The Career Center recently connected with recent Klein School of Media and Communications graduate, Hannah Lea McComsey, about her past internship at Good Morning America in New York, NY. Read on to learn more about the unique way that Hannah landed her internship. Sometimes your personal network can get you farther than you might think…
What is/was your job function, and what does a typical day entail?
I worked for the Field and Series unit of Good Morning America. The Field and Series unit creates all of the pre-produced news packages that will air on Good Morning America in the mornings. My favorite part of this internship is that there was no such thing as a typical day! Some days I was assigned to research stories and people to potentially interview, other days I was actually conducting the interviews that aired on the live show. Each day was something different and I learned how to thrive in that type of environment.
How did you find out about this opportunity, and what was the interview process like?
After interning for several news stations in Philadelphia, my next goal was to secure a network internship in New York. I applied to many different shows on ABC, NBC, and CBS. After about a month, I got a phone call from the ABC News Internship Recruiter. After I had an initial phone screening with the recruiter, she passed my information along to the Coordinating Producer at Good Morning America. I had an interview with the Coordinating Producer, and a few weeks later, she called and informed me of my acceptance to the internship program at GMA.
What is the most important thing you’ve learned during your internship/job experience?
During my time as an intern for Good Morning America, I learned that saying “yes” to anything you are asked to do is the key to success. Sometimes, a task may seem tedious or boring, but once people at your internship see that you are willing to help in any capacity, they will ask you to do more and more things! I started out by logging interviews for producers. Although this was not the most exciting task, I said yes every time and made sure to do the job as best I could. Then, after a while, the producers started to ask me to go out in the city and do actual interviews to air on GMA. Saying yes and working hard really pays off, I would recommend that to everyone who is starting a new internship.
What piece of advice would you give to current students embarking on an internship/job search?
I would tell other students who are looking for internships to apply everywhere and be very persistent! I applied for the internship with Good Morning America two times before actually getting an interview. By being persistent and keeping in touch with the ABC Internship Recruiter, I made sure that she knew I was serious about this position. Then, when the internship for the spring semester came up, she told me I was the first on her list to interview because I kept in touch with her.
Did the career center assist you in any way, whether it was identifying the opportunity, applying to it, interviewing for it, or preparing for it?
Karen Demmler, one of the Career Center coaches, helped me immensely! Karen helped me revamp my LinkedIn profile so that potential employers could see my work and identify exactly what my goals were. LinkedIn notifies me when people look at my profile, and after Karen helped me, I noticed I was getting more views from potential employers.
Have you learned any valuable lessons about obtaining jobs/internships during your time at Temple?
Temple has taught me to not see rejection or failure as a bad thing, but to see rejection as an opportunity to learn and go forward stronger than ever. When I did not get the internship at Good Morning America the first time, I made sure to work on my storytelling skills so that the next time I applied, I would be ready. It paid off!
Instagram: hannah_mccomsey
Twitter: @hannah_mccomsey