3 Tips For The End of Your Internship

Here I am in the last week of my internship and I can’t help but wonder—where did the last two months go? Many of my duties may be over and done with, but it’s not time to slack off yet. There’s still plenty of time to make a good lasting impression.

How do I do this? You may ask. Here are three things you should do before you leave to make sure you’re remembered as the best intern your editors were ever lucky enough to hire.

Getting My First (And Second) Byline

And finally, the moment I’ve been anticipating for weeks now—my very own byline in the magazine (two, to be exact)! When the new issue came out this week, the first thing I did was flip to the pages my two stories were on to see how they came out.

What I found was a bit surprising.

4 Tips For Making the Dreaded Phone Call

If you’re a little on the shy side like I am, making phone calls can be a bit like pulling teeth. I get that it’s important to communicate well with people in order to get the right information for writing stories and fact-checking them. So much of my job revolves around making phone calls, but every time I go to pick up the phone, my heart starts racing and my words seem to stumble over themselves.

These past few weeks, I’ve been trying to come up with ways to help myself get over this fear. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

Reasons to Love Your Job

A fresh batch of the new issue arrived last week. I immediately flipped to the masthead at the front, and I’ve got to say—there’s nothing like seeing your name in print! It was pretty satisfying to flip through the magazine and see all of the pages I had worked on in the past few weeks. I had gotten to know each word on that page so well, and now it was on newsstands for everyone to see!

So much work goes into creating a magazine, and visually they’re amazing.  After the past few weeks working at the Mag, I can now appreciate all the work that goes into making that happen.

Each word is meticulously chosen by the writer, and then spell-checked and fact-checked by us interns. That takes a lot of careful reading, organization and communication.

Would You Speak Up If An Intern Wasn't Doing Her Job?

Hey Edsters,

I’m just about halfway into my internship, and things are going well. I’ve learned a lot so far, and I really feel like I’ve become a part of the office dynamic. In the past few weeks, though, I’ve come to a bit of a dilemma. What would you do if you knew one of the other interns wasn’t doing her job right?

There’s a group of us interns with rotating schedules, meaning that we don’t necessarily work with the same people every day. I work three days in a row, so I can usually start and finish the same projects over the course of the week. Other interns, however, may work every other day, so sometimes we go into each other’s e-mails to finish up whatever they had been working on the day before. This may seem weird, but we all have the same password, and it feels normal to read other people’s e-mails now.

One day last week, though, I went into another intern’s e-mail to check if she had gotten fact-checking responses from a publicist. She had gotten answers, so I printed out the e-mail and started inputting changes into the article. I soon realized, though, that she had worded the questions in the exact same wording as was in the actual story—something that our editor definitely told us not to do on our very first day of work.

4 Steps to Dealing With Problem Publicists

Hey Edsters,

As an editorial intern at the Regional Mag, fact-checking is one of my biggest tasks. A lot of this is careful reading and spell-checking, but another, more unpredictable factor also comes into play—the publicist. Fact-checking, requesting photos and writing stories all usually involve getting in touch with publicists, which can be more than a little frustrating at times. Publicists are usually juggling multiple accounts at one time, so they’re busy people. Sometimes, especially with publicists who represent celebrities and other important people, that workload translates into stressful conversations. Here are some tips for keeping your cool when coming up against particularly difficult PR reps.

Always call first. Find a phone number for the publicist if you can. That way they know you’re serious about getting your questions answered, and you can avoid an e-mail getting lost in an inbox that’s probably stuffed with similar requests.

The 3 Rules of a Successful Pitch

Lots of great news coming your way this week, Edsters! Remember when I promised I would make a pitch this week? Mission accomplished.

A relatively slow week meant that the other interns and I had plenty of time to surf the web at work. Since I’m interning at a regional mag, there’s a list of about 10 city blogs that I frequent to keep up to speed with news and events. When I noticed that the opening of a new shop kept appearing on a lot of the sites I was reading, I realized it would fit in pretty well with our magazine. So I calmed my nerves and wrote up an e-mail to my editors. What should a pitch include, you ask?

Dreaming of Bylines

Many of you are probably interested in magazine journalism because you want to write. That was definitely a big reason why I wanted to get into the industry. Three weeks into my internship, though, I haven’t really gotten the chance to show off what I can do. I was a little discouraged this week when I found out that another intern had gotten the chance to cover an event. I hate to sound like I’m whining, Edsters, but I’m really itching to get that byline!

I spent last summer working at my local paper, and I got to write a story pretty much every day. I was just like a regular staff reporter, and I got used to seeing my work in the paper a few times a week. Bylines at the Mag, though, have been a little harder to come by. It’s interesting to see the differences between the way newspapers and magazines work, but it’s also been a challenge getting used to the change of pace.

5 Ways to Stand Out To Your Editor

Beginning your first magazine internship can be pretty intimidating. I’ve started to get the hang of things at the Mag—with all this fact-checking, proofreading, and photo-organizing, my days are always pretty full. But not to worry, Edsters! Here, for your enjoyment, are some tips I’ve picked up so far:

1. Be thorough. You might not always be excited about the tasks you’re given to do. Lots of exciting things happen at magazines, but you’re not necessarily going to be doing super glamorous things all the time. The best way to impress editors, though, is doing the less exciting stuff without hesitation, and doing them well. Double and triple check the spelling of tough words. Double and triple check that phone numbers and addresses are printed correctly. Communicate well with publicists and your coworkers, and don’t leave any task half-done. That little extra work goes a long way, and you’ll be sure to impress your editors with your determination. 

Wanna Make it at the Mag? Learn to Multitask

I faced my first full week of work at the Mag and came out virtually unscathed. At the end of the week, I can tell you that one thing about life in the magazine world is certain: hard work. There are usually a million things going on at once, and mistakes aren’t an option. Before I get into that, though, I’ll tell you a little bit about my week. 

My first full day was much more difficult and tedious than expected. The other interns and I spent the entire day reading pages line by line to make sure all of the names and brands were spelled right. Our task was to verify spellings, phone numbers and addresses and cite our sources so everything would be 100% accurate. It’s pretty tough to sit there and read the same things all day long, and I found myself daydreaming out the window more often than I’d like to admit. 

I tried not to get discouraged by the dullness of the day, and I was glad to find that the next few days were busier.

Thrown In At The Deep End: Fact-Checking 101

Hey there Edsters!

Good news: I have survived my first day of work at the Regional Mag. And nothing really went wrong! Well, not really…

After stressing over what to wear—my editor had given me a cryptic “business casual” guideline—I decided on a skirt, sweater and black heels, something I regretted on the rather long walk from my parking to the Mag’s offices. I was walking, trying to keep my head held high as I gave myself little pep talks, when I looked over to a woman handing out flyers on the street corner. As soon as I turned, my heel went straight into a crack on the ground.

Introducing...The Regional Intern At Her First Mag Job

Hello Edsters!

After applying to a whole slew of magazines, getting rejected from some and never hearing back from most, I am proud to say I will be spending this summer working as an editorial intern at a lifestyle magazine in California. I’m expecting to be doing lots of copy-editing and fact-checking, but hope to do some writing too. I am beyond excited to finally get the opportunity to pursue my dream of being a big-time magazine writer.

I had pretty much given up on finding a magazine internship until I stumbled upon the listing on Ed. I e-mailed the editor with my resume and cover letter and heard back within a few hours. The catch? They wanted me to do a fact-check test and a 150-word restaurant write-up by the following week. I had never done fact-checking before, but I went ahead and wrote up the best questions I could think of, like she had asked me to. I also happened to be leaving town the next day for a weekend trip, but somehow it got done. I had one more Skype interview, and there ya go—hired!

What is there to know about me?