| Sign in: |
| Members log in here with your user name and password to access the your admin page and other special features. |
|
|
|
|
|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2003-11-25
Locking Down Internships on College Breaks
By Jim McNay, Brooks Institute of Photography
With the holiday season approaching (and remember, some holiday season is always approaching!) it's time to crank up the internship hunt, or move to Norway!
The breaks in the academic year can be a great time to kick back and forget the lame philosophy final on the proof of existence by Robespierre, Casey Stengel and Kurt Cobain.
These breaks can also be used to pave the way into the next great internship.
Since so many students travel to get from college to home, planning a trip around the opportunity to see editors at publications the student aspires to work for this summer, or the summer after that, makes sense.
Christmas and spring breaks are great natural times to hit the road and show a portfolio to editors or publications students would like to work for. And one or two interviews while on the road still leave plenty of time for snowboards and surfing.
Does your route take you through Boulder or Denver on the way home this time? Could it? Are you dying to work for a publication in or near one of those cities as a summer intern at some point in your college career? A call in advance to set up an appointment and a portfolio review might just get a student on a key editors radar screen. And it can be done with only a slight interruption during the trip home or back to school.
Few editors will turn down a student request for a five-to-15 minute quick review and newsroom tour, especially if the student can exercise some flexibility in arranging exactly which day they pass through town. (Choosing a Sunday when the Broncos are playing at home might not be wise.)
In the initial contact, letter, e-mail or even telephone conversation, the student can explain where they go to school, say a word about where they are in their degree program, and squeeze in something about their previous experience or internships. Just that much in a couple sentences can be enough to get a busy editor's attention.
And if the editor cannot see you on the way home, ask if they have time as you head back to campus. It is worth leaving home a day or two early to make this appointment during the editor's normal hours.
Sometimes if the editor is reluctant, the student can reach for one more connecting point with the editor. Maybe the aspiring photographer has met one of the publication's staffers and has been impressed with their work. Maybe the student lived in the city the publication serves, went to school there previously, or visited relatives regularly and thus is somewhat familiar with the publication. Any connecting point drawing on such ties to the community might give the student the edge.
Sometimes it helps to have what college students might call a Serious Trump Card they can play as a last resort.
On one occasion when a student was talking to a major Eastern seaboard daily, he could tell he was about to be hung-up on. Just before the receiver went down, the student managed to blurt out, "But I DID attend the Eddie Adams Workshop!" (See the importance of this workshop elsewhere in the workshop section on the Sports Shooter website.) That opened the door and the student got the interview while in town.
(Note: When a student says something like this, it better darn well be true!)
Because the student had his face-to-face visit with the editor, this photographer had a clear edge when portfolios were eventually reviewed for the summer internship. And this student got the job, due to a strong
portfolio AND important one-on-one contact during a Christmas break.
Bottom line: Breaks in the academic year can be used for fun and a little bit of business, and just might advance the photographer's personal agenda to be employed this summer, or next.
Photographers, particularly those in school or seeking to break into the photojournalism, are welcome to send ideas for future columns to Jim McNay at jim.mcnay@brooks.edu. Questions about getting started in photojournalism that might be answered in future columns are also welcome.
Visit the Brooks NPPA student chapter website at: http://www.brooksnppa.org
Related Links:
Jim McNay's Member Page
Brooks NPPA Student Chapter
Brooks Institute of Photography
Related Email Addresses:
Jim McNay: jmcnay@brooks.edu
|
|
|
Contents copyright 2023, SportsShooter.com. Do not republish without permission.
|