Feature in ASBO magazine graduate edition.
I wrote a piece on interning for ASBO magazine's graduate issue. Read below.
Entering the world of work is terrifying, especially when the world you want to enter is one that is so saturated that entry points are hard to find. Enter: internships. Here are some tips on how to survive your first internship and get your foot firmly in the door whilst staying positive and understanding that the opportunity to explore different workplaces before making a commitment could be a blessing in disguise.
Getting an internship isn’t easy. You send what feels like 100 emails and even more applications just to find out that you haven’t been successful. When you finally get one, it feels as if you’ve found Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. A way into the industry that you dream of being a part of. When I got my first proper internship acceptance a few months ago, I was beside myself with excitement. Two weeks at a national newspaper? Amazing! I read the paper every day anticipating an exciting, energetic office. I ordered two humongous ASOS parcels of business attire so that I would fit in. I moved all of my belongings from my home to a friend’s flat – so lovingly lent to me whilst she goes on holiday – so that my commute was made easier. Everything was going to be perfect.
I am now one week in to the two-week placement and have learnt a few things. I have decided to write them down and share them, not to squash anyone’s dreams and to shout from the rooftops that internships are absolutely horrible (because only some are), but because it’s important to talk about internships. They are something that is expected of us – the next generation – yet discussions about these experiences are far and few between. They are tiring, mainly because for me it was my first experience of a 9-5 Monday to Friday job, but they are also super exciting, and that’s why I’m here - to show the reality and the importance of internships in the journalism industry: what to expect, what not to expect, and how to make it through.
Firstly, majority of these work placements are unpaid. I could write thousands of words on how elitist this is, but that won’t change that it is a major part of the industry. Whilst moaning about the free labour you are expected to give to friends that will inevitably get bored of this conversation by the end of your placement, work around the issue by taking your own lunch, your own teabags, and your own collection of snacks to get you throughout the day.
As an intern on the fashion desk, hoping one day to enter the world of fashion journalism, I had dreams of running between shoots and writing articles whilst somehow trying to book tickets to London Fashion Week on the side. The reality of the job is a lot more picture research and link finding – after all, fashion doesn’t run every day in the newspaper and so it is a lot slower than you would imagine. Finding images can also feel like a waste of your talent – I know I’ve sat there wondering if my MA in journalism will ever actually be necessary. But this laborious picture searching and email sending is a major part of the job, and is something that the fashion assistants that actually work there have to do. Yes they do get the perks of fashion week and doing interviews, but a lot of the job is not as fast paced as social media may have you thinking. Of course I cannot talk for other areas of the news, in journalism as a whole or even about how other publications share their workload with their interns.
Instead of letting it get me down, however, I have taken it upon myself to inject positivity into everything I have learnt so far during this internship. Daily news meetings are absolutely crazy, and knowing something before the rest of the world knows it is exciting even if it is as depressing as the likelihood of us entering another recession. The people you work under whilst interning often also did similar placements to you when they were starting out, and therefore are willing to help in any way they can. I have pushed to get writing experience and then have the more senior members of the team go over it with me – these are the people we will one day be working with, so to get their opinions on how to improve your writing is invaluable. Internships are fully what you make it, if you ask for more jobs and trust your instincts enough to know that you can do your jobs perfectly, the experience gained is always worth it. Plus, who doesn’t want to experience parts of the working world before truly stepping through the door? It’s like tapas, but instead of tasting halloumi and olives, you’re tasting your future. Knowing that you will be able to make an informed decision about where you want to end up when the time comes is only a good thing. You’ve got to make sure you like the olives before you order the Mediterranean salad, so it only makes sense to be that careful and picky with your future, too.
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