For 5 months, I was part of the writing and editing staff of the Volkskrant, one of the biggest quality newspapers in the Netherlands. I did my internship at the desks of Volkskrant V, and Volkskrant Magazine, both of which have a focus on human-interest stories, lifestyle, media, art; basically, everything culture related.
As an intern, I got plenty responsibility. First, I was responsible for two weekly features: Dit ben ik and Op mijn plek. For the feature Dit ben ik, I interviewed a child between the age of six and twelve. The interview would usually be quite light-hearted and cover topics such as hobbies and hopes for the future. This feature was published in V every Tuesday. Op mijn plek is a feature for Volkskrant Magazine in which we interviewed someone with a creative occupation about their work, personal style and inspirations.
Besides that, I got the opportunity to pitch and write my own articles, or be a co-author. As such, I have written a number of articles and conducted a lot of interviews. For example, I got the opportunity to interview Tim den Besten and Sinan Can, two documentary makers, about their newest projects. I also got the opportunity to write bigger investigative pieces in collaboration with very experienced and highly regarded journalists. As such, I have written big articles about vegan leather, food influencers, and the era of YouTube-vlogs.
I also got a lot of other, very diverse, opportunities. For example, I got to assist at photoshoots, for example, with illustrator Jip van den Toorn, and got to see how that aspect of journalism goes about. I was also sometimes asked to help with research. For example, I was recently asked to research the history of men’s jewelry for a podcast episode of Culturele Bagage.
The Volkskrant made sure to give its staff lots of opportunities to keep educating and improving themselves. The paper hosted a weekly discussion panel open to all staff members, during which one of the paper’s contributors presented a topic they concerned themselves with. And, I had the opportunity to take a two-day course on writing news stories and maintaining live blogs, which was hosted by Pieter Klok, the Volkskrant’s editor in chief.
The environment at the Volkskrant was amazing. It was clear that everyone working their loves their job and is motivated to produce the best possible product every day of the week. Being an intern does not mean you get the thankless jobs and if you show that you are motivated and happy to be there, you will be involved in the entire progress and get amazing chances. The first day of my internship we were told: ‘This internship is what you make of it. If you never show up and do the bare minimum, you will also get the bare minimum from us. But, if you are present, show motivation and put in your best work, you will also get that back from the editing staff and will feel like a full member of staff at the end of your internship.’
For other students considering an internship at a newspaper I would say: go for it. When I applied for the internship, I did not think I had a shot. I had never published any work before, all my writing experience came from academics and writing personal stories that I kept to myself. However, in these pieces de Volkskrant’s internship supervisor saw potential and love for writing, which was enough to give me the internship position. So, do not think you do not have a chance, because you do.