2014 Journalism Career Fair

On Monday, October 20th, I attended the Merrill College Journalism Career Fair, which featured a wide variety of organizations and local TV stations. I arrived there at 1:15pm, just as the program was unraveling. The ballroom wasn't packed yet, but there were long lines already forming for the popular TV stations such as NBC, ABC and others. I noted that the vast majority of students there were juniors, seniors or graduate students. However, I still approached the booths with confidence.
    I noticed that the booths were mostly for broadcasting-- there were a few specific print dashed here and there, but that was the minority. Although I am aware that as a journalist, I should be open to all fields of the career and know the ways of each role a journalist takes, I was disappointed. I was expecting to see more newspapers and magazines featured here.
    The first booth that I approached was the DC internships. This is a program where you spend weeks in the nation's capital and explore the dozens of opportunities that it offers to journalism majors. Each participant is assigned a mentor, someone experienced in the field, and guided through each of the different areas of journalism. This program is definitely is in one of my 'internships to think about' list.
    The next place that I approached was the Bustle Magazine table. They are a purely online magazine, featuring everything from News to Fashion. They are currently looking for people who can cover the upcoming elections or anyone that can shadow a politician. They are solely based in New York, however, they are open to writers from across the nation. I was highly interested in this publication because that's the field that I want to be in. I love the atmosphere of a publication and the variety of jobs that can be fulfilled in one. I talked to one of the editors there, Alex, and she answered all of the questions that I had. I will be contacting them for an internship!
   After this, I wandered around and talked to the people in the Discovery booth and glanced at the rest of the tables. After a while, I left, with the papers and brochures from each.
   I had a great experience, but one thing that I would alter would be to have more print/multi-media platforms there!