As you may or may not know, I recently got a position as a production assistant in a midsize market newsroom. (I will not identify the station because I don't want to appear to speak for the organization on this blog.)
I start this post with that statement for several reasons.
First, it changes my perspective. When I started this blog, I was a student journalist. Now, I suppose, much to my Peter Pan Syndrome chagrin, I am a professional. Don't worry, though. I still dedicate this blog to you, my readers, which means I'll still be sharing my personal "lessons learned" for your benefit.
Second, I believe it makes me an anomaly. On one hand, I'm employed in my field within a couple months of graduation, which is huge. On the other hand, I felt completely over-qualified for what I would actually be doing, and I even had one professor discourage looking for PA openings.
This harkens to the title of the post: Make the most of it.
When they met me, several people in the newsroom said something along the lines of "I remember when I was a PA. It's a great foot-in-the-door position!" Even after just a couple months, I realize how true this is and how wrong my assumptions were.
Sure, the pay and hours are less than desirable for someone toting around a summa cum laude bachelor's degree, but it's much like my unpaid internship. The job is not about the title. It's about what you do with it. I have required duties to perform as a PA, and then I have what I want to do. You have "down time," during which you can shadow and/or help producers, editors, reporters...anyone with the job title you'd eventually like to hold. Usually, these people have been in your PA/recently graduated shoes and are more than happy to provide feedback and get you your next job on the career ladder.
This is where I am now. I still plan to be a broadcast news producer one day, and I'll pursue that as soon as possible and as soon as I feel qualified to advance.
That's the future, but in this present, I look at the past, which leads me into "third."
Third, my position as a new PA allows me to reflect on what I think I did "wrong" in the past. I speak specifically to my experience as an intern.
Again, the title of this post: Make the most of your internships!
I really can't emphasize this enough. At my internship, I was granted many opportunities, but I didn't have much direction. I could blame the format and rationalize my choices, or I could just admit I wasn't proactive. Since I didn't know which news track I wanted to pursue, I should've talked to my superiors about how to address this. Maybe I could've spent one week with a reporter, then one with a producer, and on and on around the newsroom. I was definitely there long enough for that. Maybe I could've made a list of what I like to do and then figured out which job position used those skills the most.
Regardless, I had resources and didn't use them. Instead, I focused on trivial things like, "I'm using my summer to wake up early, commute and then work for 9 hours with no pay." (Ok, maybe not so trivial, but I was missing the point of being an intern.) Because I had shown initiative by being willing to work for no pay, I also showed dedication to my field and desire to advance myself. People in the newsroom take notice of that and want to help you get where you want to be.
Now as I work my shifts, I see our interns. One young lady was sitting at the assignment desk while also writing for and posting to the web. Another wrote, shot, tracked and edited a reporter package, with guidance from the professionals every step of the way. Neither of these women was afraid to interrupt someone doing *their* job to ask questions or request assistance.
I know I was so afraid as an intern to disrupt someone else's "job groove" to teach me something. Now I realize- that's why I was there.
On my final internship evaluation, I was told I wait for instruction, rather than seek out a way to contribute, and that I was not outgoing or type-A enough to make it in the news industry. It was a real wake-up call. Now I see what they meant.
If you are ever granted an internship (and seriously, try to get as many as possible- they're much better classrooms, and other job applicants will have several on their resumes so be ready to compete!), don't waste it. You're not being intrusive if you ask to be taught.
I always make it a point now to ask if anyone needs help. If not, just ask what they're doing and let them show you. (You can still gain skills...and no work for you!) Yes, it helps that I'm now officially part of a team, and I'm getting paid for it. However, this doesn't make the advice any less true. On some level, I never felt like I fit in at my internship site, but now, I love my job and my co-workers and plan to make the most of it.
