So I always hear the same thing: If you want to go into
journalism, get an internship in college! Well, here I am, six months
out of college, and I've finally gotten it together enough to know for
sure that I want to go into journalism. I've had plenty of good jobs,
and I consider myself very qualified to do a lot of things.
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Unfortunately, I've never had a job working for a newspaper, even at my
university. I'm now making it on my own in New York, and I can't afford
to have an unpaid internship. However, without one, it feels like no
one wants to hire me. What do you think that I should do to break into
the journalism world?
Thanks so much,
Alex
This is a tough one. You've decided to break into one of the
most competitive journalism markets in the world with no experience, and
you need to get paid right away.
You have several choices, all difficult:
- Move to a market where there is far less competition.
- Get published. Freelance for newspapers, magazines or Web
sites and get paid per piece. Even they will expect you to have some
demonstrable experience, but if you start with the small ones that pay
less, you might fly under the competitive radar.
- Go back to school. Work for the student paper, this time, and
use off-semesters to get the internships you missed the first time.
None of these solutions is easy, I know. You have put yourself into a
difficult position and will have to change something about it to make
any headway.
