Newhouse School of Communications

The Newhouse CDC is here to assist you in your self-directed, proactive job or internship search. While we maintain our own schedule of events, seminars and resources, we also work together with the Center for Career Services at Schine Student Center to organize on-campus recruiting.

Counselors are available to meet with you by appointment to discuss your career plans and preparation. We also conduct seminars on interview etiquette, resume and cover letter writing, job hunting and finding an internship throughout the year. We invite you to drop off your resume or cover letters for review. We typically are able to turn them around with comments in about 24-36 hours; they can be picked up at our front desk after that time. CDC News and CDCGRADNEWS, our student listservs, are chock full of campus updates, tips and opportunity postings.

For a complete list of CDC services, please click here.

Learning the skills needed to successfully market yourself and land a job isn't something that's just for soon-to-be grads. The sooner you begin to educate yourself about the process, the better off you will be when you're ready to enter the working world. We welcome Newhouse students of all years to attend our seminars and take advantage of our other services. If you are planning on taking on an internship, read CDC News or CDCGRADNEWS (our listservs) for posting updates. Our counselors can also assist you with crafting your cover letter and resume and instructing you on ways to get the most out of your experience.

Those pursuing graduate degrees at the Newhouse School will find that, depending on prior experience, they may need to follow much of the same internship/job hunting prep steps that undergrads do. That said, the CDC recognizes the special concerns of those in our Master's programs and offers a special handbook for graduate students. We also offer a special edition of our listserv called CDCGRADNEWS, which is specifically targeted to graduate students' needs. Stop by the CDC for your handbook, and e-mail kmcgee@syr.edu to be added to CDCGRADNEWS if you aren't signed up already.

NACAN stands for the Newhouse Alumni Career Advisory Network. Over 3,400 Newhouse alumni who remember being in the very seats you sit in have offered their contact information up so that you may call/e-mail them to discuss how they broke into their fields, what their jobs entail and more. Records are updated by alumni, and some may be more up-to-date than others. Advice from the trenches can also be found here. The database can only be used in the CDC (not accessible via Internet), and records may be searched by major, field, city, state, etc. Access to NACAN can be earned by attending the CDC's Job Hunt Marathon.

We know three hours is a long time to sit in A1. But this seminar is our way of ensuring that you are given all of the tools you'll need to not only make the best use out of the contacts you reach, but approach them in the most professional way possible - something that protects both your reputation and the generous offers of time and effort our alumni have made. And just think - for the time it took for you to watch The Aviator, you'll gain lifetime access to a database of contacts that you can tap for the rest of your life. Sorry -- popcorn not included.

Internships come in all shapes and sizes. Though many communications internships are unpaid, some may offer an hourly wage, a stipend, school credit or any combination of these compensations. You may find that larger companies are increasingly moving toward internships for credit. Though you may be fine with "working for free," you may not have a choice as to if you can take the internship without receiving credit in some cases. There are special concerns you need to take note of when accepting an internship for credit, including securing an advisor, filing paperwork and perhaps even paying the university for the credits you earn while "on the job" (depending on when the internship is completed.) Stop by the Newhouse Records offices (UNDERGRAD: Room 102, Newhouse I / x4670 ; GRAD: Room 466, Newhouse II / x5749) to discuss how/if your internship will fit into your program of study. Then contact SUIP, the university's internship office, to get the ball rolling on paperwork, etc. (113 Euclid Avenue, x4271, http://internships.syr.edu/). For those planning on summer internships, this is best completed before you leave campus so try your best to plan ahead. Registering your for credit internship with the university MUST be done before you begin it.

You can try. But time and time again our students reiterate that it is extremely difficult. In addition, many employers will only consider those students who are available to come in for face-to-face interviews - something that you won't easily be able to do if you are in another country. You MUST begin your internship search BEFORE you leave to go abroad. Consider attending the CDC's "Finding an Internship" seminar to learn the steps you should be taking. Conduct your research while you are still on campus and have access to the CDC, and even try to outreach to employers of interest to see if an information interview or a simple face-to-face can be arranged before you go. Those who do not take the initiative to do this before leaving can be at a serious disadvantage.

As you've likely heard time and time again, the communications industry is not a recruitment-based industry. Therefore, it benefits the internship or job seeker more to be armed with the skills and resources needed to seek out and dazzle employers than it does to sit back and wait for opportunities to come find him or her. The CDC offers a number of seminars throughout the year to help coach you and get you into internship/job hunting mode, and counselors are available for one-on-one meetings. Internship and job postings are regularly posted both in our office and on our listservs. However, we encourage you to remember that these postings are just a supplement to a targeted, proactive job hunt.

The CNYCC is an annual event held in April that is organized in conjunction with Colgate University, Cornell University, Ithaca College and LeMoyne College. Over 35 national and local companies, such as Clear Channel Communications, CNN, Condé Nast Publications, Edelman and McCann Erickson, come to SU to conduct interviews with students they have preselected (the CDC organizes an opportunity for students to submit materials to employers they are interested in prior to the event.) Though employers in attendance are usually prospecting for talent for future positions, some come to recruit interns as well. In addition to interview days, the event consists of an information fair kick-off that features a number of companies. All students, whether they have secured an interview for the following days or not, may attend to mingle, pick up information and drop off resumes. Check CDC News and CDCGRADNEWS for updates on this year's CNYCC. This event is targeted to juniors seeking internships, as well as seniors and graduate student employment seekers. For more information, log on to: http://www.ithaca.edu/cnycc/

The CNYCC attracts over 35 national and regional companies to campus each year, and a host of others participate by collecting resumes through the event. While the Consortium typically does feature a variety of employers representing a number of fields within the communications industry, individuals seeking positions in on-air broadcasting, scriptwriting or other high-demand and creative specialties may not find what they're looking for. The reason? Some employers simply don't have to put attention and money into recruitment efforts at all because they reliably fill their open slots without it-all the more reason to remember that the CNYCC is a supplement to a focused and targeted job hunt.