Internships, part deux

Barbara

So, I've already told you how I spent my winter breaks in college searching and applying for internships. To recap why they're a good thing : Internship = better opportunities = better pay/benefits = brighter financial future. Got it? Good.

Now, I want to share my own internship experience. During my freshman year of college I decided I wanted to be departing on the internship train each summer. Thus the search began. Just as I'd done with my college applications, I chose several "safety" newspapers (ones that I was likely to have a chance at), some "medium" papers (ones that would be a little tougher to get), and a couple of "reach" papers (ones that I really didn't stand a chance at, but wanted to apply for anyway).

As a freshman applying for internships, my resume quickly found its way to the bottom of the pile. And pretty soon, I began getting a lot of mail … "Ms. Raus, Thank you for your interest in our newspaper. We had over 100 applications for only five positions, yada, yada, yada , better luck next time." I quickly realized that I must have been in la-la-land when I made my application decisions.

Clearly, I was not getting any of the reach papers , the medium papers  were looking a little grim, and even the safety papers  were in danger. As doing chores around the farm all summer long was not a suitable Plan B, I started to brainstorm other options.

Sometimes, you have to compromise a little to get what you want down the road. For me that compromise was taking an internship at a small-circulation paper a mere 15 minutes from my home. Most of my stories were about small-town festivals and 4-H  fairs, but at least I was writing.

I ended up repeating the process after my sophomore year, and again I ended up at that same paper. But the next summer after my junior year, the compromises paid off. I was able to land an internship at The Forum  in Fargo, N.D.  While I did work Saturdays to cover those same small-town festivals, I also got to cover City Hall for a week and spend two weeks on an in-depth story about families of missing-in-action soldiers.

At the end of my summer up north, I asked one of my supervisors what it was that got me the job. Turns out, writing each summer—no matter if it was about 4-H fairs—helped me get a leg up on my competition.

I guess the moral of the post is this—perseverance. It really does pay off.

What have your internship experiences been like?