Ask more questions, and other lessons learned by an intern
When I wandered into a looming building off of a busy street for my first day on the job at The Tennessean, Nashville’s largest newspaper, I had no idea what I was doing.
I’m not talking about a lack of experience with journalism itself. Of course I knew my basics — talk to people, write it all down, and cobble it into a story that will evoke some sort of emotion from readers.
I’m talking about how I had no idea what I was doing. Am I supposed to take my lunch? Should I have brought my birth certificate or social security card along? Who was I supposed to ask for at the security desk? Would there even be a security desk?!
An editor had emailed me a few basics prior to my first day — where to park and all that jazz. But other than that, I was walking into this job with only the knowledge from a few previous conversations that I had with a mentor who had excelled in this same position a year prior. He had told me who was who, and that information was all I had armed myself with.
I should have asked more questions — a lot more questions — before I even got to The Tennessean, and that trend has continued throughout the summer.
On my first day, I had lunch with two excellent reporters, who have since become friends, and an editor, whom I also admire. We chatted about my college experience and that of my fellow intern (someone who has since made this internship a blast), and we discussed what topics we might like to cover, what pieces we’d like to write, and if there were any big stories that we couldn’t wait to report on.
I had nothing. Had I emailed a reporter ahead of time — maybe someone my mentor knew from his time at the paper — I could have been prepared for this. I could have asked: What should I be thinking about before I arrive? How can I best prepare for this internship?
Fast forward a few weeks, too many weeks for this to be excusable, and I was sitting in court covering a story with another excellent reporter who offered me this advice: “All of the reporters in the newsroom want you guys to have a good internship, so just walk around and ask to spend the day with people, ask to help with a story — especially if you admire their work.”
It wasn’t that I was having a bad experience at that point in time — I was having a ball reporting on the stories assigned to me by my editor and a few extra-busy reporters. But the stories were slowing, and what felt like fast-pitched curve balls that first week soon slowed to an easy underhand toss at a neighborhood softball game.
So I started asking questions: “How can I help with this?”; “I loved your piece that made A1 last week — do you need any help with other stories?”
Sometimes it worked. Other times it didn’t.
But the more questions I asked, the more reporters passed by my desk to pitch me stories or give me advice on how to improve my craft or how to make the most out of my time here.
So ask questions — and not just the kinds that might get you ahead. Display a genuine interest in the work and the lives of your superiors. Employ your curiosity as often as your skills and talents. View your ignorance and naivete as tools rather than hindrances to hush up. Use your head, of course: don’t make mistakes twice if you can help it (sometimes you can’t), and never repeat a question, especially if it’s something you could have found the answer to with your God-given faculties (I’m lookin’ at you, Google).
I think this is applicable to most internships, not just my summer stint in Tennessee. I wish I had contacted a reporter before I had come here. I wish I had brainstormed a list of questions to ask on the first day, all aiming at how I could get acclimated as quickly as possible so that I could get to work and help the newsroom as much as possible. But I can’t change the past; I can only look to the future.
What questions can I ask tomorrow to make myself indispensable to your organization? How can I better serve my coworkers, even my fellow interns? And not just by the work I do, but by my attitude and work ethic?
As someone who has definitely asked a few dumb questions in her lifetime, I’ll say there’s always a chance your inquiry will get laughed off or even earn an eyeroll. But that’s never been the case for me at The Tennessean, where I’m surrounded by people far more competent than I. So take it from the journalist who can’t seem to fire them off fast enough, and go ask a question.
