Tuesday, December 29, 2020

SECOND CHOICES? SECOND CHANCES!



HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Lots of things beginning and ending this time of year. Yesterday we talked about our traditions, and our goals. How we felt like decluttering, and repurposing, and rethinking.  The pandemic hit us all, in similar ways. But it's all about where you are in your life.
 

But my brilliant and talented and dear dear friend Amy Impellizzeri (you know her books, right? Click here! But after you read this—because what’s next is fascinating) --today introduces us to a different point of view.  Someone still in the process of making traditions. Someone for whom everything is new. And someone who has a lot to teach us! 

 Second Choices/Second Chances
  A Q&A With Writer Amy Impellizzeri 
                  and her Intern, Tierney Banco


 AMY IMPELLIZZERI: In the category of “Pandemic Silver Linings,” some of my entries continue to be a stretch. Invention of a Bolognese sauce recipe sans red meat. Discovery of 23 new online shopping retailers (and counting). A color-coded chart of every wine retailer that ships to my puritanical state. 

 But here’s one that’s no stretch at all: Because of the pandemic, I have a fabulous intern, Tierney Banco, working with me in my rural Pennsylvania town. 

She boasts some impressive writing/research chops and a shiny new degree from Northeastern University. 

It’s no secret Tierney would rather not be my intern. 

I know she’d prefer that 2020 went a little (ok, a lot!) differently, and that she was in New York City breaking into writing or television/film. 

 But in becoming her second choice, we’ve both gotten a second chance to wrap up 2020 with some silver linings and lessons learned. I asked Tierney to fess up about her frustrations and how she’s putting her internship and her writing plans to good use. 

 

Amy: Tierney, I know because I’ve seen your resume - you’ve had an impressive educational journey that has included some unique real world writing/working experience. Can you give us a glimpse of that journey? 

 Tierney: Sure. I grew up loving movies and stories and I was always making up stuff and letting my imagination run wild. But I didn’t start writing for real until I was in high school. At the beginning of my freshman year I joined Voices, Reading Eagle’s (my hometown paper) teen section, and I wrote for them basically until the day I left for college. I was lucky enough to write, everything from opinion pieces to reviews to news pieces to sarcastic commentary on very specific teenage things. 

 Amy: I remember those pieces! I remember reading them in our shared hometown paper and admiring your writing at such a young age. 

 Tierney: It was the first time I really had a chance to consider what I had to say and how I wanted to say it, which was really important to me as far as figuring out my voice (no pun intended) and even what kind of person I am. And I learned that, no matter what I was writing, people were reading it and reacting to my work. 

 Amy: After high school, I know you headed to Northeastern University. Did you know exactly what your major would be when you started? 

 Tierney: I was undeclared until the end of my freshman year. I had a lot of different interests (theatre, film, writing, etc.) and I wasn’t quite sure which direction to head in. And then one of my advisors asked me, “Have you heard of this weird new major, Media and Screen Studies, which is all about media and film and journalism? You can combine that with Theatre,” and that was it.

 Amy: Kudos to your Advisor for helping channeling your interests into a major, which doesn’t sound all that weird to me! What about your co-op opportunities at Northeastern?

 Tierney: I did two co-ops, both within my Media and Screen major. My first co-op was in the Media Relations department at the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), which runs Boston’s Logan Airport. 

 And my second was in the Corporate Communications department at the television company AMC Networks in New York City. Looking back now, those jobs were so informative and educational to me because they didn’t just show me how to handle a 9-5 job, but also taught me how to think and what to look for in a professional setting. 

At AMCN, I spent at least six hours a day reading the trades and paying attention to the industry I hoped to join someday. It made me feel like a cog (albeit a small one) in the wheel. But being a “lowly” intern seems a lot more important when your findings are sent to the CEO and flagged as “Must Read Press.” 


Amy: I can validate first-hand that your work as an intern is ALWAYS important. I love that you came to understand that on your own. What would you have been doing this fall if I wasn’t lucky enough to work with you as MY intern? 

 Tierney: I fell in love with New York City when I was working at AMCN. I loved the bustling city, the parks, the restaurants, and Broadway, of course. A big part of the reason I looked to New York for my second co-op was to find out if I could see myself living there, and six months confirmed to me that I could. 

But as far as what I would do when I moved to New York, that was up in the air. When you’re going to be a lawyer or a doctor or something there is a specific step-by-step plan of what you do and what order you do it in to achieve your goal career. But my fields don’t have that.

 Amy: Ah yes, this is a big lesson I learned having left the law for the publishing industry. There’s no straight-line path. It’s stressful, but also liberating in a way. 

 Tierney: Something I really liked about Northeastern’s mentality with the co-op program was that they weren’t focused solely on teaching you “I have this degree so now this is the only career I’ll ever have or look for.” 

Instead, both of my majors taught me skills that I can use to pursue something, whatever that is. Throughout college my mentality became “I don’t know what I want to do yet, but I know I’ll be capable of doing it,” which made me less concerned about the “how” and more focused on “why.”

 My hope for the Fall 2020 was to be in NYC working at a television or media company in some sort of entry-level position. I applied to all sorts of jobs within NBCUniversal, Viacom, CBS, and Buzzfeed, just to name a few. 

But then my senior year was cut short due to the pandemic, leaving me without a graduation, job prospects, or any way to move to my favorite city. 

 Amy: So, would you call the pandemic a short-term detour or has it re-routed you entirely? 

 Tierney: It definitely felt like a massive roadblock had hit me, right when my life was supposed to take off. As the summer went on and nothing changed, I realized that I needed to alter my thought process. I didn’t want to spend the entire pandemic sitting around miserable and twiddling my thumbs hoping something might happen. 

So to answer your question, I feel like it’s rerouted me entirely. And up until September, I probably would’ve told you that was a bad thing.

 But now I feel a lot better about where I am. I’ve started to write again, something I wasn’t doing during the pandemic. Since I wasn’t in a good headspace, I didn’t feel that creative inspiration necessary to put words on a page. But I’ve written more in the past two months than I have in the past few years. 

 Amy: I think your honesty and raw truth is really helpful to so many others who share your frustrations. Thanks for sharing that, Tierney. What positive steps have you taken to forge your new path? 

 Tierney: The pandemic really forced me to reevaluate my thought process regarding my career choices. In September I started taking an online Screenwriting class through the New York Film Academy. As soon as that started, I found that sense of inspiration and motivation I’d been missing since March. So now I’m applying to MFA programs in NYC. 

And I have to say, as someone who was super stressed about applying to college, I feel pretty good about grad school. 

The application for my top choice, New York University, really pushed me to succeed. Where most writing programs ask for a few short pieces to sample your work, NYU wanted a full 90-120 page screenplay. I had never written a project that long before, in any form. But having that goal in my head motivated me and I managed to complete my first draft (coming in at exactly 120 pages) a few days ago. 

 The other thing I did to further my professional path was a lot of “networking.” I say it in quotes because the pandemic doesn’t really allow for true networking in the traditional sense. But over the summer I talked to a lot of people, mostly friends of friends, who have experience in the entertainment or theatre industries. They all gave great advice and told me a little about how they got to their current career. A number of them also offered to put me in touch with some of their contacts, giving me even more people to talk to. I even got to speak to one of the professors at the NYU program I’m applying to. 

 Amy: How have you been able to focus on writing and what advice would you give other new graduates who are trying to find their focus as they navigate this challenging time? 

 Tierney: Having specific goals to work towards is what’s kept me focused. My class at NYFA meets every Tuesday and then we have an assignment, so each week I have at least one piece of writing to work on. The application due dates have also been in the back of my mind.

 My advice is to ask yourself, “What do I need to do today? What do I need to do this week? What do I need to do this month?” It makes you prioritize what to work on first. 

 If you start to feel bogged down, change your approach or thought process. Instead of trying to finish something by a certain date, set a goal (however big or small) and work towards that instead. 

 When I was writing my 120-page screenplay, I was much more motivated to work if I aimed to write one scene a day as opposed to hitting a daily page count. It helped the project feel exciting and something I wanted to continue, as opposed to a chore. 

 Another piece of advice is something I heard in a NYU info session. The director of the program was joking that they ask applicants to submit a screenplay in order to come to NYU and learn how to write a screenplay. But then he said, “We know it won’t be perfect, but we want to see what you can do. So send us what you have, and we’ll see what we’re working with.” That really resonated with me. 

 For whatever it is you are working towards, don’t worry about perfection or meeting expectations. Focus on how it excites you, or why you’re doing this. As long as that’s in the back of your head, it’s really hard to go wrong. 

 Amy: Wait. Hold please. That’s really good. I think I’ll write that down. Tierney, I’m so happy to be your second choice this year. Thanks for sharing your journey with me! 

 HANK: Well, wow. That is incredibly inspirational! Aww. I am in tears.  Reds and readers, what were you doing at Tierney’s age? Were you ever an intern? And what did YOU learn? 

79 comments:

  1. I’m most impressed, Tierney, and wish you much success . . . .

    Student teaching is as close as I ever came to being an intern; when I was Tierney’s age, I was teaching Little Ones how to read and I learned that there’s always something new to learn . . . .

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    1. Awww..that is lovely, Joan! And still true, right? oxxo

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    2. Student teaching is a wonderful vocation. How sweet!

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  2. Wow, Tierney, you have managed to make the most out of your redirection. You didn't stand still and mutter, "but, but, but, it wasn't supposed to be this way." You kept moving and finding a way to use your creative energy and talent. I think we all could follow what you said about working with goals. ' “What do I need to do today? What do I need to do this week? What do I need to do this month?” ' I am going to try to incorporate those questions into some goals.

    Like Joan, my internship was my student teaching. I learned what time happy hour started after school. Hahaha! Seriously, although my friend and I who were student teaching at the same high school did occasionally need the happy hour, I learned that being prepared is of the utmost importance in teaching. That carried over to other things in life. When I'm going to paint or clean or whatever, I gather all my tools/resources together before beginning the job. My husband does not follow this method, and I am always shaking my head when he has to go after something while in the midst of a project.

    Thank you, Amy and Tierney, for a most worthwhile post today.

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    1. Yes! Organization and preparation! Very wise. It’s like in cooking, when you prepare all of your ingredients and set them out before you start to actually cook. Every project needs it’s own mise en place.

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    2. This is great advice! Thank you for reading.

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  3. Tierney, thank you for sharing your career journey and positive rejigging during this most difficult year.

    I did 3 co-op placements (4 month duration) in my bachelor's degree program in environmental studies at the University of Waterloo. Two positions were with Environment Canada and another was with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

    I learned a lot of technical and practical workplace skills in those 3 positions that I used during my entire career with the federal government. Everything from how to use a Windows PC and Microsoft Office (DOS version), to how to write computer programs (Fortran), and how to write both short and long technical reports and briefing material.

    Although these 3 co-op postings were with the government, the type of work I did varied greatly from position to position. My first posting had me operating weather satellite systems and processing satellite imagery in a 24/7 operation which required going on rotating shifts. The second position had me conducting my own climate change research project from start to finish in 1 term, and the last position had me creating and inputting data into a new province-wide database to track down coal tar (hazardous) waste sites in Ontario.

    I also learned how to be organized, manage my time and work both as part of a team and as a solo researcher. All co-op students were also graded on their appearance (ha!) so my mother designed and handmade all my business suits. I suppose the biggest compliment (or complaint) I received was that I was making the other full-time employees look bad by how well dressed I was! (BTW, Waterloo no longer has the criteria of "appearance" on the co-op evaluation)!

    So, I certainly believe that internships (or in my case co-op placements) can provide you with a lot of useful skills, insight into different work environments, and help you figure out what you are good at doing, your personal work ethic, as well as what direction you want to move in for your long-time career.

    And over the years, I supervised over a dozen co-op students at Environment Canada and got to see how different students either took full advantage of the position to learn and grow, or do the bare minimum and coast.

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    1. You were dressing for success before it was a thing, Grace. And it worked!

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    2. Karen, my mother had extremely HIGH standards on what she considered appropriate business attire and made my clothes fit those criteria. Looking back now, I was working in a large federal government building in an industrial park in suburbia Toronto, not Bay (or Wall) Street's financial district in downtown Toronto. So I stood out, whether I liked it or not.

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    3. You are a very wise mother! Yes, I was always told to dress as the person you want to be.

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    4. HANK: That may be true but at the age of 20-22, I also just conformed to what was expected, and did not know what my preferred personal style was. I adjusted my office attire to fit me better later on.

      When Waterloo got rid of the "appearance" criteria in the 1990s, I had several co-op students come to work for me wearing jeans and sweatshirts (i.e. campus attire). But I really could not make them change their clothes. Standards have changed!

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    5. THAT is such a fascinating topic! I've had so many interns who dress inappropriately--I mean--cleavage, and ridiculous skirts and crop tops. I finally told them. :-)

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    6. HANK: Good for you for speaking up about their inappropriate attire. My bosses told me to just leave it alone. No one went as far as baring cleavage but it their attire was waaaay more casual than what I was allowed to wear in the 1980s.

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    7. Grace, Hank: One of the most difficult things I had to work on in my corporate days was the company's new dress code. The VP of HR was charged with the task, and none of us could believe how deep down we had to drill to spell it all out. No flip flops, for example, had to be included!

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    8. WHoa, Amanda. Imagine having to say THAT!

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    9. Dress code is indeed such an interesting topic. Books are judged by the covers, yes? Anyway - I’m envious of these co-op opportunities and have been encouraging my own children to seek out such opportunities as well.

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    10. At Northeastern, they have you take "The Co-op Course," which covers resumes, interview skills, and other necessary employable skills. We spent over a week on "proper dress code!"

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  4. Amy, you really lucked out. Can you tell us what kind of work Tierney is doing for you?

    Tierney, I can tell you'll go far. Understanding how to pivot (everybody's favorite word this year) and make the best of a craptastick situation is a great skill to have.

    When I was Tierney's age, I took my freshly minted BA in linguistics and went to work full time at a gas station/auto repair shop. Go figure!

    I guess the only internship I did was as a baby tech writer, hired for a few hours a week while I was halfway through a year-long night course designed for career switchers. After six weeks of showing up on time and not complaining (they put me to work indexing a book), they offered me a full time job. I had two sons in elementary school at home and class for three hours three nights a week. I gulped, said yes, and went home to arrange regular after-school care!

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    1. All of those career choices are so riveting to think of now… How every single one made a difference.

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    2. Lucky indeed! Tierney has been helping me a lot on a nonfiction project I’m working on. She’s been digesting articles, making contacts with potential interviewees and researching podcast and webinar opportunities, just to name a few.
      Her help has been invaluable!

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  5. Tierney, you have learned something that a lot of people never do: you have to start somewhere. No one springs fully formed as a professional/perfect anything. It takes time and experience.

    I was a little older than Tierney when my friend mentored me into the insurance business. My first few months were unpaid, leading up to a commission-only career, so I was highly motivated to get on with it. For nine years I had a wonderful business, and even though I left it in 1988, I still get commission checks on policies I sold back then. Not much; last year it was less than $200, but that's actually pretty amazing for what I put in place over 30 years ago, knowing that it still fulfilled their needs.

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    2. You just never know what is going to flower, right? And there’s always something new to learn...

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    3. That’s a wonderful lesson indeed!

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  6. Thank you, Amy and Tierney. I learned a lot this morning and now I want a do-over!

    Tierney, you have so much to look forward to and now you have a whole new cheering squad who will be eager to hear updates from you. (Tierney, I have a very dear cousin who teaches journalism at Northeastern.)
    Hank, as time goes by we'll want to know how our "gal" is doing!
    Amy, serendipitous lock down! How great is it that you found Tierney at this point in her life? I am off to look for your books. (Oh, and same question as Edith, what does your intern do?)

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    1. Oh that is a brilliant idea! She can check in from time to time… Won’t that be fun?

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    2. Yes. I'm sure you can keep in touch!

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    3. What a wonderful idea! It’s so wonderful to see this support for Tierney. Her primary focus has been helping me on a nonfiction project - digesting articles, researching podcast and webinar opportunities, and more. It’s been wonderful!

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    4. Thank you so much! Tell your cousin I said hello!

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  7. This is what life is: a series of pivots and if you're lucky, you embrace those changes and move forward with your life. Tierney, it seems like you've already figured this out! Writing a screenplay when you hope to go to school to learn to write one is brilliant! The format of a screenplay is fairly rigid--it's what you can do within that structure that is telling--how's your dialogue? Sense of characterization? Plot? How do you know when to cut, start a new scene? I'm foreseeing an acceptance letter/call/email from NYU!

    Amy, it also seems like Tierney lucked out in her current internship--having a great mentor means a lot! I faced a pivot once in front of one of the grande dames of cultural anthropology--Dr. Erica Bourguignon. I'd always loved archaeology and wondered if I had what it took to go to grad school. She advised me to seek out field experience--get my hands dirty and see what I thought. That led me to three successive field experiences, one in the newly emerging field of cultural resource management. And those led to a master's, then PhD and a 30+year career in CRM and research.

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    1. Wow--did you realize what a pivotal moment that was?

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    2. Hank, of course not! I was always flying by the seat of my pants! The pivotal moment came when the grad student advisor called to tell me to get my act in gear, they were expecting me in September. That's when I knew grad school was really happening.

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    3. Flora, isn't it great how one person could influence your future field work and academic studies and career? It was similar with me. I was not expecting to be doing climate change research. In the 1980s, climate change research was just starting. I was so lucky to get that second co-op placement and have a mentoring supervisor who allowed me almost total freedom to design my own project methodology and complete that work from start to finish. Years later, I got some peer-reviewed journal articles and reports based on that work, too.

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    4. Grace, I was lucky to enter a program with some wonderful professors--even those not directly in my field were enormously encouraging and supportive. And yes, it's those people who trust you and offer guidance who do the most to build your confidence.

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    5. What great mentorship stories! I truly believe that those who are figuring out how to pivot right now - will fare the best in these particularly challenging times.

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    6. Thank you for the support! I really appreciate it!

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  8. Tierney, I love "don’t worry about perfection or meeting expectations. Focus on how it excites you," - so true.

    I never did an internship. When I was that age, I was a recent grad with a degree in English and worked for the Small Business Administration doing disaster relief and working in the loan department. Not at all what I thought I'd be doing.

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    1. But it opened new doors, right? And you understood a system you'd probably never even thought about before. And what people needed and wanted. How commerce worked. How life could change in an instant. That's really pretty fascinating.

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    2. I did get an all-expenses-paid, six-month trip to Puerto Rico and the USVI out of it. :)

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    3. Funny how life takes us on all kinds of directions we don’t necessarily expect.

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  9. what a wonderful, inspiring story! thanks for sharing today on JRW

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    1. I have plenty of Northeastern friends if you're looking to hire :)

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  10. You will go far, Tierney - your attitude is fantastic and you have learned early that life is what you make it, so make it exciting.

    When I was Tierney's age I had a newly minted degree in History, Psychology, and Sociology, newly married, and I went to work selling china, glass, and gifts in a department store while I took typing classes so I could obtain a secretarial job. The times were different, but I wouldn't trade my experiences. They taught me to be flexible and keep moving!

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  11. Tierney, best of luck in 2021! You'll find a place for your talent to soar.

    I never had an internship and with a degree in English, worked a variety of secretarial/administrative/ and ad copy writing jobs. I was contacted by an engineer at a helicopter company who said he needed someone literate on his team. No worries, he would teach me the technical stuff. I turned him down without going for an interview, which was a mistake.

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  12. Not quite an internship, but a work-experience stint. During journalism school (in the late '80s), I had a placement in the local public broadcaster's TV newsroom. So exciting! Um. Not always. My first day had me assigned to go out and find a photo of the woman and child who had been killed by the husband/father. Knock on neighbours' doors, they said. Yikes! A, that was a horrid task, and B, I failed. I returned empty handed. Then I was sent into the field to get an interview with someone a reporter needed to splice into his fairly-top-news story for 6pm. This time, I came back with the interview, but I was too late for it to be spliced in. I had missed the deadline and, boy, did the reporter let me know.

    Lessons learned: 1. Radio news doesn't require pictures! 2. Respect the deadline set; bringing back the tape *late* is as good as missing the deadline.

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    1. So true! There is no "late" in TV. There is either on time--or doom. And having worked in both radio and TV, I can tell you they both have their delights--and their difficulties. But wow, I have learned SO much! And most important, what you said about the sad parts--there is NO ONE who has ever gotten used to those horrible door knocks.

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    2. Amanda, yeesh, that was an incredibly horrid first day task!

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  13. I used an internship to transition from teaching (elementary school; then college level) to high tech... during my PhD program. So it was worse than non-paying. I PAID for it. But it was worth every penny. At the end of 3 months they hired me and agreed to a 30-hour PART-TIME schedule which made it possible to manage the kids with my husband who was an academic.

    So great to hear about everyone's experiences. Sadly you have to have a financial cushion to begin with in order to be able to afford the kind of internship I did. Grossly unfair.

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    1. I thought--you PAID? Then I realized--oh, tuition.

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    2. HALLIE: An UNPAID internship is hard enough but having to PAY to get an internship experience just seems wrong but I suspect that more and more employers are moving in that direction. I really feel sorry for the recent graduates/students who face these difficulties, so unfair, as you said.

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    3. So hard to know when an investment is a good one or not. Sounds like you followed your gut successfully - kudos!

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  14. Oh, I'd adore to have an intern--but I always wondered. How do you make it not take longer to explain what you need than to do it yourself?

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    1. HANK: You are delegating a task to an intern that frees you up to work on other things, And the tedious time spent explaining how the task is done is part of mentoring, right? Trying to make it WIN-WIN for both you and the intern is best.

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    2. Yes, I’ve had other interns, so I’ve also learned over time the best way to utilize their time efficiently. In this case, Tierney came to me with some relevant experience (digesting/researching) and I had her start there ...

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  15. I started an internship program at a company in which I was a principal investigator--for high school, undergrad, and grad students. Interns worked alongside us, then were given opportunities to work on projects according to their ability and desire. One of my high school students ended up publishing a paper in a respected regional journal based on his research project. Another is now a formidable scientist at a research institute in Scotland, while yet another went on to own a bakery. It's all good--mentoring meant helping them find their way to whatever future they envisioned or aspired to.

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    1. FLORA: That's a wonderful program. It would be great if more programs actively matched interns with projects according to their ability and desire. It would be a WIN-WIN for both the intern and the employer.

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  16. Thanks for sharing your pandemic side trip with us, Tierney. I wish you all the success in the world. Your ability to roll with the punches will surely serve you well!

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  17. Hi Amy and Tierney, and thanks for sharing with us on JRW today! Tierney, you've inspired me, and I look forward to seeing where your writing journey takes you. I hope you'll keep us updated.

    As for interning, I took my freshly minted biology degree and got a job selling advertising and writing features for a little local newspaper. You can't predict where your journey will take you.

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    1. Wow thank you so much! I should be hearing back from schools in a few months.

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  18. Wonderful interview, ladies! So interesting to read about a field I know nothing about. No internships in my past. My career seems to have been mainly adjusting and adapting to situations life threw at me until I chose to retire.

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    2. I can just see you dodging disasters and persevering and succeeding!

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