Journalism Career Fair- Katie Fox

Katie Fox


On October 20th, 2014 I attended the Journalism Career fair in the Stamp Student Union at University of Maryland. When I approached the fair, there were roughly seven students sitting outside of the ballroom, checking your name, class and handing you a name tag where you wrote your first and last name and placed it on your chest. People were dressed in business attire and suits. There were many students at the fair. Slightly overwhelmed, yet excited, the student that wrote down my name for attending also handed me a pamphlet that had every media organization listed that was presented at the fair.

When I walked into the ballroom, there were tables set in a U shape around the room, making it easy to walk around, viewing all of the businesses presented. There was also a food buffet in the middle of the room where students ate and socialized after their interviews and discussions with the representatives from the organizations. After looking at the pamphlet, some of the organizations presented were HBO’s “Vice”, WUSA, WJZ, USA Today, bustle.com, Discovery Channel, and DC Internships. 

The first table I decided to get information from was DC Internships. Finally after waiting in line, I shook hands and spoke with Joe, one of the companies representatives. He informed me that DC Internships is where students live at George Washington University, but get credit though George Mason University. He also explained students work experience is roughly 30 hours per week. Also, attending the University of Maryland, we are in a great location so close to DC, it is a great opportunity for students to take advantage of our location and go downtown to DC whenever possible. After thanking Joe, giving him my resume, and taking more information about DC Internships, I decided to roam around the room more. 

After glancing at each table, I found a table that caught my eye called bustle.com. Once again, I waited in line with my resume in my hand. When approaching the table, I introduced myself and spoke with Alexandra Finkel, the recruiting and editorial operations director for bustle.com. She explained to me that bustle.com is an online magazine that is a paid internship and is for an academic year semester or summer internship. The magazines headquarters is located in Manhattan, New York City or can be accessed online. The magazine revolves around lifestyle, news, entertainment and fashion. Students who have interned for this magazine have gotten jobs at SELF, Entertainment Weekly, Brides, Esquire and The Knot. The magazine requires interns to work a minimum of 2-3 full days per week and you must apply to one of the main topics that the magazine covers. Once Alexandra and I were finished discussing all of the benefits of the magazine, I handed her my resume, took her card and filled out a quick surgery online. 

Attending the Journalism Career Fair was important and my goal is to attend every year. I think it will help me in the long run because it is a good way to get your name out, your resume and get information on different internships that maybe I was no aware of before. Also, there were many different internships available under the journalism category, which was also nice because it gave students the option to venture out to different parts of journalism. I cannot wait for what the future holds and eventually landing one of these internships.