Media Career Development Specialist, Lekan Otufodunrin shares his experience with supporting interns and offers tips on how to get placements and maximise the opportunities
Dear Intern,
Greetings from your senior colleague who was an intern in the defunct National Concord Newspaper in 1984.
1984 is a long time ago, but I have remained interested in internship matters over the years and tried my best to support many students seeking placements in the places I have worked and in other media organizations since then.
My Internship support story
The Administrative Manager at The Nation once jokingly “accused” me of smuggling interns into the company. She was right. I find it difficult to let go of interns who can’t get placements.
When students break down crying ( yes, some do at the gate of The Nation because they are told that the company is no longer accepting interns, the gatemen usually send them to my office assuring them off the record that I am their best bet for reasons best known to them.
I once accepted over twenty interns from the Department of Mass Communication, the University of Lagos (where I graduated from) and what we did was ask some to come in the morning and others in the evening for a maximum of three days a week to accommodate the crowd.
The picture illustrating this piece is that of two generations of interns I have mentored. One ( in the middle) Mrs Alade Adeniyi Moyosore, now a lecturer at Redeemers University, Ede who was an intern in The Nation in 2007 and the other, Omobolanle who was an intern in 2018. Moyo came to assess Omobolane’s performance in the same company she used to be an intern herself.
Why am I telling these self-glorifying stories? Forgive me. Definitely not to impress you, but for you to know that I know a bit of what you going through to get placements. It’s for you to appreciate the advice I want to give in this “from me to you” letter.
Why I’m writing to you?
After meeting with a University student seeking internship placement recently, I decided to write you this letter to draw your attention to some of the things you should guide against or do to maximise the essence of the Internship.
The internship is essential for you to learn practical skills to complement the theories you have learnt in class. It is an opportunity to give you inside knowledge of the media industry for you to know what career options to choose or prepare for.
Don’t have a fixed mind about where to intern
My first advice is, don’t come with a fixed mind about where you want to be an intern. There may be no opportunity for you in the area of your specialisation or interest and you must be ready to accept what is available as long as you can learn one communication skill or the other.
If people who didn’t study Mass Communication can excel in media work as many of them are, why should some of you say you don’t want to intern in a print organization because you are a broadcast or Public Relations majors.
It can amount to being ungrateful when some of us go out of our way to help and you reject the opportunity we give you just because your aspiration is to be an “OAP” and not a writer, as someone told me.
Writing is the soul of communication and you need to master it to be a real professional, not just a “talk” person. Who says you can’t learn to develop an interest in the new area you are being offered or learn some things you don’t know now. When you start job hunting, you will realise that your specialisation will not matter. You will have to compete as a Mass Communication graduate or any other course as long as you have communication skills.
Make do with what is available
Secondly, it’s okay for you to aspire to intern in top media organizations or companies, but when you can’t get placements because there are too many students seeking internships, make do with what you can get. Many of your colleagues can’t even get any opportunity and end up not interning in a media organization. What is key is the opportunity to learn which is usually easier in smaller organizations than the ones you have your eyes on. Interns are usually more engaged in start-ups and other smaller organizations than the big ones where they may not be much for you to do.
Don’t let me scare you about having to run errands you have never being sent at home or in school.
Don’t enter the office someone gave you a note to seek placement and start looking condescendingly because it’s not looking as good as you expected. We can read your body language and know when you think this is not your kind of place. Again, it’s not where you intern that matters, it’s what you can learn there.
Have necessary potentials
Thirdly, though you are supposed to be a learner in this media business, don’t go seeking internships without some knowledge about the organizations you want to be accepted and have some skills that can make you valuable in one way or the other.
If you don’t sound like you have a flair or passion for the job there will usually be an excuse not to accept you. Go prepared with some evidence, apart from your Internship letter, of what you have written or produced, even if it is a class assignment.
Don’t tell me you don’t write, you don’t blog, you are not active on social media, you don’t have amateur videos or photographs and you want me to take you as an intern. Even your text message can be used to assess your grammar knowledge. Remember that when there is a crowd seeking limited opportunities, some considerations like your potentials will be a deciding factor, even when it’s not for full employment. Organisations want interns who are smart, who have some ideas already or dream to contribute to their growth, not just coming to sit around.
Start searching early
My fourth point is that you start seeking placements early enough and not wait until there is a crowd out there running from one media organization to the other. Tell your family and friends who may just know someone in a media or communication organization who can facilitate your being accepted.
Start participating in industry programmes and activities where you can meet senior colleagues. Attend seminars and workshops during your holidays or free time. Participate in online engagements and start networking. It’s never too early to start if you are going to have an edge above your contemporaries.
Find out from those ahead of you in school how they got their placements and learn from their experience in your search and how to be a good intern.
Since most organizations don’t pay for Internship explore opportunities for placements in places not far from your residence. You may just find if you search well enough. To avoid being seen as not serious, let your supervisor know how often you can come based on transportation costs. The ability to fund your transport may be a deciding factor in where you can intern.
There are some media support organisations offering campus journalism training. Find out how to apply for their training and support. They include Premium Times Centre for Investigative Reporting, Dataphyte, Cable Newspaper Journalism Foundation, LightRay Media and others.
Learn as much as you can
Lastly, when you get accepted, don’t take the opportunity for granted. Be ready to learn, not only to fill your logbook but to have practical knowledge that will enhance your career. Don’t be happy that you are not given assignments to do and can stay off work as long as you want.
Show enough interest to learn and take on assignments. Come up with ideas or suggestions that can mark you out as not just another intern.
What schools and lecturers should do for students
For institutions sending students for Internships, give them adequate orientation for the programme so they don’t have to go through unnecessary stress or abuses.
Help them with an updated database of where they can get Internship placements and be flexible about where they can intern. They don’t have to intern with only well-known organizations, anywhere they can learn something that should be accepted. I am assuming that know enough of the industry they are asking students to seek placements.
It takes a lot of efforts to get placements these days with the state of the industry. Supervising lecturers should be considerate when scoring students when they don’t get a place early enough or can’t go as often as they should due to lack of fund.
A student asked me if the signing of his logbook can be backdated to when he was supposed to have started his Internship and I declined. It’s not his fault that he could not get a place early enough.
For me, the Internship starts from when students start searching for placements and they should not be forced to lie about the date of commencement or what they did during the Internship.
Remote Internship
To address the shortage of placement opportunities Media Career Development Network is fine-tuning remote internship options with over 300 applications already. Look out for more details. You can join a Whatsapp Group for the Report Internship engagements.
My best wishes as you continue your search or settle down where you are accepted. I am rooting for you. See you at the very top.
Click this link for more articles on internship on our website https://mediacareerng.org/?s=internship