One Day, One Internship » blogging

NileGuide

Willy Franzen — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:58:28 +0000

Do you know what’s an awesome thing to do after you graduate? Travel. Do you know what isn’t an awesome thing to tell employers that you’ve been doing since you graduated? Traveling. Think about it from the interviewer’s perspective for a minute. You’ve been in a job for three years, and you just got a promotion. You’re interviewing new grads to fill your old job. You get 10 days of vacation a year (after another promotion you’ll get 15). You use 4 to visit your parents during the holidays. You have to take 3 days for various weddings throughout the year. You use one for a sick day, and that leaves you with 2 glorious days to actually do what you want. Now some spoiled brat is telling you about he or she spent three months on a beach in Thailand after graduation. This isn’t as big of a deal when you’re still in school and looking for internships, but keep this in mind for the future—getting hired is all about making people like you, and making them jealous isn’t helpful. Luckily, there are some employers who don’t have a problem with travel. Take NileGuide for example. They’re a San Francisco based startup (with a lot of funding) that “helps travelers discover and connect to the most satisfying and relevant travel experiences.”

Go Where You Want

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t travel after college. I’m just saying that you have to be careful about how you present that experience to employers. I definitely sabotaged myself during the job search process when I told employers about going to Costa Rica to fly fish for sailfish. Had I told the folks at NileGuide about it, they would have encouraged me to share that experience with their readers by doing a writeup on it. NileGuide wants to be the premier online destination for people who are planning trips, so they combine “expansive, curated travel content with sophisticated preference filtering and organizational tools as well as timely advice and insights from local experts.” As far as I can tell, the entire site is free, which means that NileGuide’s business model is built on advertising (travel is a great ad market) and partnerships. This means that high quality, easily accessible content is the key to their business. That’s why they’re hiring a paid Content Team Intern. You can find all of the details about the position in the job description.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used NileGuide?

Aol

Willy Franzen — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:00:45 +0000

Everybody acts like social media and social networking is a new development, but it really isn’t. Even 15 years ago there was a web service that enabled you to create profiles, connect with friends, engage with communities, and communicate instantly or asynchronously. It was called Aol, and there’s a good chance that you used it. I feel bad for Aol. They had it all. They were the behemoth of the social web before anyone knew what the social web was, but they were too big and not agile enough. They continued to act like an ISP, and their market share eroded as people transitioned to high-speed connections. Today most people think of Aol as irrelevant, but the NYC based company is doing their best to make a comeback. The good news is that they aren’t living in the past. They’re not trying to win at social networking or being an ISP—they’ve repositioned. They now describe themselves as “a leading-edge web services company, with an offering of premium and niche content sites, world-class tools and platforms.” The focus is on content, and in some ways that’s what Aol was always about—making great content easy to access for the masses. The tough thing for Aol is that they’re already a huge company, so they’re going to have to swing for the fences if they want their new business model to work.

You’ve Got Mail!

The only reason that I actually decided to feature Aol today was because they have an amazing internship contest going on right now. It’s focused on their new Lifestream service which aggregates all of your social profiles in one place (apparently Aol hasn’t completely given up on social networking, but I think that they probably should). It’s not your typical internship, but it looks pretty awesome. It’s paid, you get direct access to Aol’s CEO Tim Armstrong, and you get some serious responsibility. Oh yeah, and the most important thing is that your main duty is to live an awesome life and share it through Lifestream. The only downside is that only one person can get it. You can find all of the details here. After looking at that opportunity, I decided to hit up Aol’s Career site and look through their job openings for internships and co-ops (which you can search for specifically). Of Aol’s 749 vacancies, 36 are for internships. I won’t go through each one, but they’re offered in areas like Editorial, Customer Service, Software Development, Customer Service, Finance, Advertising, Sales, Travel, Music, Media/Content, Information Technology, Real Estate, and more. They don’t mention whether most of the positions are paid or not, but the large majority are in New York City with a bunch in the Dulles, VA area and a few scattered across Lancaster, PA; Atlanta, GA; San Francisco, CA; Baltimore, MD; Denver, CO; and other locations.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about the new Aol?

Prime Publishing

Willy Franzen — Wed, 26 May 2010 14:57:32 +0000

Earlier this week we took a look at F+W Media, a company that is aggressively targeting niche media markets with books, magazines, trade shows, and digital products. Today we’re going to look at a company that is attacking similar niches, but strictly on the digital side. Prime Publishing is a Northbrook, IL based company that is, as they put it, “building the premiere woman’s lifestyle site on the Web.” I’m not sure I’d go that far, since businesses like DailyCandy and Gilt Groupe seem to be building pretty strong cases for themselves in that regard. Prime Publishing seems to be taking approach more like that of Demand Media. However, that doesn’t mean that Prime Publishing’s business isn’t interesting—”premiere” is just the wrong word. It’s quite obvious to me that their goal is to build easily monetizable digital properties, not to build an overarching woman’s lifestyle brand. When you take a look at their sites, you’ll see what I mean.

Prime or Choice?

Prime Publishing’s web properties include FaveCrafts.com, RecipeLion.com, AllFreeCrochet.com, FaveDiets.com, and quite a few more. If you visit each one, you’ll see that Prime Publishing has a formula for building profitable sites. They may not be taking an artistic approach, but it appears that they know how to make money from content (and that’s a REALLY important thing to learn these days). It’s the web version of direct marketing. I must admit that I was nervous about featuring Prime Publishing because their website looks similar to those of some entry level/intern scam companies. It’s also a bit alarming that they don’t list the names of any of their employees or leadership on the site. With that said, I used LinkedIn to do some additional research and everything appears to check out. The internships at Prime Publishing aren’t the glamorous Journalism jobs that you might have been dreaming about as a kid, but you will learn a hell of a lot from them about the intersection of marketing and content. Right now Prime Publishing’s Internships page shows that they’re looking for paid Editorial Interns, so check out the job description and get ready to learn fast.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Prime Publishing’s business model?

Inc.

Willy Franzen — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:32:30 +0000

We’ve featured nearly 800 internship programs since we started. Browse through all of them and see what you’ve missed.

I don’t read a lot of magazines. Why be forced to read a certain set of articles when you can have the Internet bring you only the best? I make an exception for a few magazines, and Inc. is one of them. It’s a fantastic resource for small business owners, and it also has to be the best magazine for job and internship seekers out there. That may seem surprising considering that Inc. doesn’t typically focus on career issues, but when you look at their content, you’ll see why. The Inc. 5000, the magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest growing privately held companies in the country, is my undisputed favorite resource for finding exciting, under the radar companies that might be hiring interns. I’m also a big fan of their annual feature on America’s Coolest Internships. Since I find Inc. so helpful for internship searching, I logically wondered whether Inc., which is based in New York City, has any internships. Luckily, they do.

Get Inc.

Usually I’d tell you more about Inc., but I think you can figure it out for yourself. Go grab their latest issue or browse around Inc.com. You’ll get a feel for who they are and what they’re about pretty quickly. So what about internships with Inc? They don’t have a Careers page. There’s nothing on their About page. Nothing on their Contact page either. Even being a Google Ninja (here’s my article on using Google for the job search) doesn’t turn up anything very helpful at first. However, I was eventually able to find a few mentions of internship programs at Inc. First and foremost is the posting from yesterday on Ed2010 saying that Inc. needs a paid Editorial Intern ASAP. Additionally, I found an HTML file from The Atlantic Online that lists Boston based publishing internships and mentions more Editorial Internships with Inc. (although it also mentions a deadline of March 1, but I’d use the contact listed anyway if I were you). I also found another Ed2010 posting from last summer. You can also try following Inc.’s Facebook page and Twitter profile for updates. There’s no central place to look for internships with Inc., but if you keep yours eyes peeled, you should be able to find opportunities as they come up.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read Inc.?

The LTV Group

Willy Franzen — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:00:02 +0000

It shouldn’t be a surprise that we haven’t covered many internships in real estate over the past couple years. Demand for real estate is way down, and the demand for college students to intern in real estate has to be down too. Luckily, there have been a few bright spots during the recession. Some real estate based startups have been able to gain market share from struggling competitors, and the demand for real estate based content has remained strong. I think it’s safe to say that media coverage of the real estate and mortgage markets has only increased over the past few years. The LTV Group, a Dallas, TX based “end-to-end communications firm spanning publishing and creative services,” has taken advantage of the growth in market for real estate related for information. The company consists of three subsidiaries, HousingWire, REOInsider, and LTV Creative. The latter is a full-service marketing communications firm, while the other two are magazines and websites that put LTV Creative to work.

Join the Group

From what I can tell, The LTV Group decided to create some clients for itself. I’m not exactly sure how a marketing agency came to launch two real estate related publications, but it seems to make sense. My guess is that they did a lot of work for clients in real estate, and when that work started drying up, they put their resources to use to build HousingWire and REOInsider. Both are publications that provide news and commentary on housing, mortgages, and other real estate related topics. HousingWire actually hosts it’s own job board, and on there you’ll find a recently posted position for paid Editorial Interns. The internships look like a great opportunity for writers who are interested in real estate, or future real estate tycoons who can write and want to get some relevant experience while waiting out the downturn. You’ll find the application instructions on the internship posting.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you want to go into real estate and change your mind?

VICE

Willy Franzen — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:07:53 +0000

Yesterday I spent a few hours poring over an issue of Fast Company that includes their list of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies.” It is loaded with companies that I’d never heard of, so I picked out the most interesting ones and checked to see what their internship opportunities looked like. Luckily, I found quite a few prospects, so you’re in for some really cool stuff over the next few weeks. One of the companies that I found was VICE, a New York City magazine and media conglomerate that publishes a “superedgy hipster bible.” Their content is about as safe for work as American Apparel advertisements, which is partially because AA is one of their main advertisers. The interesting thing about VICE is that they are a huge company—they have a print circulation of nearly a million magazines and their sites get 3.5 million monthly unique visitors. This has sparked growth from $45 million in revenue in 2008 to $64 million in 2009.

What’s Your VICE?

Now, I don’t want to be too hard on hipsters, but I find it funny that a company that caters to their audience by being controversial and subversive is actually a major media company raking in the dough. Next we’ll find out that plaid and fixed gear bicycles are also being manufactured by corporate behemoths. Ok, VICE might be making lots of money, but they’re certainly keeping it real. They’ve become more journalistic over time, while maintaining their “blithe and caustic irreverence.” In addition to the magazine, VICE also has VICE Retail (clothing), VICE Recordings (Music/Record Label), VBS.tv (Film and Television), Virtue (Creative Agency), and an Events business. VICE is definitely not for everyone, but if you were offended by my poke at hipster culture (and are not offended by much else), then it’s probably for you. You can learn about internships with VICE here. Current unpaid openings include Motherboard Internship, Digital Ad Operations Internship, Editorial Internship, Viceland Blog Internship, Fashion Internship, Production Internship, Content Internship, Digital Marketing and Strategy Internship, Equipment Management Internship, Production Coordination/Accounting Internship, VIRTUE Internship, VICE Events Internship, VICE Public Relations Internship, Design Internship, and VICE Records Internship. The application instructions vary, so check out VICE’s Internships page for all of the details.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read VICE?

Know Your Meme

Willy Franzen — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:09:07 +0000

Today’s post came from a reader recommendation (thanks Derek!), which is awesome because I was on the company’s site a few days ago and never would have imagined that they offer internships (or even considered them a company as opposed to a website). The reason that I was on the site was that I was reading the story of Epic Beard Man (it is tagged NSFW), which is another one of those ridiculous things that has become popular on the Internet. The term that many use to describe these phenomena is meme. Know Your Meme is a website that organizes all of the world’s memes. Let’s say that you’re looking for the story behind Rickroll because you have no idea why people think it’s so funny. Know Your Meme, which is based in New York City, will not only explain the meme to you, but it will also detail the history of how the meme became popular and how it evolved. To some Know Your Meme may seem frivolous, but in many ways it’s the Historical Society of the Interwebs.

Know Your Internship

If you’re still not sure what a meme is, then use Know Your Meme’s Random Meme Generator. Try it a few times and you should get the hang of it. You may recognize some famous memes from the Weezer Pork And Beans video, the South Park episode Meet the Internet Stars, or that Super Bowl commercial that had some Internet stars in it. My favorite meme of all time has to be Numa Numa guy. Yes, this may all seem idiotic, but Know Your Meme is building a business off of Internet celebrities. In addition to the advertising angle, they are also selling meme merchandise. It must be working, because Know Your Meme is hiring interns, albeit unpaid ones. They need college students to help them in Community Management, Merchandise, Research, and Writing. To apply for any of these positions, you should reach out to them at forthelulz@knowyourmeme.com with “any resumes, writing samples, portfolios in the body of the email or linked to file-hosting sites.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite meme?

OkCupid

Willy Franzen — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:57:40 +0000

I probably should have done this post last week in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day, but I still think it’s worth talking about New York City based OkCupid today. They’re a free online dating site that matches people based on what they say they find important. Since I’m not looking, I don’t usually come across dating sites in my daily Internet travels, but OkCupid keeps popping up. Most of the time it’s because of their brilliant blog called OkTrends. It has some amazing posts that analyze the data generated by OkCupid’s users. Previous articles have covered topics like profile pictures and how race affects online dating outcomes. It’s really impressive and interesting stuff. OkCupid is actually run by a company called Humor Rainbow, but that website redirects to OkCupid.com, so it’s clear where their priorities are.

OkInternships

Most paid online dating sites spend boatloads of money on advertising for customer acquisition. If you were watching tv last week, you probably saw tons of online dating ads. All of that advertising is expensive, which is why these sites typically charge money. OkCupid has a very different strategy. They use viral marketing strategies like writing great content on their blog and generating quizzes that are fun to share with friends. They also focus heavily on search engine optimization. OkCupid is able to acquire users much more cheaply than other dating sites, so they’re able to allow you to contact matches for free. How do they make money? Selling advertising and offering premium features. At this point they seem to be running off of venture capital investment, but they are growing and will hopefully become profitable in the near future. If you’d like to be a part of that ambition, then you should reach out to the folks at OkCupid and see how you’ll fit in. They don’t have internships postings, but their Contact page encourages people who are “very smart, hard-working, and willing to live in New York City” to reach out to them at hr@okcupid.com. Google tells me that OkCupid had their interns do some pretty cool stuff last summer, so I’d imagine they will be looking for interns again soon.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried OkCupid?

Demand Media

Willy Franzen — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:46:03 +0000

I’m sure that you’ve heard a lot in the news about how traditional media companies are having trouble taking their business models online. You may be under the impression that making money from web content is near impossible, but there’s a dirty little secret: it’s not. While companies like the New York Times stick to editorial integrity and chasing Pulitzers, there are companies out there that craft their content with the sole purpose of making money. A perfect example is Santa Monica, CA based Demand Media. They’ve secured more than $355 million in venture capital funding, grown annual revenue to more than $200 million annually, and reached a valuation north of $1 billion all by taking an ROI based approach to content development. How does that work? Demand Media has developed an algorithm that helps them find profitable topics. By using data from Google AdWords, they’re able to estimate the demand for a given piece of content (example: an article and video on how to tie your shoes) along with the revenue that the yet to be developed piece of content could be expected to make given a certain number of pageviews.

Demand an Internship

This may sound unsavory to some of the writers out there, but I’d imagine the business students are in awe. Demand Media delivers their content through a number of web properties, and some of these include eHow, Cracked, and Livestrong.com. In addition to distributing profitable content across their web properties, Demand Media also licenses some of the social media tools that they’ve developed internally to other businesses. One of the amazing things that I learned about Demand Media while researching them is that they publish approximately 4,000 articles and videos every day. Demand Media is YouTube’s largest contributor, and the number of pageviews that they’re driving across their network is staggering. They’re able to develop so much content through an army of freelancers who work through a site called Demand Studios. If you’re a Writer, Filmmaker, or Copy Editor, that’s the first option for getting an “internship” (it’s only freelance, and the rates are kind of low) through Demand Media. Your second option is to check out Demand Media’s Corporate Career offerings. There’s only one internship posted right now—an unpaid Editorial Internship in Santa Monica, CA—although I wouldn’t be surprised to see more opportunities posted in the future. You can apply online for this postion, but before you do, take an hour to learn more about Demand Media—there’s a ton of information available about them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Demand Media’s business model?

Roubini Global Economics

Willy Franzen — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:02:40 +0000

Remember that time that you predicted the walk off home run during the baseball game or the fact that your friend would get back together with his girlfriend for the 7th time? Of course you do. It was proof of your psychic abilities. Remember the time that you made a similar prediction but were wrong? Of course not. When you only count your wins and not your losses, it’s easy to have a perfect record. Politicians take advantage of this all the time. The truth is that there aren’t a lot of people out there who are good at predicting things, whether it’s weather, the economy, sports, or any number of other things. Nouriel Roubini may be an exception. He could be insanely “lucky” with the fact that his descriptions and predictions of the current financial crisis were dead on, but you have to give him credit for the amount of detail included in his predictions, like when he said “the United States was likely to face a once-in-a-lifetime housing bust, an oil shock, sharply declining consumer confidence and, ultimately, a deep recession.” He’s very obviously a brilliant guy, and he’s also the founder of New York City based Roubini Global Economics, a company that provides “a uniquely tailored look at the logic of the global economy” for its clients.

Interning for “Dr. Doom”

Nouriel Roubini has been dubbed “Dr. Doom” by some because of his dour predictions, but you have to imagine that the demand for his company’s services is extremely high regardless of his scary nickname. Now, don’t get confused. Roubini Global Economics isn’t about looking into a crystal ball or just making predictions, it’s about taking a scientific approach to economic analysis. Here’s what the Roubini Global Economics website has to say about The RGE Approach:

Our analytical approach demands a constant probing of the important questions facing the global economy. When considered and debated, these questions lead to breakthrough economic analysis. Each question is formulated from a constellation of topic and region-specific information sources and augmented with opinion from RGE analysts and expert contributors. Together, these elements help you command the fundamentals and identify opportunities and risks throughout the world.

While heavily focused on Economics, Roubini Global Economics is also pretty focused on being a web media company. Their major website used to be RGEMonitor.com, but it appears that they’re making the move to a new site on Roubini.com over the next few weeks. Both sites have job listings (on Roubini.com and on RGEMonitor.com), but only the listings on Roubini.com include internships. Right now RGE is looking for a Middle East Economics Intern (London) and a Finance and Banking Economic Analyst Intern (New York). Additionally, I found an Economic Analyst Internship available with RGE in the Bay Area on Craigslist. All of the positions are paid, and you can apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to RGEjobs@rgemonitor.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Roubini’s predictions?

BillShrink

Willy Franzen — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:59:31 +0000

We’re officially in the Christmas season, and that means lots of good things. One thing that isn’t so good is all of the spending that comes with buying people gifts (whether you enjoy the consumerist aspects of the holidays or not). It feels great to be generous, but only until you look at your credit card statement at the end of the month. Cutting back on gifts or making your own is one idea, but it’s a lot easier said than done. Your best bet is probably to find some other ways to save money so that you can buy everyone what you want to buy them. A great way to do that is BillShrink. They’re a Redwood City, CA based startup that offers “a free, personalized savings tool that helps you save money on your everyday bills.” If you can cut your cell phone, credit card, and gas bills, then you’ll be able to buy me (or someone you actually know) more gifts.

Shrinkage Is Good

The way that BillShrink works is pretty simple. You fill out a few forms and share some personal information with them (nothing too scary), and then they make recommendations that will save you money. Right now they focus mostly on credit card and cell phone bills, but they have plans to add more verticals in the future. The big question is: how does BillShrink pay their own bills? They have revenue sharing plans with their partners. That means that when they recommend that you change cell phone providers, they’re going to get some sort of payment for referring you. You’re still saving money, they’re making money, and their partner is also making money. The only loser is the company that was charging you too much. It’s a great business model, and it should continue to grow as people get more comfortable with using these kinds of services. If BillShrink sounds like something that you’d like to be a part of, you should check out their Internships page. Current paid internship opportunities at BillShrink include Marketing/Communications Intern, Writing Intern, Product Intern, and Software Engineering Intern. You can apply online for any of these positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried BillShrink?

Seed Media Group

Willy Franzen — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:56:20 +0000

The magazine business is dying, right? A lot of people seem to think so, and for the most part I agree with them; however, we seem to be seeing a new breed of magazines cropping up. They’re web integrated, extremely well designed, and laser focused on a specific audience. They still sell advertising, but they offer advertisers access to a well-defined audience that general interest magazines can’t compete with. The company behind one of these magazines (Seed Magazine) is Seed Media Group. They’re based out of New York City, and they are a media and technology company built on the premise that science is culture. They’ve been offering a new take on science since 2005, and it seems to be working with them.

Seeding Your Career

Beyond Seed Magazine, Seed Media Group also runs ScienceBlogs.com. It’s a substantial web property, and it falls right in line with Seed Media Group’s belief that:

Science is transforming our global culture and conversation unlike ever before, shaping markets, informing policy, inspiring the arts and deepening our understanding of who we are, where we come from and where we’re heading.

It’s hard to say whether Seed Media Group and similar companies will be able to save the magazine industry, or if their success is just a temporary thing, but you have to like the fact that they’re more focused on a topic than the specific type of media that they deliver to their readers. If you’re intrigued by Seed Media Group, I recommend that you check out their websites listed below and pick up a copy of the magazine. That way you can get to know them and better understand if they might be somewhere you want to intern. Their Careers page currently has two intern positions listed—one in Design and one on the Editorial side. Both positions come with a monthly stipend, and look really cool. We’re already past the deadline for Spring Editorial internships, but I’d imagine that they’ll be posting Summer opportunities soon. There’s no reason you can’t reach out to them now and see what’s available when.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read Seed Magazine or ScienceBlogs.com?

The Wrap

Willy Franzen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:54:18 +0000

I’m going to be brutally honest with this one. When I landed on the The Wrap’s Home page, I immediately clicked the back button. I thought that I had landed on one of those Google Money Maker scam pages (it’s all because of the font choice). After processing what I had seen, I decided to take a second look. Despite their poor design choices, The Wrap is a legitimate site—if a site that covers entertainment industry analysis and breaking hollywood news can be considered legitimate (I kid). Now, The Wrap shouldn’t be confused with gossip sites like TMZ or Perez Hilton, this is actually an industry focused site that does primary source reporting. They’re venture funded and quite obviously located in Los Angeles. I don’t know a lot about the entertainment industry and how it’s covered by the press, but it looks like The Wrap is growing a solid audience with their web-based content.

Get Wrapped Up In It

Whether or not an internship in entertainment journalism sounds interesting to you, you need to be reading The Wrap if you have any interest in the entertainment industry whatsoever. On the other hand, if you’re looking for an internship covering Hollywood news, you’re in serious luck. There are two internships posted on The Wrap’s Jobs page, although they come with no description. It’s unclear exactly what they’re looking for, but I’d imagine that the positions have something to do with journalism. It’s the perfect opportunity to break into Hollywood reporting, so if you’re interested, send a résumé and cover letter to info@thewrap.com. There’s no word on whether the positions are paid or not.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read The Wrap?

College Prowler

Willy Franzen — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:04:09 +0000

Back when I was looking at colleges, I had to rely on traditional guidebooks to get relevant information like average SAT scores, whether freshmen are allowed to have cars, and what the food is like. Finding solid information online was pretty much out of the question, and none of the guidebooks that I looked at seemed to have a good read on what the campus was really like. Then along came College Prowler in 2002 (after I was already at Cornell, which turned out great). They’re a Pittsburgh, PA based company that aims “to be the most accurate, complete, and honest resource on colleges and universities across the United States.” Although those are their words, I think that a more accurate description of what they do (also in their words) is:

No university affiliations. No half-truths. No out-of-touch authors who haven’t been in school for decades. A class project turned company, College Prowler produces guidebooks that are written by actual college students and covers the things students really want to know.

College Prowler’s guides are what college guidebooks should have always been. Unfortunately, it took a long time for anyone to realize how big the need for “real” information was. Along with guidebooks, College Prowler has also built an awesome web resource to help high school students make informed college choices. The best part is that they’ve recently made all of their online content free.

Prowling for Internships

The business side of College Prowler is an interesting story, as I recently learned in an Inc. Magazine article. The short of it is that College Prowler is doing a fantastic job of helping students make the right college decisions, but they’re not nearly as successful at monetizing the attention that they’re getting (I can sympathize completely). As publishing has become less necessary with user-generated content sites like Unigo.com delivering free content, College Prowler has had to reevaluate its strategy. They still have a great brand and a great idea, but there’s a reason that they’re an Inc. Magazine Case Study and not a member of the Inc. 5000. If you’re up for a challenge and want to help make a cool company become significantly profitable, you should check out College Prowler’s Internships page. Although all of the positions are unpaid, they’re looking to fill the following positions: Contributing Editor Internship, Photojournalism Internship, Editorial Internship, Blog Managing Editor Internship, Marketing Internship, and Student Blogger Internship. These internships sound like they carry some big responsibilities, so if you’re interested, reach out to Mark Tressler at tressler@collegeprowler.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

CollegeProwler.com
Internships at College Prowler
About College Prowler
CollegeJolt.com (College Prowler’s Blog)
College Prowler in the News

Did you use any College Prowler guides?

Care2

Willy Franzen — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:58:01 +0000

Social networking is a new thing, right? Not at all. Social networks have been around almost as long as the Internet. They’ve just become way more mainstream in recent years. Take Redwood City, CA based Care2 for example. They’re an online social network that aims “to help people make the world a better place,” and they’ve been doing it since 1998. That’s impressive, not only because it means that they were early to social networking, but also because it means that they survived the dot com bust of the early 2000s. “Making the world a better place” used to be strictly the territory of non-profits, but now we’re seeing more and more companies like Care2 that are choosing to be B Corporations. That means that they can do good and build a profitable businesses at the same time. That’s exactly what Care2 is doing with their “more than 50 employees, 11 million members, 400 nonprofit partners and hundreds of responsible advertisers making a difference.”

Care2 Intern at Care2?

If you’ve ever read Seth Godin, you know how important it is to build a “tribe” of loyal fans. Bringing together people with similar interests is a great way to build a business, and that’s exactly what Care2 has done. The community that they’ve built not only encourages people to do good, but it also provides a fantastic platform for the right companies to market the right products. It’s hard to call a site with 11 million members niche, but its Care2′s focus on bringing together “do gooders” that has enabled them to build a social network that actually makes money. If Care2 sounds like something that you want to be a part of, then you should check out their Internships page. Right now there’s one opportunity posted, and it’s for a Business Development Intern in Washington, DC. It looks like a really cool opportunity, and there’s a lot more detail about it on the Internships page. The only question I can’t answer is whether it’s paid or not. Care2 has also offered internships in Writing/Content Development, Marketing/Communications, Competitive Analysis, and Research in the past, so there may be options along those lines too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you participate on any sites like Care2?

The Huffington Post

Willy Franzen — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:50:33 +0000

We all know that news is changing, and internships in journalism aren’t what they used to be. We’re in the middle of a major transitional stage that is going to determine how news is delivered for years to come. Blogs are becoming more and more reputable, and one of the companies that best exemplifies that trend is The Huffington Post. They’re a New York City based news website and blog network with an admittedly liberal slant (traditional newspapers would never position themselves in that way—even if they have the same biases). The site was launched in 2005, and since then it has grown to a $100 million valuation. While newspapers are dropping like flies, new fortunes are being made by blogging moguls. This is an exciting time to be involved in media, and it presents a ton of really exciting opportunities for students to grab a place in journalism’s future.

Join “The Internet Newspaper”

Who knows if blog networks and news sites like the Huffington Post will be the dominant players in 5 years? Maybe sites like Twitter will find a way to dominate the news. Or maybe traditional media companies like The New York Times and Condé Naste will get their acts together and make a resurgence. Nobody knows how this will all play out, but it will be exciting to be a part of. If you’re a big fan of The Huffington Post and have a strong interest in politics, media, or journalism, then you need to check out their Internships page. Right now they have four internship opportunities posted in Blogging, Technology , Reporting/Editorial, and News/Editorial. The internship is unpaid, which means that The Huffington Post is unfortunately continuing the media tradition of ripping off students with internships that may be less than legal.I guess that’s the way things are still. The application instructions are different for each internship, so check out the full postings for the scoop.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read The Huffington Post?

Do Something

Willy Franzen — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:18:00 +0000

Whether you’re trying to land an internship, start a business, get in shape, figure out your personal finances, or get a date, there’s one piece of advice that I’ve found to be the most appropriate. It’s really simple and a little disappointing, but it just works. Do something! Get off your butt and take action. It will get you 80% of the way to accomplishing your goal. I’m not the only one who thinks this. Do Something, a New York City based non-profit, has adopted this two word phrase as their name. They’re focused on encouraging teenagers to take positive ideas and turn them into action. Instead of focusing on a specific cause, Do Something is all about getting teens to do something about the issues that matter to them—whatever they may be.

Umm… Do Something!

What impresses me most about Do Something is how they’re harnessing the power of the Internet to reach teens with their message. In fact, Do Something has created an online platform that gives teens the tools and resources that they need to take action. Everything that Do Something does is based on 5 guidelines:

1. Believe in teenagers. Teenagers can lead today. We don’t require adults.
2. Trust teenagers. We provide reliable, easy to access information and activation strategies, but teens decide for themselves what to do.
3. Celebrate teenagers. We think all measurable contributions from teens are valuable.
4. Respect teenagers. We understand that teenagers have diverse abilities and constraints.
5. Value teenagers. Our programs and products are free. We’re not after teens’ money; we want their passion, time and creativity.

The result of following these guidelines is a website that encourages teenagers to Act Now by using a search engine to find a project that they can join. Or students can start their own club or apply for a grant. Teens are completely empowered to take action on their own. How can you take action? You can check out internships at Do Something. For some reason, Do Something doesn’t actually list their Internships on their Internships page, so you’ll need to head over to Idealist to see the full listings. Right now they’re offering paid internships in Marketing and Program Management, Clubs and Outreach, PR/Communications, Content, and Grants and Social Action Boot Camp. These all look like awesome opportunities to intern for a fun, young organization. The application instructions vary, so pay attention… and DO SOMETHING!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Want to get an internship? Do something!

Sporting News

Willy Franzen — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:52:35 +0000

I used to be really into Fantasy Baseball. Around this time of year, I’d buy up all kinds of fantasy guides (this was when print publications still had more information than online) and try to figure out whom I was going to draft for my team. Somehow this preparation always seemed to coincide with a day home sick from school. Anyway, the guides that my mom usually bought for me (while I was home sick, remember) were from Sporting News. I’d pore over them for hours and hours and craft my strategy. Charlotte, NC based Sporting News isn’t just about fantasy sports though, they’ve been covering sports since 1886. In fact, they even picked up the name “The Bible of Baseball” because of their extensive coverage of the sport. They recently moved from weekly to bi-weekly, but they’re still a huge name in the world of sports journalism.

A Fantasy Internship

We’ve already talked about fantasy sports, but let’s talk about a fantasy internships (no, you’re not putting together a fantasy team of interns and competing to see whose team makes the most coffee and copies). I’m sure that quite a few of you have that perfect internship description in mind, and it includes the words “sports,” “journalism,” and “paid.” If that’s you, then you’re in luck. Sporting News is looking for a fantasy intern to “edit player updates and edit and post columns and blog entries for Sporting News’ fantasy website.” It sounds like a fantastic gig, and it’s something that definitely would have caught my interest when I was in college. The application deadline is April 1st, and you can apply by sending a cover letter, resume and three of your best writing or editing samples to George Winkler at gwinkler@sportingnews.com (put everything in the text of the e-mail – no attachments).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

SportingNews.com
Internships with Sporting News (from E.W. Scripps School of Journalism)
About Sporting News
Sporting News’ History

Do you play Fantasy Baseball?

HubSpot

Willy Franzen — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:39:18 +0000

Beyond writing about a new company and its internships every day, there’s a lot of behind the scenes work that I have to do to continue growing my busines. A huge portion of that work falls under the categories of internet marketing and search engine optimization. Maybe I’m biased because I’m doing the stuff every day, but I think that being able to understand and implement online marketing concepts will be essential in many of the career paths that today’s new college grads take. If you want to set yourself up with the internet marketing skills that aren’t being taught in most undergraduate curriculums, you should consider an internship at a place like HubSpot, a Cambridge, MA based internet marketing startup.

What’s a HubSpot

HubSpot is all about helping businesses with inbound marketing to generate sales. Let’s use our new job search training course, Found Your Career, as an example. HubSpot offers web based applications in addition to consulting services that could help us bring more job seekers to our site. Beyond that, they’d also help us specifically target job seekers who are likely to enroll in a training couse. They’d use tools that they’ve created to analyze what we’re doing, how well it’s working, and what we can do better. It’s a pretty cool concept, and they seem to be having a lot of success with it. Put simply, HubSpot uses their internet marketing expertise to make small businesses “hubs” for incoming sales leads.

Last year HubSpot landed an additional $12 million in VC funding to bring their total funding to $17 million. What do companies do with huge investments like that? They usually hire people, and that’s what HubSpot has been doing. They’re an exciting and growing company, so they’re the perfect place to intern if you want to learn more about the online marketing world. Right now they’re looking for Internet Marketing Summer Interns who can do everything social media. You can find the full description by checking out HubSpot’s Jobs and Internships page. There’s no word on whether these internships are paid, and there aren’t a lot of administrative details about the internships, so hopefully someone from the HubSpot team will stop by and answer some questions. You can apply for the internships directly from the posting on their site.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about HubSpot? Leave a comment.

STA Travel

Willy Franzen — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:00:44 +0000

Most internship application processes seem like contests – you apply and you find out if you’ve won. The only problem is that the prize is often an unpaid gig getting coffee and sitting in a cubicle doing menial tasks. We try to avoid talking about those kinds of internships here, but it’s hard to know what an internship is really like without actually doing it. So, how about an internship where winning is actually winning? STA Travel is currently making a big deal about their 2009 World Traveler Internship Program. They’re looking for multiple interns to “traverse the globe experiencing a number of travel adventures and showcasing their experiences daily via a journal/blog, video and podcasts.” It might not offer the best real world work experience, but it makes up for it with life experience and awesomeness. If you haven’t heard of them already, STA Travel is world’s largest student travel agency. They want to improve students’ lives by making it easy and cost effective for them to travel, and these internships tie right in with that goal.

Intern Around the World

STA Travel has devoted an entire website to their internship program at WorldTravelerIntern.com, and it’s filled with in-depth information. It tells you everything that you’ll want to know about the internship. It’s also a great marketing vehicle for them. Do you really think that this is all about getting great interns? Of course not! By having a highly competitive internship program that emphasizes how great STA Travel’s offerings for students are, they’re getting a ton of free marketing. They’re clearly very savvy and understand how to reach the college market, which is why this internship might be more than just a free trip around the world. So how do you apply? You need to make a YouTube video (ahh, they’re making this process viral, now aren’t they?) and respond to this video (e-mail and RSS readers please click through):

Once you do that, you can formally apply here. Good luck!\

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Top Gear

Willy Franzen — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:02:48 +0000

Unfortunately my cable package doesn’t come with BBC America, so I can’t watch the British version of Chef Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (it has a lot more swearing than the American version), and I can’t watch Top Gear. I’ve actually never seen Top Gear, so I don’t know a lot about it, but it seems to be a tv show about cars with quite a cult following. It’s apparently wildly popular in the UK, and it’s also one of the world’s most pirated television shows according to Wikipedia. This popularity has spawned American and Australian versions, and the word is that the American version might end up on NBC this spring.

Top Interns for Top Gear

So, TopGear.com America is looking for interns. If you don’t know what Top Gear is, then you’re probably not right for the internship, but if your heart is racing from reading this, then you’ll be a perfect fit. They need someone to work on the website, so web skills are absolutely essential to your landing the internship. The internship is based in New York City, so it’s probably best if you’re in school in the city if you want to intern with them (it doesn’t look to be full-time). Their description is much better than I can do, so I recommend that you check it out. If you’re dying for this internship, then send a resume and cover letter to topgear@bbc.com with “Internship” in the subject line. Be sure to tell them “where you are, what you’re doing and why they’ll love you.” There’s no mention of whether or not the internships are paid, but they say something about college credit, so it’s probably unpaid.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a Top Gear fan? Tell us more about the show.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Willy Franzen — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:03:52 +0000

I’ve said it before, and I’m going to keep saying it. Newspapers are in trouble, and interning with a newspaper that is stuck in the pre-Internet world is a waste of time. You’ll be learning skills that are quickly becoming obsolete. Social media is the future of news, but an internship with some blog may not be the reputable resume item that you’re looking to add to your resume. So what do you do? You find a newspaper that gets it – one that is embracing the future of news on the web wholeheartedly. A good example is the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, better known as STLtoday.com on the web. They seem to have some pretty cool internship offerings that will help you build skills that will still be useful when you graduate and need to look for a job (things are seriously moving that fast these days).

An Internship Scavenger Hunt

As much as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch seems to “get it” when it comes to the direction that news is moving, they don’t get it when it comes to making it easy to find information about their jobs and internships. In fact, I still have no idea where they post their own employment opportunities. Because of that, I’ve relied on blogs and other websites to piece together a story about internships with the company. The original blog post that convinced me to feature the Post-Dispatch was this post about seeking a social media intern. It describes a 13 week paid internship from late February through mid-May for a St. Louis based college student with social media prowess. The opportunity sounds awesome, so if you’re interested read the post and then send your cover letter and resume to kgreenbaum@post-dispatch.com before the December 12th deadline. In fact, even if you’re not interested in the internship, read this post and its followup. They may just seem like posts about internships, but they’re indicative of where the news industry is headed. It’s pretty cool to see that interns are going to play a major part in driving change in how we get our information.

This post let me to wonder about other internships with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, so I did some more research. I found that the Post-Dispatch offers paid internships in all departments, that they have multimedia internships year round, and that one of their former interns wrote about her experience. I’m sure that there’s more to be dug up, but I’m going to leave it up to you, since you’re the one who wants to go into journalism. Make sure to post what you find in the comments section!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Could you find more information about internships with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch? Please share it in the comments.

Gothamist

Willy Franzen — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:52:08 +0000

Do you love New York City? Are you all about everything that has to do with news, arts, food, and events? If so, you should read Gothamist – the most popular local blog in New York. They’ve been around since 2003, and they’re now doing 4.6 million pageviews a month. That’s a lot. Gothamist isn’t just a blog, though. It’s also a company that manages quite a few other blogs including Chiagoist, LAist, DCist, SFist, Austinist, Bostonist, Houstonist, Phillyist, Seattleist, Londonist, Sampaist, Shanghaiist, and Torontoist. If you need to keep up with what’s going on in your city, these are the blogs to go to.

Can You Save Gotham(ist)?

You don’t need to be Batman, but if you have an interest in online advertising and some decent business knowledge, Gothamist would love to hire you as a paid business intern. They offered an unpaid internship back in October, but this one is paid. You can find all of the details here. It’s not identified as an internship, but they’re looking for undergraduate or graduate student assistant. What else do you call that? The internship requires 10 hours per week at Gothamist’s office in DUMBO, and this opportunity runs through May. Just hurry up and apply, because they want someone to start ASAP. Paste your resume in an e-mail (no attachments) and send it with a cover letter to to info@gothamist.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read any of the Cityist blogs?

ReadWriteWeb

Willy Franzen — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:50:35 +0000

I’m not going to stop harping on the fact that the future of media is online, and that any journalism student who wants to get hired right out of college needs to be familiar with the “new media.” ReadWriteWeb is a perfect example of new media. It’s a “blog that provides Web Technology news, reviews and analysis,” and it’s the world’s 14th most linked to blog according to Technorati. ReadWriteWeb has over a quarter of a million subscribers, and they continue to break news relevant to web nerds like me. Whether you’re already a web nerd, or you’re just realizing that you need to be one to get a job, an internship with ReadWriteWeb might be just what you’re looking for

ReadWriteInterns

We first heard about ReadWriteWeb’s Internship program from the tweets of Marshall Kirkpatrick, who is the site’s Lead Writer. He led us to an Internship posting on the Portland Craigslist. This is one of the better internship postings that I’ve read. It speaks for itself, so go read it whether you’re interested in Journalism internships or not. This kind of honest and forthrightness should be evident in every job and internship posting. The internships can be virtual, although all of the interns so far are based in Portland. Most of the work communication is done via IM, so you need not be located anywhere in particular. The only downer about these internships is that they are unpaid, but you only have to put in 5 to 10 hours per week, so it’s not like you’ll be a total slave to ReadWriteWeb. You can apply by sending a link to one or two of your most active online presences to marshall@readwriteweb.com.

Also, one of the projects that ReadWriteWeb interns will be working on is of specific interest to me. It’s called Jobwire, and it’s all about people who have new jobs. Who gets hired can be big news in the tech world, so it make sense that ReadWriteWeb is taking on this project. If you intern for them, you might even see yourself get mentioned on Jobwire. How about that?

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Best Week Ever

Willy Franzen — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:10:55 +0000

From Wikipedia: “In its recounting of the events of the past week, Best Week Ever has been seen as a sign of the short attention span of millions of Americans.” I would have waited longer to include that tidbit in this post, but I figured that since I’m targeting people with short attention spans today, I better cut to the chase. Best Week Ever is a VH1 television show that is on every Friday at 11 PM, but it’s also a blog. Both the show and the blog are filled with comedic takes on the latest gossip and pop culture. Are you still with me? Just making sure. If you’ve seen I Love the 80s, you’ll be familiar with the format of the television show, and if you want to know more about the blog, well check out BestWeekEver.tv.

Best Internship Ever?

BestWeekEver.tv, the blog, is currently looking for interns in New York City. They seem to think that abusing interns (not paying them) is funny, but I guess that’s the price you pay for working with funny people who are paid to be funny (unlike you who will be not paid to be funny). They’re looking for “hard-working students who love pop culture, comedy, television, and Photoshop.” That sounds like just about everyone. They want interns to work both on the editorial side and in digital video production. The internships last for 10 weeks and require a 2 day per week commitment. You can find all of the details of the internships here, and you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to BWEInterns@gmail.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Don’t think that this is the best internship ever? What is?

RealClear

Willy Franzen — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:04:27 +0000

I’m about ready to stick my head in the sand. I haven’t heard positive news from the world of politics, markets, or sports in quite a while. Instead of obsessing over every tidbit of bad news, I’d rather just focus on helping college students find jobs and internships and fly fishing. If you’re the kind of person who can’t do that – who needs to constantly be in the know, then an internship with RealClearPolitics/Markets/Sports might be perfect for you. It all started with RealClearPolitics, which is a website and blog that aggregates political based news and polling data. It was started by an options trader and an ad agency account executive in Chicago and has become a serious brand in the world of political news. Out of that success have grown two more sites – RealClearMarkets and RealClearSports – that focus on the worlds of finance and sports respectively. To fully understand what the sites are about and why they’re so popular, you’ll have to give them a visit and see them for yourself.

RealClear Internships

As I was doing my daily scan of the web for jobs and internships, I came across a couple of postings from RealClear. Both RealClearPolitics (internship posting) and RealClearMarkets (internship posting) have immediate needs for Fall interns, while RealClearSports has hired interns in the past. The two internships have essentially the same job descriptions, but one is focused on politics and the other on finance. They’re looking for interns to manage media contacts and interview requests, coordinate incoming advertising and customer service correspondence, perform research for staff members, and to help create and manage products. If you’re a Journalism or Business major, either of these internships might be a good fit for you, and if you’re a Political Science or Economics major, you can probably figure out which one to apply for. The job descriptions give a lot more information on the specifics of what RealClear is looking for. Although RealClear is based out of Chicago, these internships are location flexible – you can work from your dorm room if you want. They want a commitment of 10-20 hours per week, and they’ll offer college credit, which is a nice way of saying that the internships are unpaid. To apply for an internship with RealClearPolitics send your cover letter and resume to alindow@realclearpolitics.com, and to apply for an internship with RealClearMarkets send your cover letter and resume to bott@realclearmarkets.com. Also, if you want to inquire about a future internship with RealClearSports, you can send a note to info@realclearsports.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you following the news or sticking your head in the sand? Leave a comment.

MobileCrunch

Willy Franzen — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:16:17 +0000

Are you waiting for a cell phone that you can get surgically implanted? If you intern with MobileCrunch, you might be the person who breaks the news on such a product. MobileCrunch is a blog about everything mobile (as in communications devices). They’re an offshoot of CrunchGear, which is an offshoot of TechCrunch, which is one of the most popular blogs on the planet. If you’re always counting the days until you get a free equipment upgrade on your cell plan, MobileCrunch is for you.

InternCrunch

MobileCrunch announced on their blog that they were looking for interns last Wednesday, and a little Twitter research showed that applications are already being reviewed. It’s possible that it’s already too late to apply, but we think that you can probably still sneak in an application (these Internet companies move quickly). If you “live and breathe mobile,” it really doesn’t get any better than this. If you’re intrigued, send a cover letter and resume to mobilecrunch@crunchgear.com. You should probably focus on impressing them with your writing and love for mobile, so don’t reuse that cover letter that you used to get the Summer internship that you just finished. TechCrunch does pay their interns and allows them to work remotely during the school year, so we’re hoping that the same is true for MobileCrunch. Everything else that you need to know you can learn by reading MobileCrunch.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What kind of mobile device do you want surgically implanted?

Gawker Media

Willy Franzen — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:57:41 +0000

Yesterday we featured Transworld and their 6 publications. It was a bit hard to dig up specific internship information for each magazine, but we had fun, so we’re going to do it again. Today we’re going to look at Gawker Media and their network of 12 blogs. In case you’re not familiar with the Gawker network, here’s what it consists of Defamer (L.A. Gossip), io9 (Science Fiction), Valleywag (Silicon Valley Gossip), Deadspin (Sports), Jezebel (Celebrity, Sex, Fashion), The Consumerist (Consumer’s Rights), Jalopnik (Cars), Gawker (Manhattan Gossip), Kotaku (Video Games), Lifehacker (Productivity), Gizmodo (Gadgets), Fleshbot (Adult, no link – you can find that one on your own). It’s an impressive network of sites, some trashy, and some insanely useful. Gawker Media’s network has been identified as being the most valuable blog with some estimates of a $150 million valuation.

Gawker Loves Interns

It’s pretty obvious that Gawker relies heavily on interns. Many of the blogs list interns below the editors and writers on the sidebar. Gawker (Valleywag in particular) also loves interns for more gossipy reasons. How do you get to be one of the interns featured on the sidebar and not one of the interns with an article about you that have been viewed close to a million times? That’s what we’re trying to find out.

About a month ago, Gawker Media (not Gawker the blog) sent out a call for Fall interns. They were/are looking for an Office Intern, a Photo Intern, and a Project intern. We aren’t sure if these internships have been filled yet, but you can apply (make sure you read the descriptions first) to interns@gawker.com. We also saw that io9, the sci-fi blog, is seeking Fall interns who can work in New York City or virtually. You can apply for those internships at fallintern@io9.com.

Beyond these two listings, we haven’t seen anything else, but here are the Gawker properties that currently have interns listed on their sidebar: io9, Valleywag, The Consumerist, Jalopnik, Kotaku, and Gizmodo. The contact information for the editors and staffs of each of these blogs is also on the sidebars, so we’d recommend that you contact the editors directly to inquire about internships that aren’t listed. Before doing that you might want to try this Google search to see what kind of internships each blog has offered in the past.

site:domain.com internship

So if you wanted to search for everything related to internships on Jalopnik, you’d type this into Google:

site:jalopnik.com internship

You may or may not find anything of interest, but that’s the best way to narrow things down and find specific information on internships at the blog that you’re targeting. Gawker Media has a blog for everyone, so if you’re into writing or editorial work, these could be great opportunities for you. Gawker is known to let their interns work remotely, so that could give you a lot of flexibility in being able to take on an internship. All internships with Gawker Media are paid, so that’s also something to get excited about.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Gawker.com
About Gawker Media
Gawker Media Powerpoint (download 8.4 MB)

Valleywag

Willy Franzen — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:49:20 +0000

We’re not big on gossip here, but judging by the way tv news covers celebrities most people are. Since we’re much more interested in Silicon Valley startups than Britney Spears, when we do follow the gossip, it’s usually on sites like Valleywag. A member of the Gawker media empire, Valleywag calls itself “Silicon Valley’s tech gossip rag.” Clearly they know that they’re working every day to make the world a better place.

Intern, Minion, Same Thing

We could write a long post about Valleywag and all the awful/great stories they’ve written, but you really should just check them out for yourself. Actually, we’ll recommend two of their posts because they are relevant to the subject matter. First, they exposed a bank intern for claiming he had a “family emergency” when he was dressing up as a fairy (wings and all) at a Halloween party. Second, they put out a list of tech’s 10 worst entry-level jobs. The list includes a few internships, so it might be entertaining for you (don’t take it too seriously).

Anyway, Valleywag is hiring a Summer Minion (intern) in their Bay Area office. They’re looking for someone who is familiar with newsreaders and blogging software. There is a “modest stipend.” They want a resume and the URL of your blog (yes, you should probably already be blogging if you apply) sent to jobs@valleywag.com. This is a big improvement from the internship that they offered 2 years ago, as they now have an office and compensate their interns financially. You can also see whom they hired 2 years ago to get a sense of whether or not you have what it takes. We can’t promise that this internship will give you lots of “real world” experience, but it will certainly be interesting.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Heard any good internship gossip? Leave a comment. Just kidding.

b5media

Willy Franzen — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:00:47 +0000

A couple days ago I made a decision that I may regret. I joined Twitter. In case you’ve been too busy having a life, Twitter is a social networking site / time waster that is best explained to college students as a combination of Facebook’s status updates and walls. All messages have to be 140 characters or less, and there’s not much more to it. I was skeptical at first, but after a few days of use, I’m starting to like it (if you want to follow me, you can do so here). I’m especially excited that I found an internship to write about by following ProBlogger webmaster, Darren Rowse, on Twitter. Darren has made an extremely good living off of blogging and also co-founded a blog network called b5media, which is offering the internships. So, score one for Twitter, and if you’re the type of person who might be interested in the internships we’re talking about today, it’s probably in your best interest to get familiar with Twitter as a self-promotion/networking tool. For the rest of you college students who aren’t social media addicts, Twitter is probably just another way to filibuster when you should be studying.

Blogs Are for Losers

The word blog sometimes has a negative connotation with college students. Well, guess what, you’re reading a blog right now. You, my friend, are a loser. It’s a good thing that groups of losers are putting together their resources to build multi-million dollar businesses. At least they’re rich losers… But seriously, blogging probably isn’t going to make too many people really rich, but it is going to provide the basis for more and more careers as the medium matures.

b5media is proof positive that blogging isn’t about boring online journals, but instead is about building businesses by creating meaningful, useful online content. They currently have more than 327 blogs on their network and about 15 employees. b5media has put together an impressive team, with employees working from all over the world. If you’d like to learn more about b5media, use the links below, because there’s no better way to learn about an online company than following the trail that they leave across the Internet.

They’re Banning Homework in Canada

Ok, only on long weekends and holidays, but that certainly boosts Canada’s reputation in our book. So, what does this have to do with b5media or internships? Well, b5media is located in Toronto. Although many of their employees work from all over the world, interns are going to have to spend the summer in Toronto. How could you not want to spend a few months in a place that wants to ban homework? To be honest, we don’t know what the ramifications of working in Canada are for a US student, so that is something that you will have to look into. If anyone has any answers, please leave them in the comments section.

b5media has hired interns since they started, and they’re doing it again this year according to CEO Jeremey Wright’s blog. He says that they’re looking for interns in “media, video, admin, journalism, marketing and business administration.” They’ll give you everything that you need to be a productive intern, including an office, a great team, and a transportation allowance (there’s no mention of pay, either way). There’s not a lot to the job description, but you can probably find out more by reaching out to Jeremy. Which reminds us that Jeremy forgot one little detail in his job listing – how to apply. We’ll assume that you should apply directly to Jeremy, and the best way to do that seems to be finding him through the contact page on his site.

Be sure to tell him where you found out about the internships, because they’re offering a big referral bonus in the form of free advertising across their network. And don’t forget that internships aren’t the only answer. You could also spend your Summer starting a blog and join b5media as a blogger instead.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

b5media’s Home Page
Jobs at b5media (Internships not listed here)
Job Listings from b5media CEO Jeremy Wright’s Blog (Internships included)
About b5media
b5media’s People
Blog for b5media
b5media’s Bloggers
b5media Company Profile on CrunchBase
The b5media Team Blog

How do you feel about blogs? Does the term scare you off, or is it becoming a part of every day speech for you? Let us know in the comments, especially if you’re the type of person who never has commented on a blog before. It’s easy!