March is here! The month of spring cleaning & (in my opinion) getting your life together haha. So many of you have messaged me asking about my summer internship in New York and how I got it. Well since the school Year is getting closer & closer to those summer months I figured it was time to let you all in on my experience.
MY STORY:
First off, let me begin by saying the scouting/application process was not easy. I started filling out internship applications online and contacting organizations/agencies/people trying to land a good internship. It was a struggle because a lot of online applications are through a portal system and it wouldn’t allow me to upload my portfolio which shows all my creative & hard work I’ve done throughout the years.
So I decided to start being “annoying”. Yes, annoying. What I mean is just submitting an online application, I felt wasn’t good enough. I found email addresses of the companies I wanted to work for and sent a brief message explaining why I should be their next intern. I attached my resume, cover letter & portfolio PDF file in each email hoping one of these would stick and I’d get a reply.
To my surprise… I got a lot of emails back saying “we love that you reached out to us let’s set up an interview etc.”. Because of this strategy I highly recommend being “annoying” about sending emails. You may feel like “agh these people are going to think I’m nuts and get irritated with me”. WRONG! Companies love to see students go after what they want and reach out to them. It shows them how serious you are and how much you want this. Even if the company you want to work for doesn’t have an internship application or doesn’t even accept interns… THERE IS ALWAYS EXCEPTIONS. And you could be that one exception that makes them proud!
MY INTERNSHIP:
I started my application process is January 2017 which gave me enough time to hopefully contact as many people as possible to get an internship for the summer of 2017. This is another tip of mine: START EARLY! Please please please! I beg of you, do not wait til the last minute. You probably won’t end up with an internship if you do so.
Through out the spring months of March & April 2017 I began to get emails back from these various companies I sent emails to. We set up interviews via phone call or Skype since I was still in the middle of my school year and couldn’t travel. I go to the University of Alabama so I ultimately was thinking about getting an internship close around. I searched in areas like Mobile, AL, Nashville & Atlanta which are three big southern cities. I even applied for a lot of New York internships that I got interviews with. Ultimately, a twist of faith happened. I was getting discouraged because I hadn’t heard back from a lot of my interviews. So instead of reaching out by email, I took things one step further with this New York Travel/Tourism company that I loved and messaged them on Instagram. Networking, people!!!! Two days later I was on a plane to New York getting interviewed and the next day I got the job!
It was the best experience of my career thus far. I’m a Journalism major with a Political Science minor and my goal has always been to work for a company that allows me to be creative and create content for them whether that be through writing articles, cinematography, social media or website designing. These have always been things I’ve drawn to and have been good at. As an intern for this travel company I maintained their social media platforms by reporting live on location of events on Long Island and in the New York City. My responsibilities were to write travel articles, capture and create content for organization channels to gain more tourism to the area. My first day on the job I got to meet NY legislator Laura Schaffer while I was reporting and capturing content at the NY Belmont Stakes Race Horse. I WAS THRILLED haha! I got really lucky in the sense that all the employees I worked with were the sweetest people ever. They knew I was there to learn more about the field and they taught me everything. I even got to work with a professional NYC photography who taught me so many new camera tips. Over all, it was the best decision I ever made and it has since opened a lot of doors for me that I will always be forever grateful for this experience the company offered me.
… in general –
INTERNSHIP TIPS:
- start researching and applying early
- Be annoying, get those emails out there
- If you’re a journalism major or anytime of creative background make a portfolio filled with all your articles you written or photos you’ve taken etc. (thats what I did & having a visual to show in your interview is GOLD).
- Reach out on social media, but make sure that your own personal social media is clean and appropriate (you can take a look at mine for example here.)
- Look for an internship all over. Try to get an internship in bigger cities because you will probably have the most/best experience and learning capabilities. Chicago, New York, Los Angeles etc.
To shop my home office scroll down!
Bookshelf: IKEA – I bought mine separately, without the attach/detachable desk because I have such a big space I wanted a desk separate from the bookshelf. But this furniture works wonders for small spaces! ***Bonus: for added depth I picked up a really pretty wrapping paper I fell in love with at Michaels and I taped it to the back of my bookshelf. It made that boring wall pop!
Desk: Target – in white, the drawer is very deep and I liked the weird angles of the legs and foot bar.
Chair: Target – in black, this chair is not meant for desks its actually a dinning table chair but since my desk is taller than most I needed a taller chair for it. Plus the tufted fabric on the chair back matches the tufted pattern on my beds headboard. (Bedroom reveal coming soon!)
Wall Decor: the two, gold, window looking picture frames I found by chance at our local Big Lots for only $10! So check out your Big Lots store or check out this similar one from Kirkland. My VOGUE picture is actually a poster board I bought at my Universities school fair for $12, but here are some similar ones from Target, Kohl’s (1), and Kohl’s (2).
Lamp: My lamp is from Tuesday Morning which doesn’t have an online store, but heres a similar one for $30 at Target or this one for $80 at Target.
Bar cart: I got my bar cart on sale from Hobby Lobby for $45 but its not available online only found in stores so search around if you really like it. If not here are some similar ones from Target, Joss&Main, and World Market.
I hope this post helps all of you in search of an internship, land the perfect one for you!
♦♦♦♦♦
Like this post? Subscribe below on a mobile device (or the right hand side on a desktop), Follow the blog via email, like the page on Facebook or follow the Instagram.
Thanks for reading!
(rate this post, like it, share or comment below! No account required.)
Leave a Reply