5 essential tips for making the most of your journalism internship

5 essential tips for making the most of your journalism internship This post was written by an external contributor. Sarah Wilson details the best way to boss a journalism internship. So you’ve finally secured that journalism internship you wanted. Go you! Whether at a local or national publication, big or small, work experience can be invaluable for budding journalists hoping to launch their career. But getting yourself a placement is only half the story. When so many internships are unpaid, it’s crucial you make the most of your time in the office so you can leave with valuable new skills and useful contacts for the future. It can all seem daunting at first, but don’t fret â€" your friendly neighbourhood intern is here to help.  After working at two nationals and a local publication this year, I’ve put together a few key tips based on my experience to ensure that your internship is as successful and beneficial as possible. Don’t be afraid to ask questions (even if you think they sound stupid) It sounds glaringly obvious and you’ve probably heard it a thousand times before, but in my opinion the point can’t be overstated. If this is the first time you’ve interned at a paper or magazine, the whole experience can be very intimidating and the fear of sounding like a total idiot is real. It’s important to remember, however, that the staff you’re working with have years of experience and don’t expect you to know everything already. Questions about office life or how the paper is run can be a great way to get chatting with other staff members. And a question clarifying a task will is preferred over steaming ahead blindly and making a costly mistake. If you’ve got nothing to do, offer to do the boring work Whoever told me there’d never be a dull moment in journalism was fibbing. Whilst I had tonnes of exciting experiences throughout my placements, there was also a fair share of monotonous work to be done between a story and its final written incarnation. This included transcribing interviews, compiling research, and putting together documents for upcoming calendar events. See it as a chance to make yourself useful as an intern. If you’ve got nothing to do, you’re sure to make yourself popular in the office by showing willingness to do the stuff that no-one else wants to. But make sure you balance this with a bit of your own initiative My previous point comes with a hazard warning. You’ll make yourself useful, but are unlikely to make much of an impression if you pester staff with questions and don’t go far beyond the basic tasks you’ve been assigned. What’s more likely to impress is an intern who goes out looking for stories themselves, be it on local or student websites, Twitter, or through friends and family. If you’re attentive to the calls staff are making and the conversations they’re having (without eavesdropping), you can offer more specific help rather than asking for a generic task. If you overhear a staff member on the phone about the price of cars, for example, you might ask them whether there are any specific figures they need, or whether there’s anyone you might help them to reach. Pitch because you have absolutely nothing to lose On that point, if you have any ideas of your own try and find an opportunity to pitch them. It’s an incredibly nerve-wracking thing to do, and something I certainly didn’t do enough, but you have absolutely nothing to lose by doing it. The worst that can happen is they’ll say no. Suck it up and make the tea (you are an intern after all…) Ah, yes. Doing the tea round. You’re not a real intern if you haven’t done one. In all seriousness though, being friendly, polite, and personable is more important than you think. In a talk I attended last year by a leading figure at the BBC, the speaker explained how she was once immediately put off by an interview candidate who came in and poured herself a glass of water before introducing herself or shaking the interviewer’s hand. Ouch. You can be the most competent journalist in the world, but ultimately, people have to want to work with you. Connect with Debut on  Facebook,  Twitter,  and  LinkedIn  for more careers insights.

Take pride in your work - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Take pride in your work - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Spotted in front of a caf? in Copenhagen: Never be afraid to show that youre proud of your product. Especially if youre f*cking proud! Update: Jut to avoid any potential religious confusion, I should probably add that god means good in Danish :o) Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

How Have Resumes Changed in the Past 15 Years

How Have Resumes Changed in the Past 15 Years Everything in today’s world is fast-paced, including the people who review resumes. If you want your executive resume to get noticed, something has to stand out immediately. The key to  writing an effective resume is to ensure the reader finds exactly what they’re looking for in less than five seconds. A resume requiring more attention than that will likely be passed over. This is really the truth. I’ve talked with a few of my recruiter friends, and they said they just glance at it and dont give it more than 15 seconds. By following these simple tips, you’ll be able to make your executive resume stand out in the modern job hunting world. Capture the Reader’s Attention Sometimes the best way to capture your reader’s attention is by making subtle changes to the standard resume. You could use a different font, as long as it’s still professional. You can use a bit of color, a graph, a chart, etc. to make it stand out. They’ve come a long way since I started out 17 years ago and all we could use was Times New Roman, 12 pt. Font. The  top rated resume writing services can suggest different ways to make your resume pop, but these are just a couple of simple ideas to get you started. Make Your Achievements Stand Out Many people who review resumes start reading at the top of the page. They’ll generally skim down to find keywords or important phrases that meet their requirements. If you want to help them out, you could consider using bold or italics in those areas to make sure they grab the reader’s attention. Eliminate fluff to avoid making your resume too lengthy. If a recruiter is looking for a particular skill set, they want to find it in your resume immediately. Otherwise, they will quickly lose interest and move on to the next candidate, even if you are perfectly qualified for the job. Crisp and concise are the goals here. Keywords Are Critical This could be the same or different from the words you bolded in your resume. Since the vast majority of resumes are submitted online, companies will run them through software to find the keywords they’re looking for. If yours doesn’t have the words they want to see, you don’t stand a chance at getting an interview. When writing an effective resume, you need to ensure you use recognizable keywords. Depending on the type of executive job you’re applying for, the keywords you use may vary. Avoid using generic terms and phrases and you’ll stand a better chance of at least getting a human to look at your resume. The modern executive job market has never been more competitive. It’s critical to formulate the perfect resume to get any sort of recognition. Writing your resume is a critical first step in landing an interview so remember to refer to these tips when you get started.

How to Write an Achievement Based Resume

How to Write an Achievement Based ResumeWriting a well-structured, achievement based resume is the first step towards attracting a hiring manager. If you are thinking of making a resume, then here are some steps to follow in order to get one up to your standards.The first thing to consider when making an achievement based resume is to keep it simple. Keep in mind that a successful resume is based on the competencies and abilities that will be offered by the employer. That is why there should be no unnecessary information in your resume.In addition, you need to make sure that the information that you include is of the very best quality. It must always be double checked in order to make sure that you have included all necessary information. You can do this by simply comparing your resume with the job requirements.Besides just listing the job requirements, you also need to list the other accomplishments that you have achieved. These can be in the areas of education, experience or even t he hobbies that you indulge in. This would highlight your achievements in a way that makes you stand out from the rest.The next step is to focus on the skills that you have developed in the last six months. The major advantage that comes with writing a good achievement based resume is that the hiring manager will have a much easier time figuring out what you have to offer. By focusing on your strengths, you would be able to overcome any issues with your weaknesses.Lastly, make sure that you write your resume in a chronological order. If you are planning to focus on your experiences, list them first. Then go back and add the abilities that you have shown to the list.As soon as you have covered the areas that need attention, you would be able to produce the right words that will impress the hiring manager. In order to do this, you would have to focus on your strengths. Once you have accomplished this, you will be in a position to offer the best performance possible for the job.

The Highest-Paid College Football Coaches Worth It

The Highest-Paid College Football Coaches Worth It When the University of Alabama faces off against Clemson University in the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship game Monday night, it will represent a battle between two of the highest-paid public employees in America. But there remain large gaps between how much the NCAA’s top football coaches are paid, and how their teams end up performing on the field. You may have seen the map showing that the highest-paid public employees in each state are all athletic coaches. In this case, it is true that the highest-paid public employee in Alabama (as well as the country), Coach Nick Saban, will compete against the highest-paid public employee in South Carolina, Coach Dabo Swinney. Saban, currently the winningest active coach in all of college football with a record of 205-60-1, will pull in approximately $7 million this season. Saban is under contract for the next six years and is set to make at least that amount in each of them. But the school that got the biggest bang for its coaching buck this year, relatively speaking, is Clemson. Coach Dabo Swinney will have earned $4.4 million this season, putting him 12th among all Division 1 coaches. Clemson was one of three D-1 teams to finish the season with just one loss. Swinney has a lifetime head coaching record of 88-28. But neither Saban nor Swinney is the highest-paid coach in the sport. That distinction belongs to the University of Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, who this year earned $9 million on a $5 million base salary and an additional $4 million as a loan against a premium on a life insurance policy taken out by the university. The Michigan Wolverines finished the season 10-4 after losing by one point in the Rose Bowl. They did not make the recently created College Football Playoff. Indeed, just two of the top-10 highest-paid college football coaches did so, as you can see below. And three of the top-10 highest-paid coaches finished with losing records. The highest-paid coaches in NCAA Football (Associated Press ranking; 2016 record) Jim Harbaugh, University of Michigan (6th; 10-2): $9,004,000 *Nick Saban, University of Alabama (1st; 13-0) : $6,939,395 *Urban Meyer, Ohio State University (2nd; 11-1) : $6,094,800 Bob Stoops, Oklahoma University (7th; 10-2): $5,550,000 Jimbo Fisher, Florida State University (10th; 9-3): $5,250,000 Charlie Strong, University of Texas (unranked; 5-7): $5,200,130 Kevin Sumlin, Texas AM University (unranked; 5-7): $5,000,000 Gus Malzahn, Auburn (17th; 8-4): $4,725,000 Hugh Freeze, University of Mississippi (unranked; 5-7): $4,700,000 Kirk Ferentz, University of Iowa (21st; 8-4): $4,500,000 *Advanced to four-team College Football Playoff; Data via USA Today and Associated Press

4 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Graduated College - Work It Daily

4 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Graduated College - Work It Daily Full disclosure: I graduated college a LONG time ago. The year was 1975 to be exact. Gerald Ford was President of the United States, gas was 44 cents per gallon, and the Cold War was on. The Vietnam War was still raging, and some kid named Bill Gates was founding something called Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Related: 5 Tips For Recent Grads Entering The Workforce My first job as a teacher in a rural school district in Virginia paid me $5,800 a year…that’s right, a YEAR! I was paid in 10 installments, so my check before taxes was $580 per month, and my rent was $180. I split that with my roommate (until she moved out). I managed by eating yogurt for lunch every day. (I could buy 5 for a $1.00 on special every week.) My dad would occasionally give me a $20, and eventually, I got a second job to help supplement an income that wasn’t enough to pay my bills on its own. My second year out, I took a comparable job teaching in a neighboring district and got a $4000 raise. I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Now that I look back on it, I realize just how narcissistic I was. I was 23 years old, and I was only barely aware of what was going on in the world because I watched the 6:00 news…there weren’t as many channels to watch, and all you could watch at 6:00 was the news. Imagine! What was going on in the “world,” however, had little to do with me…I thought. I was just trying to make it from day to day. I cared nothing about much of anything except my small little world and my even smaller daily routine. Now that I am at the other end of my career, looking back, there are things that I wish I had known as I accepted my diploma in June of 1975, and as new graduates prepare to accept their diplomas, I would like to offer the following four bits of advice: 1. Get smart about money. I grew up in a family that eked out a living on a family farm. Eventually, my mom went back to work as a nurse and my dad who was a savant when it came to fixing watches and clocks worked at various jobs from selling insurance to selling auto parts. We managed to have a decent standard of living, but nothing lavish. We went on annual vacations. We did okay in comparison to the other families in our community. But we never had enough money to need “a guy” to manage it, if you get my drift. As a result, the idea of putting money in retirement accounts never occurred to me until I was working as a young teacher and the guidance counselor in my building advised me to set aside $100 a month in a tax-sheltered annuity account. “By the time you retire, you will have $100,000,” she said. Wow! I admit, $100,000 sounded like all the money in the world. It was a struggle, but I found the $100 a month to set aside. I was a teacher, so there was no “matching program” going on. My scho ol division paid into my pension account, but my tax sheltered annuity was on me. Eventually, I did hire a financial advisorâ€" “my guy”â€"but by then, I had lost years in potential savings and earnings because I didn’t start out right out of college. If you don’t know about money markets and tax shelters, IRA’s and annuities, learn about them now. Educate yourself about sound financial planning. Budget so that you can save for the unexpected eventualities in life…illness which can even hit a young person…accidents…and ultimately your retirement. You will thank me later for this one bit of advice. One more thing…learn enough about how it all works that you know not to trust everything to your guy. The movie, The Big Short is a cautionary tale because it demonstrates how little people understood what they were doing before the bottom fell out from under the economy less than ten years ago. Don’t make that mistake. Take care of yourself by learning how to and then take responsibility for caring about your money and understanding how money works. 2. Find mentors who can teach you about life both at work and personally. I know, because I can still remember, that when you are young, you think you know it all. On top of that, you have a tendency to discount anything and everything your parents or anyone ten years older than you say about life in general because they seem so irrelevant. If you are 23 years old, anyone over 28 seems “old” to you. You are eager to strike out on your own. You wantâ€"and deserveâ€"to be independent and make your decisions. You aren’t a kid anymore! Having said that, you could benefit from the wisdom of those who have gone ahead of you. They aren’t all old people who don’t know anything, and despite what you might think, they can relate to you and your experiences. They have experienced some of the inevitable pitfalls that you, too, will encounter. Find a few people that you respect and admire. Ask them if they will be mentors to you. Ask them questions, and listen. You don’t have to take their advice, although mentors are less about offering advice than about sharing their experiences. A true mentor will share his or her own experience and offer the lesson they learned from it. They won’t necessarily tell you that you should react the way they did or didn’t. They will leave it for you to decide. Remember, though, there isn’t a person on the planet who hasn’t suffered some heartache, some soul-crushing defeat and some soul-lifting success. Listen to their experiences and learn from them. 3. Take care of your body like it was a temple…because it is. I was 20 years old when I decided to take up smoking as a “cool” thing to do. I never thought I could get hooked. No one ever does. I wound up smoking habitually until I decided to quit at the age of 35. I have been a non-smoker for 29 years this year. My lung capacity has been damaged forever, and while it is a good thing that I quit, it would have been a better thing if I had never started. Using drugs isn’t cool either, no matter what your friends tell you. If you haven’t started experimenting with drugs, please don’t. If you have already, get help now. You get one body for this lifetime. I know you feel indestructible now, but look around you at the people who are still strong and vigorous in their 70’s and 80’s. They are still strong and vigorous because they took care of themselves when they were in their 20’s and 30’s. Practice preventative health care measures. Go for annual exams, visit the dentist twice a year, and take time to exercise and keep your body limber. I am not exaggerating when I say your body is a temple, and it deserves to be treated that way. 4. Seek out new experiences and take more risks. I admit I am not a risk taker. I naturally go for safe and predictable. I am not a world traveler, but I wish I were. I would love to see Stonehenge and the Pyramids someday. I plan to. I wish I had taken risks and figured out how to do that when I was younger, however. When you can, travel. Experiment with different types of foods. Learn about different things by taking advantage of the many opportunities that abound all around you. The world is a big place. Don’t forget that it doesn’t revolve around you. I know that is hard to grasp at this stage in your life, but take it from an old lady. The world is made up of people and things beyond what you can even imagine right now. Be open to new experiences. Be open to meeting people who are different from you. Ask them about their experiences. We all have certain things in common…we all bleed, we have all been in love, and we are all often afraid of something. There are more things that make us similar than there are things that make us different. Don’t be afraid of the differences, and don’t be afraid to take the occasional risk. Learn from your failures as well as your successes. The fact is that the most profound learning we do is from our most miserable failures. If you aren’t falling on your butt occasionally, you aren’t trying hard enough. No one who has ever made a profound mark on the world without having to first overcome some obstacle or challenge. No one. You learn nothing from playing it safe except to be afraid of making a mistake. Be willing to make mistakes and learn from them. I have the luxury of looking back over my life to date and having few regrets. Not because I did everything right because Lord knows I didn’t. I accept, however, that my choices and even my mistakes have made me the person I am today and for better or worse, I am okay with that. I love my life now and look forward to many more experiences. I still plan to see Stonehenge and the Pyramids. I have a bunch of things on my “bucket list.” I also know that I don’t have an unlimited amount of time to get it all done. Life is fleeting. When you are only in your twenties, that sounds trite, I know, but it is true. The years start to fly by in a way that you cannot even imagine right now. Take my word for it, however. Trust me when I say that you should want to take advantage of every day and every month and every year as a way to live your life full out. As Marianne Williamson says, “Your playing small does not serve the world.” If you are just graduating college, congratulations! I am confident that you have a wonderful life ahead of you. Live it to the fullest. Take chances, but plan for your future. Take care of your body, and learn from those who are ahead of you on the journey that is life. If I were graduating this spring, these are four things I wish I knew. They are my graduation gift to you. This post was originally published at an earlier date. Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a Work It Daily-approved expert. You can learn more about expert posts here. 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One-Third of Employees Would Quit if You Made Them Dress Like This

One-Third of Employees Would Quit if You Made Them Dress Like This Employers, dont even think about requiring a formal or conservative dress code in the office your workers would flee. A Randstad survey of 1,200 U.S. employees and workplace attire revealed that Americans love to dress comfortably and casually on the job one-third of employees said they would not only quit their job (or nix a job offer) if they would be required to dress conservatively. Not even a $5,000 bump in pay would bring them back.But that doesnt mean they wont dress up for an bewerbungsinterview.While 79% of employees say their employers dress code is either business casual (26%), casual (26%), or that theres no real dress code at all (20%), they still understand the need for decorum when the occasion presents itself.A majority, 65%, think its important to suit up during a job interview, regardless of that workplaces dress code. You only get one chance to make a good first impression That might be why 42% of respondents said theyd rather be 20 minutes late to a job interview than arrive looking disheveled, sweaty, or underdressed.But what if youre interviewing by video? These respondents have it all figured out 50% wear business on the top and casual on the bottom. And their interviewer is none the wiser.There is such a thing as too casual.Even for a nation that loves to dress casually at the office, there are places where employees draw the line. Here are the items of clothing that push their buttonsRipped jeans (73%), and their cousin, leggings (56%) are not considered appropriate workwear, yet they creep into the office again and againSky-high heels (defined as heels over three inches) are deemed unprofessional, and 40% say the same about open-toed shoes.Young people. A full 38% of employees 25-35-years-old admit theyve been asked to dress more professionally by their manager, or called into HR over their clothing.Thats the thing sometimes wearing a beaded skirt makes you feel good, but as it turns out, its office-inappropriate.Theres an interesting disconnect around younger workers fruchtwein associate dressing up with more confidence and better work performance, but nearly 40% also report theyve had a manager speak to them about dressing more professionally, said Traci Fiatte, CEO, non-technical staffing, Randstad US, in a press release.The bottom line is, as long as employees dress in a way thats consistent with their employers policies, most managers care less about what their employees wear than about their performance and work output. Sheila McClear--This story originally appeared onLadders.