see other areas you may not have considered; or by meeting people/networking with connections that could help you later on in your career...

Best of luck!