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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2003-07-12
Strategies for Chasing Internships
By Jim McNay, Brooks Institute of Photography
When it comes to chasing internships, it's a good idea to Have A Plan.
If business leaders can have a business plan before they open a factory or a shop, and if athletes can have a game plan, photographers can have a plan for hunting internships.
One such plan involves creating two lists. Let's call them the A-list and the B-list.
On the A-list are those publications a college student would really like to work for, but given the student's experience and progress to date, these publications might be a stretch. These might include major dailies or some of the large magazines or websites. Chances are these publications will be scattered all across the country.
However, it is good to stretch. And frankly, sometimes publications of this size are willing to take a chance on someone if they see a spark of potential they would like to help develop. Intern applicants are never sure when a publication might have such a mindset, so it is good to take a shot at some of these big time opportunities.
Another reason to chase these publications that might be beyond a student's current reach is that when these same students return a year later and re-apply for this internship, they might be remembered. And in the new look at a new portfolio, the professional editor might just notice how much the student grew since the first application. That alone might be enough to get into a serious conversation about a summer internship.
The B-list is a collection of publications that would be more likely to take on the student given their current portfolio, publication track record in the community and in school. This list will more likely be local, include more in-state publications, and will focus on small to medium-sized organizations.
Here the student is being tougher on himself or herself, looking to more closely match their internship request to those publications that give people starting out a chance.
For starters, make each list about 12 publications long. One strategy is to send portfolios to the top three on each list. If rejection letters come back, send to the next three.
Another approach is to organize each list by application deadline due dates. This information should be available from an internship posting by the publication. The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) website is also a source for this information for those students who join NPPA.
And it never hurts to call and confirm this information. The two fastest, and most potent, questions a student can ask in a telephone call to a photography department are: "Will you have a photography internship this summer?" and "What is your deadline for applications?"
The next most potent question (and ultimately perhaps the most important) is, "How exactly does the director of photography spell his or her name?"
Students are sometimes put off when they see internship deadlines as early as November for the following summer. In most cases the publications with these deadlines are large ones, appropriate for A-list candidates among students with previous internships. Most students starting out need not worry about these pre-end-of-year deadlines for the first one or two internships.
The key here is to always have some portfolios "in play"-that is, out in the world where they can be seen by editors.
Bottom line: The internship hunt is like having one additional class per term, a class called, "Chasing Internships." This effort needs as much care and attention as all the other classes on a student's schedule.
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.
Related Links:
Jim McNay's Member Page
Brooks NPPA Student Chapter
Brooks Institute of Photography
Related Email Addresses:
Jim McNay: jmcnay@brooks.edu
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