Multiple Internships: One Path to the Fast-Track After College

Contents:

Contests:

Newsletter:

Members:

About Us:

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 2003-12-13

Multiple Internships: One Path to the Fast-Track After College
By Jim McNay, Brooks Institute of Photography

When it comes to looking for multiple internships on the resumes of candidates for internships and entry-level staff positions, it might help students to remember how professional baseball is organized.

In short, there are a lot of minor league teams. Some are for players who need a lot of growth and development (D, C and B-class ball, single-A, double-A and so on) and then there is Triple-A, one step below the major league level.

Often as youngsters break in, managers want to see if players can handle the competition and pressure of the lower ranks before subjecting them to the big leagues, "The Show."

Similarly multiple internships served at various sized publications are often the path to large publications where the assignments are more challenging and the stakes higher.

Completing several internships is often a climb up a ladder in circulation size. Someone who has never had an internship should probably consider starting at a small daily or perhaps a weekly publication. One summer at such a place will have the student in the community regularly. The intern will have the chance to shoot on deadline and will become familiar with professional turn-around times and newsroom standards for picture quality and professional behavior.

With this foundation, when the student photographer seeks to move up to a larger publication, they can point to a track record that shows, "I can do this, and I'm ready to do this at the next level."

Multiple internships also give the student a chance to show they have moved around the country a bit and have opened themselves to life experiences away from home and out of their natural comfort zone. This is an important signal for aspiring journalists to send if they want to cover their country and the world.

There is no pat answer for how many internships are the "right number" to have while in college. Two or three is a respectable count; six or eight is too many.

A recent successful applicant for the summer photo internship at National Geographic had completed four previous internships. Some other finalists may not have had any at all. While it was not the number of internships that made the difference, having done the work necessary to obtain and then complete those internships probably had a lot to do with creating an excellent portfolio, which lead to being selected by the Geographic from among the finalists.

Bottom line: Do one internship, and then do at least one or two more.

Think: small daily, medium-sized daily, and then take a shot at one of the majors. It might open the door to photojournalism's equivalent of, "The Show."

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