Give your NPR internship application a boost ⭐
Hiya!
Welcome back to Starting Out from me and Transom!
Just a quick bit of business: there won’t be a newsletter next month, so that I can focus on prepping the next set of issues for you. I’ll make sure to tweet out any job postings that I see in February so you don’t miss out.
I’m betting that a good many of you are putting the finishing touches on your NPR internship applications right now. I remember that feeling, panicking about what I could possibly pitch to a show with literally hundreds of episodes, imagining all the reasons they’d have to say “Thanks, but no thanks.”
The funny thing is, once I was an NPR intern, lots of staffers — fulltime NPR employees — went out of their way to tell me that they’d been rejected for the internship.
Basically: interning at NPR is an incredible opportunity. But there are a million routes to get where you want to be. Some of them go through NPR. Others go through your local member station. Or your college radio station. Or your living room. Or the voice memos in your group chat. Or any place where you feel inspired and have a way to play around with sound.
One of the keys to getting where you want to be is having a manager who is on your side, who gets to know you as a person, not just an employee. I’m so glad Priska Neely, the Managing Editor of the Gulf States Newsroom did this month’s interview. This one is a little unusual for Starting Out — I didn’t do the interview. Instead, Priska is answering your questions on navigating your relationships with your manager.
Question: I’m currently stuck in a role as a fill in/contract producer in a public radio job. How do I navigate this frustrating time and get to a more stable employment situation? Is it worth talking to my manager about it if they don’t control the budgets and there’s not much they can do about it?
Priska: Always make it a point to make your goals known. You never know who knows about opportunities. There might be a meeting where managers learn about funding opportunities or grants and you want to make sure that they have you in mind for things that might be coming down the pike. And, public radio is a very small world, so you never know if your manager might be asked for recommendations by a peer. They could potentially set you up with a full-time opportunity elsewhere. And you don’t have to go around grumbling that you’re not satisfied or boasting about lofty future goals. Maybe share a long-form story that you love and say, “This is the kind of work I hope to do someday.” And people get it, you need a job and you need benefits. Let people know where you want to be.
Resources
Okay, we’ve established that there are many ways to get to your dream audio career, and that an NPR internship, though great, is not going to make or break you. But it would be nice to have, so let’s talk about how to make your strongest pitch to the hiring managers:
General advice for your application:
The current NPR interns made this Twitter thread of application advice. And pro tip: reach out to the intern who has the gig you’re applying for and they might have more specific advice for you!
A good rule for life, always read the FAQ page.
Cover letters:
NPR just published a brand new cover letter guide. There’s also the classic (harsher) guide.
And you can also revisit issue two of Starting Out, which has a resource guide on cover letters!
Always read your cover letter out loud to check for awkward phrasing or spelling errors. And send a draft to a trusted friend or mentor for an extra set of eyes.
If you’re still feeling stuck, some very generous former NPR interns are allowing me to share the cover letters they used on their applications. Also, don’t judge the formatting. Some of these I copied and pasted from PDFs, so formatting got lost in translation.
I also asked Luis Clemons, the Deputy Managing Editor at NPR, for his insight into the hiring process. Clemons used to be a hiring manager for internships and is on the Kroc Fellowship Selection Committee. He was generous enough to answer a couple of questions via email. Thank you, Luis!
AW: After someone hits “submit” on their application, who is the first to read it?
LC: This varies a bit. In general, the person who will supervise the intern is the first to read the application. In some cases, the supervisor will assign someone on their team to help sort through the applications.
AW: What are items you see on a resume that really make someone stand out to you?
LC: I think this differs from team to team and from one hiring manager to another. I don’t care all that much whether you have had another internship. Yes, I want to see proof of activity and commitment to one or two pursuits. But, I am not particularly impressed by a string of internships at major media outlets. I am impressed, however, by people who have worked in the service industry and dealt directly with customers. Those are tough jobs that require emotional intelligence, improvisation and persistence.
AW: What are some qualities of your favorite cover letters?
LC: I am going to list what I DON’T like to see in cover letters.
Please don’t tell me your parents made you listen to NPR while you were in the backseat of the car. This speaks well of your parents. It does not tell me anything about you.
Spelling mistakes.
Typographical errors.
Do not tell me about how great this internship would be for your career development.
AW: When you’re doing job interviews what are you trying to find out about applicants?
LC: I want to see a broad interest in current events. It is not enough to follow one or two or three stories. I want to see interest in a large number of stories. I want to see a genuine interest in pursuing journalism.
AW: Are there any other things that applicants can do to make themselves stand out?
LC: I want clear thinkers and good writers who ask informed questions. I want to see a variety of lived experiences.
AW: Any words of wisdom or encouragement for people who are putting a lot of pressure on themselves to become an intern at NPR?
LC: I never interned at NPR. I was almost 40 before I listened to even a minute of NPR’s on-air programming. I came to NPR well into my journalism career.
Please remember that it is not your first job that matters. It is the job where you choose to work for the longest period of time. The job that matters most is the job where you are happiest and doing your best journalism. For me, that’s how I describe my time at NPR.
Classifieds
Internships:
The NPR Internships have been posted! There’s a ton of them, and they’re all here.
Programming Podcast Intern, Mailchimp
Intern-Product & Engineering, KPCC ($18.66/hr)
Associate Producers:
Associate Producer, Narrative Audio, Lemonada Media
Associate Producer, In the Bubble, Lemonada Media
Associate Audio Engineer, In the Bubble, Lemonada Media
Associate Producer, Kast Media
Associate Producer, KPCC ($22.74-$32.37)
Associate Producer, On The Media, New York Public Radio
Associate Producer, Criminal Productions, Vox Media
Fellowships:
Midwest Newsroom Fellow - Reporter, NPR (25k stipend)
Midwest Newsroom Fellow - Engagement Specialist, NPR (25k stipend)
Report for America
Other resources:
The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York is holding a series of classes for just $29 this month.
UnionDocs has a class on writing for the ear for $70.
P.S.: Want me to continue featuring low cost (under $100) classes and training opportunities? Let me know if this is helpful.
If you are hiring interns, fellows or other entry level positions, send your job postings and rates to startingout [at] transom [dot] org and I’ll list them in the next issue. Please note that Starting Out features only paid opportunities.