psmith, journalist

A fifth-grader interviews US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack. Too much for an intern?

It’s tough out there in the journalism job market. It always has been, but those entry-level openings are only available to people that really want them or have talents that newspapers, websites and magazines cannot do without.

Naturally, many students and recent grads complete many weeks of work experience in newsrooms across the land. I certainly did – it’s now an inevitable part of getting a first foot on the ladder. It’s been an interesting barometer of the recession to see how many of the job listings on Gorkana‘s Friday newsletter have moved from the ‘jobs’ to the ‘work experience/intern’ section.

If the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development gets its way this kind of thing would be illegal: it is calling for has called for a living wage of £2.50 per hour for interns, the same rate modern apprentice schemes pay (Nicky Woolf on Guardian.co.uk has more).

But check this out: freelance journalist Tiffany Wright is advertising for what amounts to an unpaid personal assistant to help with her real life women’s mag features for a minimum of six weeks…

The gory details are there for all to see on Wright’s blog:

You need to have a hunger for writing for women’s magazines, particularly in the Real Life sector. We also need you to be highly organised, motivated and determined –  for you, no real life story will be too hard to find.

This position will give you valuable experience and contacts for working within women’s magazine. You will leave this role having learnt how to chase and secure the most exclusive story, as well as understanding how to sell features to magazines. This is a great position for anyone wanting to have a career as a freelance journalist or make their first move into top women’s magazines

Previous experience within the Real life sector is preferred but not essential. Please send us an updated CV and a covering letter explaining why you’d be perfect for this role…

This is initially an unpaid position although for the right candidate there is the definite potential for a permanent role.

Form an orderly queue! Things might be bad in the job sector, but they’re not that bad are they? As I said upon reading this – if I was hiring for a trainee I’d want someone with the know-how and guts to set up their own freelance career / site / business rather than someone was that content to help someone else’s.

I could understand spending a few weeks with a leading, high-profile figure – a genuine world leader in their field perhaps – to learn some of the ropes and get some top advice but, with all due respect to Wright and her successful career, that doesn’t appear to be the case here.

So here’s my offer: as much as I’d enjoy having someone around to make the tea (one sugar, very strong, Yorkshire variety) if anyone wants what limited help, advice and contacts I can offer them, all they have to do is ask.

And this is a post I wrote to go with a speech I did for journalism students at Trinity and All Saints College in Leeds, on advice for trainees – and don’t forget Alison Gow’s superb advice for people on work experience placements.

Slight disclosure: I work part-time at the Frontline Club in London mainly working on the its website, blogs and organising events (such as this very interesting one on PR and journalism next Wednesday). We have several interns in various parts of the business for varying degrees of time and I work with them closely.

Hopefully they get something out of being there as they look for full-time work and the club gets an eager pair of hands for a while – indeed, the club has taken on more than one member of staff that came in as an intern n the last few years. There’s nothing wrong with “interning” in principle, but do be careful which ones you do.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Demands for employers to pay interns are not realistic | Nicky Woolf (guardian.co.uk)
• Should interns be paid for their time? | Open thread (guardian.co.uk)
• Tips for trainee journalists: be digital, promote yourself and find a niche (psmithjournalist.com)

Pic via USDA on Flickr