What do recruiters want

What do recruiters look for when they're hiring interns? Detroit Free Press Recruiter Joe Grimm says he looks at the quality of work, but he also looks for people who want to make Detroit and Michigan their home. His Jobs Page offers tons of good advice for internship-seekers. Detroit News Recruiter Walter Middlebrook wants people who are passionate about journalism. When you talk to him about your clips, you need to show that you're excited about journalism and your stories.

How to succeed as an intern

Once you land an internship, you want to use it to further your career. You need to make the most of the short time you are in the job. You want clips and you want future contacts, who might be references or mentors down the road. One key to your success as an intern is preparation. Theola S. Labbé talks about how to do that on the Detroit Free Press Jobs Page, which has an entire section on internships. Last summer, Nathan Hurst, a business reporting intern, turned his summer job into a full-time position at The Detroit News. Nathan was noticed, in part, because he worked hard to come up with story ideas on his own. He wasn't from Michigan, but he did his homework. In fact, he deliberately drove a different route to the office everyday so he could look for the unusual - anything that might be a future story - on his way to work. He offered advice to a Journalism 300 class this week.