Blog Entry #3 – Networking Event #2 – Landing an Internship at the Times: CUNY x NYT Series ’21

The second networking event that I attended was Landing an Internship at the Times: CUNY x NYT Series ’21. I found this event through the Internship coordination site on OpenLab that was posted by Professor Goetz. This event talked about how to land an internship and what they look for in your resume when applying. At the beginning of the zoom call, Nya who is one of the coordinators and hosts on the NY Times series team asked everyone to put where they were from, and from what I remember I saw a lot of people from Manhattan and Queens. Nya introduced four employees, Jenni Lee, Jamie Liao, Jeanie Kay, and Tina Ye. Everyone introduced themselves and mentioned their early career internship experiences to kick off the event.

Starting with Tina Ye, she stated that there’s no one way to get into the industry but as long as you get there that’s all that matters. You get even more opportunities when you take different paths in life. I agree with her because life is not linear, there will be open doors in places where you’ll never look to find. Jeanie Kay mentioned that there are various designs out there, do what makes you happy, not what makes other people happy. Ask a lot of questions to help understand your company, role, and audience. Jamie Liao dealt with imposter syndrome, she had to put herself in an uncomfortable position to be comfortable. I feel like that is something that everyone deals with at times, especially since I’m an introvert and I find myself to be socially awkward. I constantly have to remind myself about who I am and how different I am from everyone else because that’s what makes me unique. Jennie Lee talked about how her experience with different internships has helped her get into the flow of things.

What they look for in your resume:

  • Portfolio (Password next to the website if needed)
  • Intellectual facts
  • Hobbies/Interests
  • Originality (BE YOURSELF!)

Towards the end of the zoom call, all of the four ladies left us with great advice for the rest of our design careers. Kay said to be curious and aware, bring yourself up as much as you can to stay up to date. Lee’s advice was to show up, be responsive, and show up on time. Lastly, Liao said to show your passion in everything that you do. After the event ended, I connected with them on LinkedIn.