Internship Shopping Season Already?

By: Randy Dotinga Now comes the time for all good college students to come to the aid of their future careers. If you're looking for a job in journalism after graduation, you should be juggling summer internship offers this month. If not, start looking for an editor who's a worse procrastinator than you.

That may be harder than it sounds. Internships at U.S. newspapers are extremely competitive, even at small newspapers, and the deadlines to apply for them have crept earlier and earlier on the calendar. If you want to spend the summer at the big newspapers in Phoenix, Detroit, or Charlotte, your applications should have been in the mail last month. The Kansas City (Mo.) Star set its deadline even earlier, way back on Nov. 15.

As a result, editors across the country spent the holiday tracking down and courting the best prospects. "It used to be that we did this in the springtime. Now we've moved it back," said Reginald Stuart, corporate recruiter and intern coordinator for Knight Ridder. "Part of this reflects the students' desire to have some idea what they're going to do. For the recruiters, they'll know what kind of crew they'll have. In the end, it serves all reasonably well."

The hard work of finding an internship can pay off. Ten or 20 years ago, a single college internship might have impressed an editor. But now, "by the time a student graduates, he or she should have at least two, if not three solid internships under their belt," said Randy Hagihara, newsroom recruiter at the Los Angeles Times. He adds that students who spend their college years working for the school newspaper shouldn't wait until after graduation to scramble for an internship.

If college students are lucky enough to field several internship offers this month, they might not want to automatically take the one at the most prestigious newspaper. "The opportunity to report and write is key," said Hagihara, who plans to hire about 15 summer interns out of an expected 400-500 applicants. "But I don't think that there is such a thing as an internship that's a waste of time. You're bound to absorb something and get something out of the experience by just being in the newsroom."

Interns hired by Hagihara are especially lucky. They'll make $600 a week, significantly more than many full-time reporters, editors, and photographers at other newspapers. Interns at other large dailies can make $800 or even $900 a week, especially if a union is involved, Stuart said.

It's a different world at small and mid-size dailies. They're less likely to pay much, if at all, and they lack the resume boost of a Boston Globe or Seattle Times.

But the internships can still be valuable, said Mike Donoghue, intern director at Vermont's Burlington Free Press. "Interns are treated like regular staff members here," he said. "Their bylines say they're staff writers -- it doesn't say 'Intern' or 'Special to the Free Press.' We make it clear up front that you're not going to be making photocopies, counting paper clips, or running out for coffee."

Regardless of where they want to work, all is not lost for students who keep finding better things to do in the winter than thinking about the summer. In general, smaller newspapers have later deadlines. The Burlington paper accepts applications until April, although Donoghue is thinking about an earlier deadline because exposure on the Web has boosted the number of interested students.

Of course, many internship slots at other papers are already being taken. But smart newspapers make sure they don't fill every single position, said Hagihara of the Los Angeles Times. "There's always a diamond in the rough who shows up at the last minute," he said.

So if you're late to the internship search, start sparkling.