Many jobs can do on-the-job training to get you prepared. If you apply and your skill set looks like it’ll be a fit for the job, you get hired and they groom you there. Well, if my first day as an intern was actually my first day on the job, it might’ve been my last too! I had experience from class on how to put together a package, and how to write a script but nothing like what I learned on my first day after watching. School doesn’t prepare you on how to listen to what’s going on in the studio with you and what’s going on in the control room through the headphones. You can’t learn in a class what to do when your guests were there one minute and gone the next or when someone isn’t in position and the show is about to go live. I think it’s extremely necessary to intern first if you think this is your career path. Especially because you have to know what it takes behind the scenes to pull it off on camera.
Another thing I wasn’t prepared for is how many things happen in such a short amount of time. Time flies working in the studio which is even more proof that you need practice before you enter the actual job. The environment at WAVY is amazing, everyone is helpful but they don’t coddle. You still have a responsibility as an intern. Interning at a news station is a MUST even if you don’t want to do news specifically. There’s different departments like digital and promotions, that I for one can’t wait to experience too.
