Thanks for keeping up with this great advice column. Not
all internship experiences are great. I'm sure many interns learn to
cope with these situations, but sometimes office
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politics or an
inattentive editor can make an internship frustrating.
My question is --
how honest should you be when other recruiters ask about how well your
internship went? What if you really did not enjoy working at the
newspaper you interned at?
Jennifer
I'm sorry your internship was a disappointment. That can be rough.
You should always be honest in an interview, of course, but you can
also be brief. Time spent on troubles in your past is time taken from
talking about future possibilities.
If someone asks how things went, tell them you wish things had gone
better. Briefly explain what the trouble was, and then say what you wish
you would have been able to achieve, whether that was playing above the politics
or engaging your editor. Explain what you learned or how you grew. Try
to move the interview on.
The last thing you want to do in an interview with one editor is go on a rant about another.
Coming Tuesday: She wonders whether leaving journalism for public relations will kill her chances of coming back later.
