Happy summer, CAFME!
Many of you already know me, but if you don’t, my name is Carson Blackwelder and I’ll be one of your co-presidents this upcoming school year. I’m really excited to lead this amazing organization and give back, as I’ve benefitted so much from this club. It has really been a blessing. I’m now a senior Journalism (reporting sequence) and English double major.
I’m sitting at my desk in my monstrously big (and air conditioned) apartment on 13th Street getting ready to head to bed. I start orientation for ASME (American Society of Magazine Editors) tomorrow and my internship at TV Guide Magazine on Monday. I love entertainment, especially television, and I’m super stoked to intern at a publication that suits my interests about as well as humanly possible!
I’ve had quite a lot of down time since the semester ended and I just wanted to share the things I have been doing in the meantime. I decided to knock out some of the tasks that I couldn’t get to during the school year but desperately needed to do. It may be tempting to use downtime as just downtime, but there's no better time than now to get ahead.
Here's my personal to-do list for the next past weeks:
(1) Updating my portfolio/website
If you are anything like me, you have been putting off updating your website for quite a while. Since you have next to nothing to do, why not use this time to archive those gems you have written (or designed, created, whatever; I don’t judge) over the past semester (or school year)? This will not only make you feel like you have accomplished a monster of a task, but it will also help you out by having your portfolio up-to-date and ready to show any interested party you'll meet during the summer.
And think about the long run: it will be easier to update your summer articles now.
(2) Redesigning my resume
Now that you have accomplished yet another year of college, now is the time to update your resume with your summer internship and perhaps that new position at your campus’ newspaper or magazine that you are going to get started on when school starts back. You don’t have to finish it now. Trust me, I’ve only finished a rough draft, but this is something that takes time, and while you have it, why not embrace it?
This is also great asset for recent grads, who will undoubtedly be searching and applying frantically to jobs. A fresh resume could be the thing that sets you apart from the rest of the recent grads.
(3) Studying the magazine of my upcoming internship
One way to impress your future editors is to be able to show that you know their publication inside and out. Use your downtime to curl up outside with their magazine and some refreshments and catch some sun (there isn’t much natural light in the mailrooms or coffee shops you might be stuck in shortly).
What could be better than catching up on your favorite magazines in the beautiful outdoors? That’s right. Nothing.
I hope that these tips give you some ideas for how to be a little more productive and impress the socks right off of those editors. And if time has crept up on you and you start your internship in a few days, these are things that you can be doing during the whole summer to start a new school year fresh. I know that having a list of things to do helps me pass the time and feel accomplished.
In the meantime, I will be facing my biggest internal struggle: how much Netflix can I watch without it being a problem. It is an addiction.
Until next time,
Carson
No comments:
Post a Comment