Considering that we covered some PR/Communications internships yesterday, the name of today’s company may make it seem like we’re not providing you with variety. That’s not true at all. Fisher Communications is not a PR firm. They’re “a Seattle-based communications company that owns or manages 13 full power, 7 low power television stations and 8 radio stations.” When they say communications, they mean over radio signals. If you’ve always wanted a career in tv or radio, you probably know that it’s best to start local. If you can land an internship at a major national network, that’s great, but it isn’t easy. It’s not like getting an internship with a local company like Fisher Communications is easy either, but it’s definitely more attainable.

Fish-er for Internships

I don’t know a lot about Fisher’s tv and radio stations because I don’t live in Washington. If you’re from Washington, you’ll probably have a decent idea of what they’re about, and if you’re not, you can research the stations individually. Right now Fisher Communications is recruiting Fall interns for three tv stations and one radio station. At KBAK TV/KBFX TV in Bakersfield, CA, they’re looking for unpaid interns in News (General News, Sports, and Weather) and Promotions. At KOMO TV in Seattle, they have unpaid internships in Creative Services and TV Sales (Advertising). At KUNS, which is also in Seattle, they’re looking for unpaid interns in TV Sales (Advertising) and Bilingual News. Finally, there are a number of Seattle based radio internships in News, Programming, Graphic Design, Promotion, and Sales. The application instructions for each position vary, so be sure to check out the individual descriptions to get all of the details.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Fsci.com
• Internships at Fisher Communications
• About Fisher Communications
• Fisher Communications’ Investor Relations Page

Happy Groundhog Day! Unfortunately, it looks like we’re headed for 6 more weeks of winter according to Punxsutawney Phil. That really aggravates me, so I think that I’m done trusting the rodent for my weather prediction. Last year we recommended working for the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club on One Day One Job, but this year we want to lead you towards a career where you’ll actually be able to predict the weather. That’s why we want you to take a look at internships with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. NOAA is a government agency “that enriches life through science,” which makes them almost the exact opposite of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. NOAA’s responsibilities range from “daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce.” In fact, “NOAA’s products and services support economic vitality and affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product.”

From the Bottom of the Sea to the Surface of the Sun

NOAA has a great video that does a nice job of telling their story, so we thought we’d spare you some reading and embed it below. (If you’re reading via e-mail or RSS, you might need to click through to view the video).

So what about internships with NOAA? You can find all kinds of information about working at NOAA on their Careers page. Unfortunately their Recruitment Events Calendar hasn’t been updated lately, but you can still check out their Career Fields and What NOAA Has to Offer pages. What you’re really looking for though – NOAA’s internships, you can find on their Student Opportunities page. This links to Internships (Graduate, Undergraduate, and High School), Special Opportunities, and Educational Partnerships. There’s also a separate site for NOAA’s Minority Faculty and Student Intern Research Program that you might want to check out. There are all kinds of opportunities to get started on a career in Earth Sciences with NOAA, so you’ll need to peruse all of their offerings to find a good fit for you. NOAA’s internships and other programs are too varied to generalize about here, so you’ll need to use the links that I just mentioned to get more details about what kind of internships are offered, where they’re located, whether or not they’re paid, and how you can apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• NOAA.gov
• Student Opportunities at NOAA
• About NOAA
• NOAA Organizations
• NOAA’s Organization Chart

Do you think Punxsutawney Phil was right?

Periodically the news is riddled with stories about how the airlines are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Lately the focus of doom and gloom commentary has shifted to finance and insurance companies, but that doesn’t mean that the airlines are doing any better. There’s one company that is seemingly never in the conversation about struggling airlines – Southwest Airlines. If you’ve ever flown Southwest, you probably know why. They do things differently, and it makes flyers happy. Even though it seems like almost no one can succeed flying commercial routes, Southwest continues to impress. Air travel isn’t going anywhere – it’s too important to us, so forget about all the bad things that you hear about the airline industry, and start thinking about an internship at Southwest Airlines.

Book an Internship at Southwest

Honestly, I’ve never heard of a company cited in more case studies than Southwest is. When I was studying Human Resources in college, I swear that I heard about Southwest’s corporate culture every week. It must make the CEOs of other airlines sick to their stomachs. Just look at the honors Southwest has received recently:

• Ranked 12th on Fortune’s “Most Admired” list in 2007
• Made Forbes “Platinum List” in 2007
• Ranked by Business Week as one of the top “50 Best Places to Launch a Career”
• “Most Admired Companies Among Women” by Professional Womens Magazine in 2006
• “100 Best Corporate Citizens” by Business Ethics magazine for eight years in a row
• “Corporate 100” by HISPANIC magazine since 2000
• Included in the “Top 100 Most Innovative Technology Organizations” by InformationWeek in July 2007

And in case you aren’t already dreaming about working for Southwest, they also offer “FREE UNLIMITED space-available travel anywhere Southwest Airlines flies,” casual dress, and social events for and including interns. Oh yeah, and the internships are paid. You can find out more on their Internships page, which is part of a really informative, but simple and easy to navigate Careers site.

Southwest is already “booking” for Spring internships, and the deadlines are coming up fast. It’s not surprising that they have demand this far in advance. Some of the internships have application deadlines of 9/19/08, which is Friday, while others have deadlines of 10/1/08. They currently have 33 internships listed, and 30 of them are located at their headquarters in Dallas, TX (the others are in Chicago, IL; Nashville, TN; and Houston, TX).

We’re not going to link to every single internship at Southwest Airlines – you can find them all here, but here’s a list of areas that you can intern in: Occupational Safety, Marketing, People & Leadership Development, Internal Customer Care, Public Relations, Meteorology, Operational Safety, Purchasing, Maintenance Engineering, Materials Purchasing, Material Services, Product Development, Corporate Sales, Online Marketing, Promotions, Advertising, Flight Operations, Publications, Internal Audit, Legislative Communications, Charitable Giving, Community Relations, Dispatch, Culture Services, Standards an Regulatory Compliance, Ground Operations, and Emergency Programs. Wow.

Applying online for these internships is easy, so get to them before the deadlines pass. Thanks to Rob, a former Southwest intern, for tipping us off on these internships. He said that he’ll be willing to answer any questions about internships at Southwest Airlines in the comments, so fire away.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Southwest.com
• Internships at Southwest Airlines
• Southwest’s Internship Listings
• Southwest’s Careers Site
• About Southwest Airlines
• Nuts About Southwest (Southwest’s Blog)
• Culture at Southwest Airlines
• Southwest’s History
• Investor Relations Info from Southwest Airlines

Have you flown Southwest? Did you LUV it?