What to Do When Internships Don't Lead to Employment
Landing a full-time job straight out of an internship is often a cherished dream. Unfortunately, this ideal scenario doesn't always materialize, especially in a competitive field like journalism. Many aspiring journalists, like Colin Salao, are disappointed when their internships don't immediately translate into job offers—and loss of income for international journalists can have disastrous consequences.
“I didn’t know when I was going to come back,” he said. “I thought there’s a chance I’d come back [to the U.S.] in six months, or immediately, depending on the industry. I did all my job applications from the Philippines and I took an edit test at 6 in the morning [local time] and one at 12 midnight.”
How can you make sure that, if you end up in the same situation as Salao, you have a game plan?
Foster Connections, Even with the Job That Didn’t Hire You
Building and maintaining relationships are paramount in the journalism field. Maya Brown's story illustrates the importance of staying connected with colleagues from your internship: After interning at NBC News, she moved on to other opportunities but kept in touch with her former colleagues. “I made sure that they remembered me and said, ‘This is what I did, and I want to be here with you guys,’” said Brown. When a job opening arose, she was quick to apply, leveraging her existing network and ultimately getting the job.
Chandra Turner, The Talent Fairy career coach and editorial recruiter, stressed the significance of organic networking. “It should be as authentic and organic as possible,” Turner said. “Check in every six months, send them an email, comment on something that they’ve posted online and share it. Stay top of mind, not in a creepy way, but in a way that shows you’re admiring their work.”
Colin Salao's experience shows that networking transcends borders—after going to the Asian American Journalists Association, Salao was able to make some connections which led to his current role at The Street. “I know it’s super cliche, but the networking part of it is so important,” Salao said. “When I went to AAJA, it changed my perspective of how to network and how to be around people. Not just because you meet person X or person Y, but it’s continuing to stay in contact with them and forming real relationships with people.”
Chart Your Own Course
Kristen Maldonado interned at Nicktoons and TeenNick.com and didn't land a job. Despite this, she worked as a restaurant hostess while honing her video production skills on YouTube. These skills ultimately landed her a full-time job on MTV's social media team. “There were times where we had layoffs, and we didn’t have as many editors,” she said. “And I had to step in and help edit because I had some of that background on my own. Now, I feel like I have even more skill sets that are marketable for other things.” And in order to market those things, Maldonado has developed Pop Culture Planet, “a multiplatform entertainment brand that promotes diverse voices.”
Chandra Turner once again emphasizes that journalists often need to be incredibly versatile. “Now, the jobs you go into, you’re going to need to know a little bit more about everything because the newsrooms are smaller,” she said. “You may be hired to do research, reporting, fact-checking, editing – lots of different things that you weren’t doing before. So getting your hands in as much stuff as you can is really important.”
Gain Valuable Insights in Other Roles
Sometimes the path to a journalism career might involve taking on unrelated jobs to make ends meet. Tim Gruver's journey took him through diverse experiences, including freelancing for local newspapers and working at a hazelnut factory. These non-journalism roles provided him with a unique perspective on class struggles and working people's stories, enriching his reporting. “In hindsight, it made me a lot more sympathetic to class struggle and working people’s stories. I don’t think a lot of journalists really think about it because they can’t personally relate to it,” he said. “I think having a personal connection to it would definitely change the curation of stories out there.”
Rachel Brodsky's experience during the 2008 recession involved a variety of jobs unrelated to journalism. “I was working for a couple of different people in basically jobs that probably wouldn’t allow for any growth but were bringing in money to pay the bills,” Brodsky said. “It’s so funny to me now just the pedestal that I put a full-time job on, because I spent so long not having one, because it’s so hard to get.”
“It may take a few more steps to get there,” said Turner. “You may be working freelance. You may be working two temp jobs or cobbling some things together for a little bit. But that’s good, too. It’ll help you realize what it is that you are good at. What you really like and what you hate. It’s all part of the process.”
Perseverance, adaptability, and a proactive approach can turn disappointment into success in the journalism industry. However, this path may not look as straightforward as expected. It’s important to stay the course and create work, as well as develop your abilities, in order to stay competitive—but ultimately, the path you take should be exciting and interesting to you, the journalists. That is the only way journalism survives.
