Welcome to a 13-part special series for Alumni Live: The Podcast.

These are conversations with Grand Valley State University film and

video students, faculty, and alumni about the film and video major.

Another way that Grand Valley is able to work together with students

and organizations out in the community is of course internships.

Just another way to, you know, create a safe place to try things

out and, you know, get to know what the world is like out there.

So let's talk a little bit about internships.

Kim, Jordan, Josh, have you taken any internships and, and Kim, what do students

need to do to, to find internships?

Well, what's great is that Jazz was just talking about Suzanne Zack, who

teaches the producing for clients, and because she is so in touch with the

community, she is also our dedicated person, our internship coordinator.

And she's fantastic about helping students get connected to

internships, and also connecting the community to, to our students.

So, in your fourth year, you're either required to do an

internship or a senior thesis.

And, um, the majority of students do pick an internship because it really is

a great transition into their career.

And so we have a really, a really robust internship program, and so

we're just really proud of it, but I'll let the students talk about that

a little bit more because they have a more direct relationship to that.

Jordan and Josh, what have you done for, in terms of internships?

So where have you worked?

I've actually done three internships so far.

I haven't done one for credit yet though.

I'm still debating, like Kim said, you can do a thesis or an internship.

I think I'm going to do a thesis, but I may still do an internship in the summer.

I'm planning to do one, regardless of whether it's for credit.

I've had three so far and they're just, they're such a great way to get experience

and actually get a feel for what potential careers for yourself are like.

You can talk to people about what the industry is like, and you can talk to

them about, you know, what you're going to learn, but actually being there,

seeing how it works, making those connections and just kind of being in

that environment every day and learning, it just makes such a huge difference.

And it really gives you a feel for, you know, what careers you might want

to do, and you can explore a lot.

Right, and also, I imagine there's some form of mentorship that

happens in these internships.

Like you're not just, you know, spun out into the world and, and left alone.

Jordan, can you tell us about some mentors that you've met or some lessons

that you learned outside the classroom?

Yeah, for sure.

So I actually interned with the film and video alumni board, so

Randy was one of my mentors, and I had several others along the way.

And what my job was was to create a video for one of our fellowship opportunities

offered to our film and video students.

And unfortunately we weren't able to complete that because of COVID,

but I got really deep into the preproduction process and everyone

was kind of helping me to help myself.

So I was contacting people about filming locations and about interviews and,

and set ups and everything like that.

And then I would have been heavily involved in the production of

it and planning all of that and then post of course, as well.

And so it was just a really great opportunity to see real-world applications

of my work, and being able to contribute in that way as a group, and sometimes

you'll be working with other students as well within your internship.

Right, and I know too that the career center at Grand Valley is really important

for finding careers, helping you make sure that your, your resume is up to snuff.

Josh, have you worked with the career center at all?

Yes, I have actually.

When I go in to get my-- I had to think about it for a sec, but, you know, when

I am preparing my resume, because your resume is a really important thing, you

know, I bring it to the career center, they look at it, they check formatting,

they give me advice on, you know, what on here should really be here,

what's important, what's not important.

And it really is a great resource, as are just all of your professors,

you know, who can look and give you advice on okay, your portfolio needs

a little bit of work in this area.

Maybe you don't need this thing.

It's just a way to check yourself and make sure that you're on the right track.

if I could just add in a little bit here, the career center is

really quite an amazing place and very supportive of our program.

In fact, our internship coordinator, Suzanne, that we talked about, she

has traveled with me and with our representative at the career center.

We have gone to New York City going from door to door, looking at,

we went to Facebook and, and just an amazing array of companies and

connecting with them for internships.

We went to Los Angeles, we went to Detroit, we went to Chicago.

So we don't just stay in the Grand Rapids area.

We are visiting alums and going to all these organizations all over the country

and trying to connect our community with, and our students, with internships.

So we are growing it and, uh, hopefully travel is going to be in our

future, our very near future again.

So just want to let you know that our career center is really a

great supporter of our program.

I think that's just such a special thing that Grand Valley offers.

They certainly helped me with the trajectory of my career.

I'm very happy with where that has turned out.

Jordan, can you tell us a little bit about what goes into making a good resume?

You know, maybe some tips for high schoolers?

Oh, goodness.

Yeah.

Don't make it too long.

I mean, don't make it more than probably a page, but really highlight the skills

that you're bringing to the table.

So with each job or each extracurricular activity, what did you learn?

What skills can be applied to other things through those?

Your resume's going to be the first thing that employers see, and so it's

representing you, and so you really want to step off on the right foot.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Alumni Live: The Podcast special

series about the film and video major.

Be sure to listen to the next episode in the series and subscribe to our

podcast to hear even more from our alumni as they talk about their work

in different parts of the industry.

Check out Alumni Live on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for more

conversations and networking.

Let us know what topics you want to hear our alumni talk about.

The Grand Valley State University Film and Video Alumni Network is here for you.

And we're glad that you're here.

Thank you for listening.