I didn’t apply for any of my three college internships, nor did I apply for my post-grad job. 

In fact, all four opportunities stemmed — at least in part — from one stupid quip I delivered as a sophomore in Plaster Auditorium.

“Ya ever hire interns from a state with a few more lakes?”

I posed this question to the editor-in-chief of the Babylon Bee, Kyle Mann, after a talk he gave on campus in 2021. He said most of the young people in his employ were native Californians, including every intern they’d ever hired — partly because no one else had ever asked. 

By the end of that summer, I’d lived 10 weeks in Los Angeles working as the associate podcast producer of the “Babylon Bee Podcast.”

That opportunity snowballed and the Daily Caller reached out to speak to “the Hillsdale student who worked at the Bee.” Boom: I had my WHIP internship. With two great internships under my belt, the Dow Journalism Program recommended me for an editorial position with the Detroit News for the following summer. 

I leveraged my second internship into a big-girl job, and starting in June I’ll be producing documentaries for the Daily Caller. 

All this because I went to a talk, and I asked a question.

It sounds like dumb, boomer advice — “Just go ask the nice man for a job, he’ll like your gumption.”  But it really was that easy, and it can be for you, too.

Go to the guest lectures on campus. Doesn’t matter if you need to register for them, if it’s inner- or outer-department, just go. 

Spend time with your department heads. They’re really smart, you’ll learn a lot from them outside of class, and they’re the people who dole out certain opportunities. You can also tug on their shirt sleeves and get them to introduce you to visiting speakers. 

This school will set you up for life if you let it, so let it. The modicum of effort you put in early will outweigh the time spent job searching later.