How to act during summer internship?

The other side to the story is one intern at a former paper of mine made personal calls all the time and couldn't seem to handle the most simple reporting task.

Last I checked he was working for SI.

 

Don't sleep with anyone at the company unless you're already sleeping with them prior to being hired (that may start a whole new thread, but sometimes it's legit).

If you find your soul mate in the newsroom of your first internship, put it on hold for three months. They will still be your soul mate when you finish. Or they won't be, and you won't have ruined your reputation.

 

I'm sure anyone at the shop where I interned would be floored that I was hired anywhere. In fact, the advice I posted earlier was learned by pretty much flubbing it.

My point here is that an internship, while a great opportunity, is not typically a make-or-break moment for your career, so try not to put to much pressure on yourself and do your best.

 

I disagree. The number of people I know who either were hired full-time by the media outlet after their internships, or who gained another job because of that internship, is in the hundreds.

It might not break a career, but it absolutely might get one started.

 

Thanks for saying what I meant to.

 

Having an intern ask questions is part of the deal with having an intern. They get cheap, flexible labor, usually during the summer when they need help covering for vacations, and in return, they teach you stuff. That's part of the exchange.

So ask lots of questions, if you so desire. Just don't ask the *same* questions, as several others have said. If you have to wait until the person who answered the question turns around, then write the answer down, then do that. You're old enough to know that there IS such a thing as a dumb question, but the dumbest question of all is the one you had answered yesterday.

 

These students should learn key tips

http://sportsjournalisminstitute.org/blog/2011/01/25/the-class-of-2011/

 

Reviving this thread because I'm reviewing a lot of entry-level resumes these days. Some advice based on my frustrations:

-- Make sure your materials are sharp. No typos. Simple fonts. Pages are formatted in an eye-pleasing manner. All directions are followed. Compared to some of the crap I see, this will make you stand out.

-- If possible, convert all your documents and clips into PDFs. Pretty much every computer can open a PDF file these days. I don't care if you have a beautiful design clip, if my computer won't open it, I won't see it. Don't assume everyone has InDesign/Photoshop/Quark/etc. Hell, don't assume everyone has Microsoft Word.

-- Let's talk about clips. I understand many clips are available online, and sending links is OK. But know those links may not always be there; if the system changes, the link will break. Better to use the print version of the online story and make a PDF you can keep.

-- Do NOT copy the text of your story from the website and throw it in a Word document. That doesn't prove to me it was published. Do NOT print the HTML page, or it will come out with all kinds of menu bars and space at the bottom and crap. Use the little "print" button in the article tools and make sure it looks nice.

-- I'm seeing a trend of over-confident applicants detailing exactly how they plan to stalk me. This is almost verbatim from an application: "I'm the best person for the job. If I don't hear back from you within a week, I will call to follow up for an interview." Excuse me? I decide if you are qualified for this job, when I will contact you, and if we will conduct an interview, not you. Following up with a polite e-mail is one thing; stalking my voicemail or showing up unannounced at my office is not acceptable.

This may seem harsh, but competition is fierce out there, and you have to put your best foot forward at all times.

 

I usually worked the interns pretty hard. But someone else hired them, and they must have lucked out because the intern hires were far better than the regular hires.

In one case, the lead editor was an asshat and got fired at the start of the internship, so I inherited the intern monitoring. Sadly, the asshat was still around somehow for 2-3 weeks, so I got to delegate all sorts of stupid B.S. to the intern until that guy was gone.

Both times, the interns asked me for references later. I think I got one thank you and then never heard how anything turned out. So that was a minus.

One school sent an evaluation form.

I did sit in on one intern interview. She was sharp, but she lost points with us when she said she would work at another company if we paid less than they did. I wanted to say: "Better plan on going there," but I thought better of it.

The last laugh was on her; the company lost most of its orders and laid off hundreds of people.

 

Sorry, but as a recent applicant I see a few problems here. The first is that you say people should get PDFs and not just dump stuff into word. For one, a lot of old computers won't deal well with emails attached to seven PDFs (cover letter, resume, five clips). No one can easily access PDFs and not open .doc files. If this is the situation, you have far bigger issues.

Second, deal with the whole, "proving a clip in MS word is real" problem later down the road. I had a clip I liked using becuase it showed a decent sized company used me to string for a big event. The problem was that one afternoon paper (which technically paid me) loaned the story to a morning paper within the company. As such my byline was lost on the online version. I couldn't get the PDF because I lived around 1000 miles from said paper. How do you suggest I deal with the issue when applying... since I can't stay within your rules?

p.s. I don't mean this to be snarky or whatnot. It's just that your "advice" can run into some major real-world problems.

 

You lose points if you say you would work for more money? That's harsh

 

In the interview? Yeah. We're not there to meet the interviewees' demands for a three-month internship.

On a side note, if you are one of those places demanding that everything be in a certain format "or else," then it's time to get a clue.