Getting a foot in the door - The Intern Diaries

by Breyanna Knoll

After rounding out my first two weeks at St. Louis Woman Magazine, I really love it here. The atmosphere is great, and I wrote seven small stories for the March issue! This works well because I research, write, and receive feedback constantly. This only improves my writing only as writing constantly can.

I already added little plastic cover pages to my clip book in preparation for the March issue!. You bring a clip book to an interview to show all your published pieces. The more clips you have, the better. They show your skills and that you did more than provide coffee and copies at those internships — your editor actually trusted you enough to write for the magazine.

Your student publications department is a great place to start for clips. As a freshman, you can report for the newspaper or yearbook staff. Consider the elements of a yearbook. Good ones resemble magazines. If you work on the newspaper staff, write as many features as possible. Edit like crazy for both.

A little student publications experience goes a long way, but it will not land you the job. Your competitor will have notched several internships in her belt, so I suggest you do the same.

Start with a regional magazine — somewhere that specifically focuses on a geographical area. A smaller staff allows more clips and more responsibilities. Because these magazines are spread all over the country, unlike nationals in New York City, you can complete one during the school year.

Then move on to an internship with a small national magazine and then a large national. After those, your resume will have diversity, experience and a recognizable name in it.

I actually flipped it around a little. I interned first at a small national, and I write a lot more here than I did there. I had a friend who interned with a regional magazine, freelanced for it, and took a job there after graduation. So some cases are different.
But if you want to work for a large national — like the ones you see in the checkout line at the grocery store — start small, do lots of internships and most importantly — work your butt off at every single one. You never know to whom editors are talking.