My Unexpected Dream Internship
We all yearn for that dream internship, the one that will land you one step closer to your dream job. Unfortunately, dreams don’t always come true. Like last spring when I landed at House Beautiful as an online intern, and I didn’t think it was the right fit for me at all. Turns out it was the best thing I could have done.
To start, I had my heart set on an internship at Teen Vogue. I even scored an interview. At the same time a Seventeen editor forwarded my resume to the Web editor at House Beautiful. I couldn’t help but think,“What is there for me there?” After all, I wanted to work at a fashion or teen magazine, and I didn’t think working at a home décor magazine would help that dream. But I took the interview and was secretly relieved when I was told they went with another candidate. But then the Teen Vogue internship didn’t come through, and I was left without a spring semester internship..
Then, I got an email from the Web editor at House Beautiful. She told me that the first candidate dropped out and the position was mine if I wanted it. After thinking it over, I decided to take the position. I realized that it wasn’t the name of the publication that mattered but the experience I would be getting. And it turned out to be better than I could have ever expected.
During my stint at House Beautiful, I perfected my skills with working in a Content Management System learned about Search Engine Optimization, picked up Web traffic tips, and broadened my knowledge of HTML. Most importantly, I learned that a magazine’s Web site is just as important as the magazine itself.
And as a matter of fate working itself out, I currently intern in the Web department at Teen Vogue, an experience I knew I would have never gotten without my previous internship at House Beautiful. My familiarity with using a CMS and HTML made my first day at Teen Vogue a breeze!
So don’t write off an internship because it is not at your dream company. Pause to think about what you may gain from it. Things happen for a reason.
~Dara Adeeyo, Hofstra University ‘11
