How To Deal When Your Fellow Intern Gets Hired

While waiting for the subway on the way to work this morning, I bumped into one of my co-interns. While eating lunch in the lounge a couple of weeks ago, we started talking and became friendly. We found out that we had both been working at the same major magazine in the past, even though at different times.

While chatting away at the expense of the morning sanity of our fellow commuters, she mentioned that she actually got hired as an Editor! I truly was excited for her, considering she’s been interning since she graduated more than a year ago – for no money. She’s a smart and very nice girl, and she really deserves it.

I’m not going to lie, I did get a little jealous. I wouldn’t necessarily call it jealousy; it was more like an anxiety attack. I settled down, started thinking rationally, and I realized that I am doing everything right. I’ve had innumerable internships (half of which were actually paid), I’m almost done with one of the best Journalism programs in the country, I actually have a job right now, and I have seen my name in print multiple times. After the first panic-stricken ten minutes, my turbo intern capabilities kicked in. I got to work, and did absolutely fabulously. Full-time job applications, you will be crushed.

Let me tell you a little bit about how I go about applying to jobs. The first part is to have your resume and a general cover letter ready to go. Your resume will be the same on any application, but you’ll want to slightly modify your cover letter based on the job you’re sending it to. The second part of the routine is finding the actual jobs. How to go about that?

1. Search on the usuals: craigslist.org, monsterjobs.com, ed2010.com (all depending, obviously, on what kind of business you’re trying to get into).
2. I can’t say this enough: use your school’s amenities. Their career net website, their department of professional studies and jobs, and their career fairs are only few of the ways to find suitable job opportunities. USE THEM!
3. This is where you get proactive. You have the internet — exploit it. Search for “boutique publishing houses in New York City,” (if that’s what you want to do) or “magazines in New York City” – and then compile a list of all the companies that come up and send them your resume. Accompany it with a short email, describing what kind of position you’re looking for and requesting a meeting, just to talk in person, rather than over a computer screen. Trust me, a lot of companies simply forget to put up a job posting, and what’s the worst that could happen? They’ll email you back saying that they aren’t really looking for anyone. But even if there’s a slight chance that your email may yield favorable results – you should take it.

My advice? Embrace the anxiety that all this career talk provides you with, and use it to make something grand. 


Have you guys ever been overwhelmed by anxiety? How did you deal?

Sigh,
Web Intern