Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Interested in Communications & Media? Think about a January Winternship

As we reach November’s icy beginning, I’d like to remind Tufts’ media-savvy to start finalizing apps for the CMS Winternship Program, a fantastic opportunity to try your bets at a big-name media company in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Boston. Co-sponsored by Career Services and the Communications and Media Studies Department, the CMS Wintership is a valuable chance to shadow top-notch professionals through their daily routines and gain a panoramic view into a specific media job site. This year’s Wintership Program launches the week of January 10th-14th, just the time to break up our lazy winter break routine of TV and afternoon wake-ups. Winternship veterans consistently bring back the most valuable of experiences from their busy, one-week stint within the media field.

This year’s 2011 Winternship opportunities are especially worth giving a shot. In Boston, there’s the exciting chance to be a temporary add-on to top-rank media companies like David Sutherland Productions and Walden Media. For those that hail from New York (or are a train-ride away, like me), you can try your bets at a score of companies including Random House and TV Guide Magazine. And for all you West-Coasters, there’s the chance to put your Tufts knowledge to use at media sites like Bona Fide Productions and International Creative Management (ICM). The Winternship application is due by 5 p.m., November 4th in hard-copy form to the Career Services office. You’re allowed to apply to a maximum of three eye-catching media internships that pique your professional interest.

As a wannabe-journalist myself, I’m also looking forward to utilizing the Winternship opportunity to get a taste of media at the professional level. Unfortunately, between traveling back from overseas and then booking it to Spanish-speaking Mexico, winter break might be a tad too hectic for me this time around. But for those fellow media-fans with more time on your hands, I highly recommend looking into the CMS Winterships for a chance to see how communications is conducted in today’s job market. Shadowing a professional in the media world—first-handedly witnessing all daily operations and specialized tasks—is the number one way to discover what your job site and particular interest area are all about. Along with easy access to networking contacts, the Winternship experience provides a valuable insight into our specific interests and fortes---which we can start to pair, in turn, with a swanky future profession.

Kathy, our former Career Services Ambassador, participated in an NYC Winternship last year. Read about her experiences here.