Journalism Career Fair

Lauraine Genota

Excited, nervous, and intimidated. Those were some of the things I was feeling as I walked into the Journalism Career Fair on October 20^th. I signed in, made a name tag and entered the Grand Ballroom of Stamp. The first thing I noticed was the different booths; I walked around a couple of times to see which organizations and employers were present. There was NBC, ABC, Discovery, USA Today, and many others. It was intimidating to see the long lines of journalism students and the representatives already interviewing them. I was nervous because I have never been to a career fair so I had no idea what to expect, but I was excited to see which organizations would be there.

After contemplating which organization to speak to first, I finally lined up for the DC Internships booth. They offer summer internships in DC, where you take classes at George Mason and are guaranteed internships in the area. I think it’s a good way to gain experience in the journalism field. From there, I lined up for ABC/Sinclair Broadcasting Group. I spoke with a representative and he told me that they were mostly looking for rising juniors. He told me to continue getting good grades and to be involved in campus and community activities. He said he’ll see me when I’m a junior. I also went to the Discovery booth, but I didn’t have enough time to go to most of the booths because I had to go to class.

Overall, this was definitely a good learning experience. I’m glad I went as a freshman so I can see how things work. Hopefully next year there will be even more opportunities and more representatives. Although I’m leaning towards broadcast journalism, I was hoping there would be newspapers and magazine organizations there, too. Maybe next year? I'll definitely be looking into some of the opportunities I heard about during the Fair.