Winter Internships - Are They Worth It?
Syracuse University Student Profile: TAYLOR BRYANT
Taylor Bryant is a senior magazine journalism major at Syracuse University in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. She hopes to pursue a career as a fashion magazine editor in the near future.
Winter Internships: Are They Worth It?
1. Where did you intern this past winter?
Elle.com/Ellegirl.com
2. What was your start and end dates?
I started December 19th and ended January 12th.
3. How many days a week were you required to go in?
Three.
4. What were your duties and responsibilities at this internship?
I was responsible for pitching and writing daily (mainly fashion) articles for ELLEgirl.com, usually three/four a day. I updated ELLEgirl.com’s Facebook and Twitter daily, and also performed any miscellaneous tasks that the ELLE editors needed assistance with.
5. What skills/ techniques did you acquire while you were there?
I learned how to write for a web audience. It’s a lot more informal and fun compared to the print aspect magazines. But at the same time, since the web is SO fast-paced, you also have to constantly be churning out new and original ideas, pitches and articles, which can be overwhelming, but definitely a necessary skill to have. I also learned how to properly work wordpress and different techniques on how to generate more traffic to a website, which should come in handy.
6. Do you recommend other college students to seek out winter internships?
Absolutely. If you have the opportunity to, you should definitely take advantage of it.
7. What made you apply?
I guess I felt I needed another internship under my belt and on my resume before I graduated. Between the two other internships that I’ve previously had, while they’ve been very beneficial, I couldn’t see myself wanting to do them as a career. So I wanted to get a different perspective (the web POV) of magazines and really see if this is the field I want to potentially be in.
8. What advice can you give to other students seeking out winter internships?
Do it! It’s literally only a month out of your life (if you’re only doing a couple days a week, it’s even less.) You get to make connections with people that could possibly lead to a job and/or a longer summer internship, gain experience, and add something worthwhile to your resume while only being there for a short period of time. Plus, you know you’re not doing anything all that exciting over winter break anyway, so why not?
