Here are some tips that helped me to my internships freshman year…
Don’t Identify As A Freshman:
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I learned quick that editors don’t like students, let alone fresh on campus and inexperienced ones so I dropped the student title for something a bit more attractive..freelancer. Like one of my professors says..”You are a journalist who just happens to be a student, not the other way around.” When trying to freelance for small publications its best if you leave your dorm room horror stories for water cooler laughs AFTER you secure a job. Now if they ask do not lie just nonchalantly remark that you simply like to keep your academic and professional lives seperate
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FYI do keep education on your resume! But if you’re in college, nobody cares what high school you went to.
Live In The Career Services Office
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Become very acquainted with everyone in Career Services–they are your friends. If you stop by every now and then you’ll be the first one they tell when a new internship listing pops up. Often it is the Career Services Coordinator who chooses candidates for internship programs like ASME so get in quick and get in good. If you have a lot of spare time, offer to volunteer in the office or better yet work study and get in their good graces. They are a great resource and will soon become gods in your eyes.
Know Your Professors
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I didn’t get to take any journalism courses until my sophomore year but don’t let that type of situation stop you from being acquainted with the journalism department. Become as I was so coined a “superstar freshman” who saught out the journalism staff and started getting advice early. Not only do they know everything about your chosen industry, many of them used to or still work in the industry and most definitely know someone who knows someone. While wandering in the career services offices I met a professor who also is the EIC of a community newspaper and he said I’ll give you one week to get settled into your dorm, after that I want to see you in my news room. Needless to say I was in his office daily and landed a cover story my first semester.
Get Clips!
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Your calendar should have the budget meetings of every student publications permantly scheduled. Any opportunity you get write. If your school paper is competitive, volunteer to do the mundane pieces and later pitch a review on the upcoming Roots album. Editors often reward those willing to pick up the staff writers’ slack. While its great to get clips in your chosen niche, make sure you diversify your clips so employers feel they could put you anywhere and you’d click.
But not just on campus!
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Freelance, freelance, freelance! If you can write a mean review, get your clips together and pitch to local papers. Find up-start or small publications with limited budgets and offer to write for free (which you…a lot). Clips are a precious commodity but remember its quality not quantity!
Scour the internet:
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Google is your friend. Search for internships and copy and paste all pertinent information in a word doc until your blue in the face. If there is no classification requirement, keep it on file, if it claims they only want juniors still keep it for future reference. After searching the internet high and low create a list of internships to target and develop a timeline of when and how you will go about applying.
Live on Ed2010:
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Ed2010 is yet another beautiful resource next to poynter and mediabistro. Who ever invented Whisper Jobs is a genius! Ed2010 has a million and one resources and should be checked on a daily basis.
Develop your tools:
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Have your resume, cover letter and clips reviewed by at least two professors and the career services advisor. Once they are approved for send off hit up your internship list and get to mailin’
Correspondence is Key:
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Editors are busy, very busy. After a couple of weeks with no response email them a friendly reminder. It is important that you are “pleasantly persistent” or else they’ll get an unattractive impatient vibe from you and put your resume in the NO pile without even a moment’s glance.
Remember even an internship at a little known community newspaper is beneficial. It’s all about experience and ability so never turn your nose at an upstart just because you vie for Vogue.
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Hello!
This blog is so helpful…thank you! I was wondering about point #1…I’m only a high school junior but I’ve gone some experience + that internship with Seventeen in the future, so I’m “legitimate” if you want to put it that way. On my resume, I do list my high school as my education and I do point out that I’m a current student — and on my cover letter, I emphasize that I’m younger than most candidates but able to get the work done just as well — which seems to be working so far for me, I think. Should I leave out education + age then? A journalism mentor of mine told me to leave my age out and such…
Thanks!
I understand the confusion so I added an edit to the post. Do keep your education on your resume but out of your pitches and do not emphasize your age. Its been my experience that tellin your age or classification only helps in “shocker” situations after you’re in the door and half way through your interview and they go “what are you a Senior?” and you say “umm..Freshman” and their eyes light up…one time I got a humorous “Who are you? And where did you come from?”
As for high school..absolutely stalk your guidance counselor, thats how I got all my scholarships and make sure you always visit when you grad!
I’d like to add another suggestion. If you’re seeking employment, make your myspace (if you have one) page private. I recently had to decide between 2 interns and I decided against the candidate with a drunken party picture as her profile pic. She happened to have the lower GPA too, but the pic made the decision easier.