Ask the Recruiter

Q. I am currently a journalism student going into my junior year of j-school and thought I had it all figured out. I was going to have a summer internship with a free daily, which I thought was great since it would have been a good stepping stone for later internships with bigger papers.

ASK JOE A QUESTION

To get your question answered on this page, send it to Joe. Please include your full name in your message. If you prefer that your surname not be published, please indicate that. Sign up to receive Ask the Recruiter by e-mail. (sent Monday-Friday at 8 a.m.)

Unfortunately, the free daily that I was going to intern at shut down recently because of economic reasons, leaving many journalists, workers, and this lowly intern without a job. My question now is this: Is it too late in the game to go looking for another summer internship? Or should I take some summer classes to get ahead in school? What can I do so I don't feel like this summer was wasted?

I feel very frustrated since I had already gone through the whole internship search some time ago and thought I had an internship secured. Will I be able to get better internships in the future if I don't have an internship this summer?

Thank you for any advice you might be able to give,

Feeling Very Lost

A. You have my sympathies. I bet you feel just terrible. You don't have much time, as this is the end of April, but let's give this one more shot.
           

Joe Grimm

Ask the people with the free daily whether they have any connections or friends they can use to help them keep their commitment to you. And then circle back to some of your other prime internship targets. Tell them what has happened and ask whether anything has opened up for you. Finally, look for opportunities that, while they might not be called internships, could give you some good experience. They might go by other names, or they might be nothing more than extensive freelancing arrangements for the summer.

I am seeing opportunities I have never before seen. They tend to be for student journalists who can help news Web sites produce content or for people to fill in for short-term leaves such as medical leaves that once were merely unfilled, but now must be filled as staffing has been pared back to minimal levels.

You have to do some scrambling, but you'll really have a story to tell if you can succeed.
Joe on internships: "Breaking In: The JobsPage.com Guide to Newspaper Internships."

---

Coming Friday: This seven-year veteran is ready to move, but the hiring slowdown has stymied her. She is looking for strategies that will help her move.

---