Making the most of your summer internship
Summer internships are a useful training ground. They give students a taste of professional journalism, introduce them to new interests and create helpful connections with mentors and fellow students. Each of my internships before my full-time job shaped my journalism abilities and career goals.
(Side note: Internships aren’t the only path to a journalism career, and there are plenty of other ways you can strengthen your skills and learn new things over the summer. Next week, Marlee Baldridge will share tips for taking advantage of the summer if you’re not interning or studying abroad.)
How can you make the summer internship experience as valuable as possible? Expanded from a column I wrote for Gather last week, and with some crowdsourced tips, here’s some advice to make the most of the summer.
Read as much of the publications’ work as you can before you start. This especially applies if you’re working in a city or community you haven’t lived in before. Internships pass quickly, and the more you know about local issues before starting, the easier it will be to feel oriented and hit the ground running.
Talk with your manager early on about your goals and interests. You’ll probably never have more flexibility than you do as an intern. If you want to shadow other departments or learn about things that aren’t in your job description, let your manager know.
Take advantage of your title and flexibility, Lauren Katz wrote on Twitter. “Ask questions. Grab coffee with people whose work you admire. Sit in on meetings and tapings and video shoots. Soak up as much as you can about everything you can.”
Rely on your own judgment and be proactive, Marlee Baldridge wrote. “Take the time to take your editor out for coffee, and ask about the expectations they might have of you if you haven't already. What made the good interns stand out in the past? What were the habits of the most productive interns? And then follow-up halfway through, and have coffee again. Be earnest and open to criticism — where can you improve? What weaknesses has your editor identified?”
Say “yes” to even the smallest tasks. Proving your reliability will help managers trust you with larger ones. “Taking on the grunt work often gets a bad rap, but in reality, you get to tack your name on to a lot of amazing projects just by being available for assignment,” Lovey Cooper wrote in the Gather Slack channel.
The success of your internship will depend entirely on what you put into it, Sarah Hutchins wrote. “The best clips won't be handed to you — you'll find them and pitch them to your editors. Get assigned something that's just meh? Go back with a new twist — a better twist — on the assignment. Don't get asked to work on the big breaking story? Look for an angle no one is covering that could add value to the overall coverage. Want to do investigative work? Take the initiative to ask someone doing that work if you can help, even if it's something as simple as picking up court records.”
Don’t be afraid to pitch projects and ideas. You want to come away from your internship with a few work samples you’re really proud of and can use in the future. But be realistic with what you can accomplish in the limited time you have, and try to wrap up loose ends before your internship ends.
|
