Internships

[Jeff_Rake]

Without releasing the hounds 8) ... I'm hoping some of you who have been college interns at a newspaper can offer me some tips/advice as far as applying, and sending clips, etc. And Tom Petty, please don't respond

--How many letters of recommenation is preferable? 2-3, or as many as possible?
--How many clips should I send, and in what format? The actual copy, a web version, a printed word document?
--Is there a specific way of organizing them that will make them look more professional? Any specifics that have worked for some of you?

Thanks for the help guys. Some sarcastic responses are inevitable, but hopefully somebody can help!

 

[The Rules of Golf]

Hello, Mr. Rake. So much of this is arbitrary among individual editors/newspapers that it's really hard to address your points in a quick fashion.

But I think you're thinking the right way. If you're having people send actual recs, then probably don't do more than 3. I think the standard way is just have names and contact info listed on a references page on your resume. I'd send no more than 10 clips, done neatly on paper. Put them in a folder with the resume on the opposite side. If you want, include a cover page on top of your clips that explain some -- like if a feature you did took you a month and you interviewed 25 people, or if a great gamer was written in 15 minutes on deadline.

Apply for every internship around. Things are so competitive that good reporters get turned down, so don't get discouraged. The margin is slim on who gets these and who don't. My editor at my first one later told me that he all but flipped a coin to decide between me and another dude. I didn't even apply for my second one; just naively sent him a resume as I was graduating saying I'd be interested in working for him. He called back and offered me the internship, the deadline for which had passed a month earlier. I'm grateful for both, no matter how I got them.

Best of luck. PM me if you care. Sounds like you've got a great attitude.

 

[Boobie Miles]

I think a thread based just on clips, resumes, references, applying for jobs etc should be stickied. It seems like these threads pop up once a week and it would be easier if there was just one thread for all that type of info. Just my two cents.

 

[Jeff_Rake]

Yeah, that would be helpful. Sorry to those who are tired of these threads. I can imagine that they've probably come up several times.

 

[Boobie Miles]

Yeah, don't worry about it, not like I was annoyed with you for starting this thread, just that they do come up all the time and people only get a few responses sometimes, probably because most people have already posted their suggestions before. If there was just one thread to deal with all of these topics it would make it much easier I think.