Finding an internship can feel like impossible task. How do I apply? Where do I start? How many do I need? Hearing how other student’s landed their internships can be both inspiring and useful in landing your dream one. It can also show you the negative sides of what to avoid and what is inevitable.
Jessica Blum, a junior broadcast journalism and government and politics double major, had the opportunity to intern at WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore, an NBC news affiliate. A Maryland native, she grew up watching the station and looked into the program on her own.
Luckily for Blum she was able to find her internship with the power of Google, but many people rely on connections. Allison Vilchinsky, a sophomore community health major, heard about her internship with Novartis Pharmaceuticals in New Jersey through a friend and eventually had an interview.
“ It was my first interview for a real job,” Vilchinsky said. “I was pretty nervous but I knew I just had to be myself and talk about what I am interested in and why I wanted the position.”
Vilchinsky worked 40 hours a week doing various communications jobs, writing a weekly newsletter, and event planning.
Blum, working less traditional ours, spent her Monday and Wednesday nights from 3:30-11 p.m. at the station managing the desk planner, going through press releases and classifying information to determine the content discussed on air.
“I am definitely grateful that I was able to learn about the 11 o’clock news, but I think if I had been day side I would have been able to shadow more reporters,” Blum said.
Overall Blum described her internship as an overwhelmingly positive experience where she learned to advocate for herself and ask for opportunities.
However, not everyone was able to get the most out of their internship experience even through diligent work.
Alana Poser is a sophomore studio art major and interned at Paul Vincent Studios in Hoboken, New Jersey. She planned events and operated social media but she mainly gallery sat.
“I did not get to do as much I had liked because the gallery was not as busy as I hoped it would be, but when there were events I was more busy than on the usual Sunday through Thursday gallery hours,” Poser said.
Although it was not too exciting she understands the difficulty of getting into the art world and happy to get experience.
“It was a stepping point to bigger and better things,” Poser said. “ It is a way to get my name out there and start getting experience and hopefully get to work with higher end galleries in the future.”
University of Maryland students were all over this summer from working in small offices like Poser, who at max worked with two other people, to Alex Stoller, a junior multi-platform journalism major, who worked at Boston, the largest lifestyle magazine in the city.
Stoller took a 20 minute train and a 10 minute walk to fulfill her 20 hour a week editorial internship placed in the heart of Boston. Besides the usual fact checking and research Stoller got to work on a couple of larger pieces and attend big events.
“ It was a really good experience for connection building,” Stoller said. “ It was cool to be able to step out and go to the events where there were so many people present from the city.”
Each individual had their own experience but the consensus seems to be that having the opportunity to work in your field at any level is a rewarding experience.