Charles Apple

One of the biggest mistakes most commonly made by students hoping for internships: They wait until spring to start looking.

If I had a dollar for every student who contacted me in March or April or May, wanting an internship, I’d have enough money to… well, perhaps enough to hire a student who contacted me in March or April or May.

Most better newspapers look for interns in the fall and winter.

Take The Virginian-Pilot, for example. Our intern coordinator asks for students to apply for internships by Dec. 1. My bosses want me to have my intern interviewed, selected and signed up before the Christmas break.

I hardly ever make that deadline. It’s usually more like mid-January for me. But that’s what we aim for.

And, sure enough, The Pilot has a nice stack of intern applications already. As you know, we already have our design intern signed up — Rebecca Rolfe of the University of North Carolina. We’re still looking for editing, photo and reporting interns.

We’re also still looking for an infographic intern. However, be aware: I have a stack of very, very impressive candidates on my desk already. (And I hope none of you are e-mailing pdf or jpeg samples to my work address. I’ve been home sick for two days, so my e-mail basket is quite full, I’m certain, and no longer accepting e-mail.)

For anyone who didn’t see it, this was the flyer I sent out a few weeks ago:

So I’m hoping to have my graphics intern named within the next few weeks. Or, at least, before the first winter blizzard strikes me here in Virginia Beach.

I sent out a notice this afternoon to just about everyone I know. Who’s looking to hire interns for next spring or summer? I’ll post below — and in subsequent posts — what I hear back.

That’s my job. It’ll be your job to knock their socks off with your clips.

First, though, it’s time for a lecture in Internships 101…

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HOW DO YOU EARN AN INTERNSHIP?

It’s not so hard, really. All you have to do is a) Be the best, and b) Prove to the editors that you’re the best.

Piece of cake. Right?

Different newspapers have different requirements for interns. Most of them follow a basic pattern, however. And many of them can make exceptions for special cases.

Here, my student friends, are your top ten tips for landing that dream internship…

1. You need to be a college student. Not many papers offer internships to high school students or rising freshmen.

Although it’s not unheard of. I recently met a very impressive young lady who worked an internship in the features design at USA Today. As a rising freshman. It was some kind of program that paper had with a local high school.

2. Show me samples that show you can do the job. If you’re applying for a page design internship, then you need samples that show you can design a page.

Every year, I receive applications for my infographics intern position from students who show me page after page of page designs. Very nice, but can you draw a locater map? A fever chart? If I give you a 30-page handout from a state agency and a budget line for a story running tomorrow, can you zero in on the raw numbers that would best help tell that story? And then chart it for me? In an hour or less?

I can’t really stress how important this is.

Question: But wait a minute. Some students work at schools with daily newspapers. What if your school paper only publishes only once or twice a week. Won’t that put you at a disadvantage?

Answer: It sure will. More at-bats means more hits. So you’ll have to work extra-hard to prove you’re capable of top-notch work on a daily deadline. That’s the downside of going to a smaller school. The upside, of course, is that a smaller class can mean you can have greater access to your teacher, increasing your learning opportunities.

Question: But what if you didn’t work at a college paper at all? Is it even worth applying?

Answer: It’s always worth applying. Three summers ago, a student applied for my internship. She had no experience at all at a student paper. All her samples were class assignments. However, her instructor — who I’ve known for more than a decade — vouched very strongly for her.

I took a chance on her and she did wonderful work for me. She’s now a hotshot features designer for the Fort Myers News-Press. And I’m very proud of her.

She refused to allow her lack of student newspaper experience hold her back. And she worked her ass off.

You can, too. But y’know, you really should work for your student paper.

3. If a page has a big flaw in it, then don’t send that page. If you feel it necessary to write a long note explaining the page — “I wanted to make this bigger and that smaller, but…” then don’t send that page.

Make sure your work speaks for itself.

4. Send PDFs or high-resolution JPEGs. Or both. Burn them to a CD, along with your resume. Probably 10 or 12 samples are enough to show what you can do.

5. Don’t e-mail your samples, unless your contact specifically tells you it’s OK. Many papers are like the Pilot — we have limits on how much stuff you can cram into our e-mail in-baskets. Once its’ full, it won’t accept any more of your work. I might only get two of the 127 samples you send me.

6. Include a resumé. Tell me what you’ve been doing in the summers. Have you had other internships? Were you the assistant manager last summer at your local Wendy’s? Tell me about it. Tell me what software you use, what classes you’ve taken and when you plan to graduate. Include at least three references.

7. Include a cover letter. Tell me a little about yourself. What are your interests? What are your career goals? Why do you want to work at my paper this summer, as opposed to all the other papers out there? If your cover letter reads like a form letter, then you’re not doing it right.

8. Make sure your grammar is immaculate. And your grandpa, too.

That resumé? That cover letter? Make sure they’re perfect. Find a copy editor or a TA who’ll read over your stuff and mark up corrections for you. Then buy ‘em lunch.

9. Don’t be shy. Apply anywhere you think you’d be a good fit. You can’t be shy in the journalism business. It’s better you learn that now, rather than later.

10. Be eager and persistent. But don’t be a pest. If you don’t hear back after a couple of weeks, e-mail your contact and ask if you can send them anything else.

If you publish another truly great piece, mention it and send them the link to where it appears in your NewsPageDesigner portfolio.

You do have a NewsPageDesigner portfolio, don’t you?

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WHAT SHOULD I BE LOOKING FOR IN AN INTERNSHIP?

Good question.

1. Make it a learning opportunity. So if you’re lucky enough to be able to shop around — or to compare internships — look for the one that will give you the maximum opportunity to learn. To improve your skills. To increase your value on the marketplace.

2. Don’t necessarily think big. Lots of folks make the mistake of rushing to opportunities at the larger papers. Fact is, at a larger paper, you may be relegated to doing boring, inside pages that limit what you can do with them. At a smaller paper, you’re more likely to get a shot at designing section fronts. Or shooting breaking-news events. Or drawing an A1 centerpiece graphic. At a smaller paper, you can do it all. And your clip file will grow in interesting ways.

3. Shop for a good mentor. Who will be your supervisor for that internship? Is it someone who’s a fabulous teacher or mentor? Or is it one of those sink-or-swim kind of guys? The best bosses are great teachers. Make the most of your spring or summer. Look for a great teacher for whom to work.

4. Do your homework. It never fails. Every year, I get letter from a kid who says she really, really wants to work for me this summer. But when I look at her clips and I talk to her, I realize she has no idea who I am or what kind of work I do.

Hey, I’m not saying you have to memorize stuff. But before you apply to a paper, look through their NewsPageDesigner porfolios and look them up via LinkedIn or FaceBook or VizEds. Or hell, just Google them.

I might point out: That’s what we’re doing to you. So do it to us.

5. Diversify your clips. Let’s say you’ve spent the last couple of semesters designing and illustrating features assignments. Perhaps you should seek out an internship in which you can do hard-news graphics or design metro fronts. That might give your portfolio a more balanced look before you graduate. Just a thought.

6. Don’t wimp out. Are you graduating? Then why are you seeking an internship? With all those kids out there, praying for an internship opportunity before their junior or senior years, you’re going to bogart one of those opportunities for yourself? Why not take a real job, instead?

There are plenty of nice jobs open. If you can’t find one, let us know. We’ll fix you up with someone. Trust me.

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WHAT INTERNSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE?

I sent out a few dozen e-mails today to various folks, asking for a status report on their intern recruiting for the spring and summer.

As responses trickle in, I’ll post them here in the blog. Be aware, though that many folks have posted internship ads at SND.org, Poynter.org and on our mothership site, VisualEditors.com.

The first to reply was Bonita Burton of The Orlando Sentinel. Bonita writes:

Hi Charles. Our deadline is [Wednesday], so I think we missed you on this.

D’oh! See what I mean about deadlines? If you want to work in Orlando next summer, I hope you’ve already applied!

The next to reply was my good friend Kris Kinkade of The Kalamazoo Gazette. Kris writes:

I am desperately looking for qualified applicants for a full-time design internship starting ASAP. I’m very interested in December graduates who need to beef up their portfolio as they look for full-time permanent jobs.

Recruiting this year has not been good, despite posting the position on several job sites. I understand that the poor timing of my postings lowers the pool I have to pull from, but we offer decent pay ($10-plus an hour plus potential for OT pay), full-time hours and the opportunity to design everything from features, to Sports to graphics and A1 if the basic skills are there. Anyone who wants a good understanding of what the real world of newspaper design is like and whether they are prepared for it, should look at us as a great place to find out.

We want interns that are interested in learning all aspects of design, not just one discipline. Job applicants should understand that most employers find this a real asset.

This is a year-round internship that needs filling every semester, so I’m always looking to hire the next great intern. Once they are in, Gazette interns also benefit from our serious networking connections throughout the newspaper design industry. Previous interns are now working full-time at papers like the Boston Globe, St. Pete Times, Seattle Times, Lexington Herald-Leader and Detroit News.

Here are the links:
VizEds, SND.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Absolutely, Kris!

Hey, guys, you’re not going to find a better opportunity than this. It’s a smaller paper, so you get a chance to do it all. And again, Kris is a fabulous teacher. For the life of me, I don’t understand why you all aren’t falling over yourselves to apply for this.

While I was cutting-and-pasting that one here, Jim McBee of the Fayetteville, N.C. SmartNews, pinged us:

I love small papers, and, not only are they where I’m comfortable, but I believe they’re the future. But one of the downsides to being small is not being able to get in on the internship game. Seems like there’s never any money, or you don’t know if there’ll be money six months out — you know more like a week or two out. That’s not enough time to make arrangements with the professors and university bureaucrats, not to mention a prospective intern.

I hate to see big papers vacuuming up all the fresh collegiate talent. Don’t get me wrong, you can do great work in a big paper internship; I’m mainly just envious. But I think small papers offer a different set of opportunities. You’re probably apt to be thrown into the fire sooner and do more than just a narrow set of tasks.

So, yeah, I don’t have a budget or a form to fill out or a deadline. Just an e-mail address and a cell phone. Here’s what I’d be excited to talk with someone about:

- An illustrator who wants to cover ordinary, everyday news (cops, courts, business, sports, Fort Bragg, all of it) with a sketchpad
- A writer who’s trying to master chunky text — maybe someone who plans on breaking into magazines
- A natural born networker who thinks s/he can beef up our online-ness — not so much through multimedia but by making contact with actual humans and getting them involved

If that’s you or you have some other big, cool idea about perpetrating journalism that no one will listen to, drop me a line: jimmcbee@smartnewsnc.com

Maybe we can figure something out.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also responded:

Your email about our internship program was passed along to me. My name is Rana Cash, and I’m the newsroom recruiter here.

Our deadline for internship applications is Friday, Nov. 16. We will have 10 summer interns in positions throughout the newsroom. Our interns come from a national search. Because we require at least three years of professional experience before hiring full-time, we generally do not hire our interns immediately after they finish school. Some do come back, though, including our editor Julia Wallace.

Does that help?

It helps, Rana; Thanks a bunch. You can find more info about the AJC internships here.

But it doesn’t give you hopefuls out there much time to react. Better plan to stay up late, write your essay and then call FedEx.

These are just the replies I received this afternoon. A good dozen or so folks have promised me replies in the next two or three days. Keep an eye on this blog for additional internship possibilities.

You’ll find a few interships listed at SND.org:

- A photo internship at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

- A design/copy editing internship at The Birmingham News.

- A design internship at the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (Holy cow, dude; talk about good teachers. You’d be working with Paul Wallen and Tim Frank!)

- An internship for a designer, graphic artist or illustrator at The Seattle Times.

- A design internship at The Albuquerque Journal.

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I’M LOOKING FOR A FULL-TIME JOB. CAN YOU HELP ME OUT?

Absolutely!

At this very moment, I’m in touch with folks looking to hire:

- A news designer at a paper in Florida — someone capable of doing A1 or B1.

- A graphic artist — or perhaps two graphic artists — for a large daily in Canada. The hiring manager says they’re hoping for:

Print, but web-leaning is a plus (i.e 3D).

- An expert C++ graphics programmer in Raleigh, N.C. (This, by the way, is not a newspaper job.)

We need an advanced C++ computer graphics programmer to create the rendering code for commercial products. The focus is on rendering beautiful pictures, not making the user interface.

Experience with graphics libraries like OpenGL is nice, but we really need someone who could write a software renderer like OpenGL from scratch. If you can write pixel shaders, you may be the kind of programmer we need.

If any of these sound like you, drop me a line with, perhaps, your phone number and a link to your NPD portfolio. I’ll pass them along.

And those are just off the top of our head — stuff we’ve heard about in the past few days. There is a lot more out there. If you’re graduating in December or May and looking for a job — or if you’re a pro, looking to move on — let us know. We’ll try to hook you up.

Does any of this help? Is there anything else we can do? Drop me a line.

Good hunting!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at 5:24 pm and is filed under College journalism, Networking, Newspapers, Recruiting, VizEds Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.