Loyola University Chicago

While sifting through internship binders compiled by the Communication Department, I stumbled upon an internship with Consumers Digest. I jumped at the chance.

At Consumers Digest, I was given a taste of how a magazine operates with its strict deadlines, formatted styles, and integrated teamwork. I also was given the opportunity to write and be bylined on a plethora of topics and items, many chosen by me. Along with that, I edited co-workers' articles, pitched features ideas and conducted interviews and research ad nauseam. Much to my amazement, this job entailed little clerical work.

The majority of my previous work had been feature and opinion-oriented writing. At Consumers Digest, however, I was faced with the daunting task of condensing my verbose style into direct, yet interesting articles. In my research, I interacted with countless interesting people, including PR's of big firms, inventers, fitness trainers and research analysts. I was introduced to various facets of consumer products, services and alerts, such as cars running on cooking oil and convenience stores that are completely automated.

Although the staff at Consumers Digest rotates editorial interns every three months or so, they were very helpful in helping foster my professional journalistic growth. The laid-back atmosphere and discussions on sports were also a plus.

Consumers Digest's editorial internship is a recurring internship; however, this is very competitive as they only accept one editorial intern per term. I would recommend this opportunity to anyone with 20 extra hours/week and a serious interest in seeing the mechanics of a publication in operation.