How to Get an Internship at a Magazine

Most journalism, creative writing and graphic design students search for internships to fill a college requirement while gaining valuable experience in their field. Interning at a magazine gives you experience in fact checking, interviewing, writing, editing, page design and photography.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Search for a Magazine Internship

1. Start searching for internships early. For a summer internship, begin looking during the fall semester.

2. Talk to friends and relatives in the field. Someone might know of an opening or be able to speak with an editor about your qualifications and personally recommend you.

3. Look at small regional magazines as well as national ones. Often the smaller publications allow you to involve yourself in much more of the production as they have a smaller staff. Many magazines don't advertise openings because they have enough students who seek the jobs out themselves, so be willing to go out of your way to ask a publication for work.

4. Speak with a college advisor or the career services office on campus to aid in finding and applying for internships. These people generally have lists of publications always searching for interns. Also attend job fairs offered by the college.

5. Check the websites of your favorite magazines to find deadlines and information about the application process.

6. Search online databases such as journalismjobs.com or magazine.org to search for great magazine and related internships.

Apply and Interview for a Magazine Internship

7. Write individual cover letters to each magazine you send a resume and application to, telling what you love about the magazine and use the magazine's style. Mention any journalistic experience and course of study, listing any particular classes that pertain to the internship.

8. Get the name of the editor in charge of hiring interns—call the magazine if you have to so you have an actual person to address in your application. Find the name of the editor of a specific department, such as beauty or sports, if you have a special interest.

9. Create a professional resume using black ink, bullets and a clean font. Give the college's name, the degree you are working toward and any minors, past jobs, special skills, knowledge of AP or Chicago style, clubs and community service projects in which you are involved.

10. Follow up by calling or emailing your contact if you haven't received a reply a week after the deadline. Make sure the magazine received your application and ask when to expect a reply.

11. Take any magazine clips or other published writing or class work that shows your skills to your interview. The more you can show that you are serious about and qualified for the job, the better the chances the magazine decides to give you an offer. Many national magazines conduct phone interviews and prefer clips with the resume—pay attention to this in advance.

12. Wear a business suit or pressed button-down shirt with khakis or a skirt to the interview. Even if you never dress this way in the job, make a professional impression and show you care enough to try.

Tips & Warnings

• Apply to more publications than you think you should. You may find the perfect internship comes from a magazine you never thought would accept you.
• Realize that some magazines don't pay interns, or only give a small stipend for living expenses. Decide if your resources allow you to move to New York if necessary, or live a summer without getting paid. If you can afford it, don't rule out unpaid internships.
• Don't get discouraged if you don't receive offers immediately. Keep applying—the internship process is competitive, especially in the magazine world.

Resources

• Search for newspaper internships around the country.
• Search for internships and jobs in journalism.

Who Can Help Sponsored

• Earn your degree from industry experts at University of Phoenix. Take the next step in your career.

[Rains506]

on 7/17/2009 Well written. Finding an internship for a good magazine can be tough. Finding a good internship in general can be tough if you want to avoid those coffee fetching, envelope licking ones! I'd recommend researching reviews on different journalism internships. One site that is good with this is www.UltimateIntern.com. This site provides comprehensive internship reviews posted by actual interns. So, you'll see how they got the job, the best and worst part of it, daily tasks, and tips and advice for potential interns. Good Luck!