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Q. I am a graduating senior (print journalism major) currently trying to score a paid summer internship for extra training and a resume boost before applying for a real job. I always thought I'd do newspapers, but I suddenly find myself gravitating toward magazines. I've already been turned down from several mid-size newspapers and major news magazines because of my lack of experience. (no big daily internship on my resume).

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Like a lot of students who write to you, I don't have the perfect background, and I don't have any award-winning, earth-shattering clips to my name. I only worked one semester at the campus newspaper. I interned for a summer at an alt weekly newspaper where most of my clips are from. I spent a semester at an NPR affiliate doing stories and am now at washingtonpost.com, which looks great in name, but I'm not learning new skills or getting any bylines.

I am the news and features editor for the campus magazine, which is new and has received little recognition so far. I also write and copy edit for the publication. I keep a politics blog for the magazine, but it's nothing stellar. On top of school and my internship, I don't have time to devote to in-depth political coverage or finding new angles (especially when there is already so much out there).

I feel like I can't compete with school newspaper editor-in-chiefs and students who have already interned at one or two big daily newspapers. In an effort to boost my skills and be more versatile, I am teaching myself Photoshop and InDesign. I know how to use Audacity for podcasting, and am going to spend time with washingtonpost.com's video bloggers to learn their trade. My university is way behind the bell curve, as there were no opportunities for me to learn Web journalism. (The NPR affiliate internship was a fluke when I accidentally got registered for a radio journalism class and decided to keep it.) The advisers don't have a clue about what's happening in the newspaper industry.

So I have a wide range of experience and have become a very fast, adaptable learner because of my varied jobs. But other than editing the magazine for a year, I can't show much consistency because I've wanted to try my hand in several things. An intern at one of the outdoor magazines I applied to suggested I create a digital portfolio and slim down my personal blog to include the stories that highlight my writing skills, an insightful thought process and a habit for following a variety of news sources. He said his blog is what helped him get the internship.

Should I keep doing that and share it?

Am I doomed to starting at a 1,000 circulation daily until I can work my way up? I am new to this whole idea of "selling" myself.

Thanks,

D.C. Area

A. If you want to compete, you must first overcome your insecurity.

Everyone who applies for an internship worries about the competition. But you want to project confidence, not dread. So take the good things you have here and work with them.

Joe Grimm

You are developing a wide range of experiences, from writing to editing to designing, and you have experience in print, broadcast and online. This is your strength: versatility.

You need to make your objective as broad as your skill set. Paid magazine internships are very rare -- and this is April. There can't be many left. At this date, there might not be many internships left at all. So perhaps it is time to start looking for a job instead. The biggest boost you can give your career right now, with graduation imminent, is to open up your search geographically and keep an eye open for places that want your new-media skills. I don't think you'll wind up at a tiny newspaper.

Your blog? I like it. It shows some initiative and familiarity with the medium. I would use shorter posts, more art and more links.

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Coming Thursday: He has done an internship with one of the biggest -- the Wall Street Journal -- but is now looking at the prospects of a summer with nothing. He worries what that'll mean for his career.

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