Lessons learned from a community engagement intern

Waitressing tables by day at a Greek restaurant in Virginia, I submitted my application for the UPIU internship posted on journalismjobs.com (a hot job/internship search site). Several days later, Harumi Gondo e-mailed me back with one line: “Please check the first and last paragraph of your cover letter.”

I checked my e-mail and saw with panic that although I wrote in my first paragraph that I wanted to intern at UPIU, I had failed to edit out the part about my wanting to “join the dynamic team at Village Voice Media” in my last paragraph.

Despite my embarrassment, I wrote back, apologizing for my oversight. Two days later, she emailed me asking, “Are you available for an interview?”

[Harumi: "While I normally would have taken Anna out of the running for the position for that slip, her courteous reply and her solid reporting experience (and a push from UPIU Senior Mentor Krista Kapralos), kept her on my list. Make sure you double-check your cover letters! When applying to journalism jobs you are e-mailing copy editors and grammar and spelling freaks!"]

I’ve been interning at UPIU for nearly two months as the community engagement manager. Although learning about inverted pyramids and nut grafs is helpful for every journalist, four years in James Madison University’s classrooms did not prepare me for my current job. I was an editor for several student-run publications, but still did not have much experience with Web journalism or social media.

Although I was hired to do traditional reporting, my job description very quickly changed and in addition to reporting I now help facilitate virtual conversation among UPIU staff, UPIU users and the rest of the online community. I correspond with j-students around the world, constantly update Facebook and twitter, read a million online articles and research ways for UPIU to become the best resource for aspiring journalists.

I’m tailoring myself to be the best journalist and community engagement manager and I’m committed to being flexible with my fluid job description.

[Harumi: I've worked with a lot of interns, but Anna is a keeper! She is remarkable because when obstacles come up she doesn't give up, but digs down her heels and keeps moving forward. Change is hard, but I've been impressed with Anna's strength and determination.]

I’m gaining skills I didn’t learn as an undergraduate. I encourage you to evolve your journalism skills to adapt to the changing industry.

Now, according to my job description, I’ll ask you to post, tweet, bookmark, stumble upon, digg, link and/or share this!