STUDENT AFFAIRS

NEXT brings students on the job with alumni

Externships give students a firsthand look at their prospective career opportunities 

Kennedy French has dedicated her time at Northwestern to learning the ins and outs of broadcast journalism.  

As a junior in the Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications, French has worked for the Northwestern News Network and learns all she can in her journalism classes. But when she got the opportunity to shadow an alum who produces daytime talk show The View, French knew she had to take advantage of the program to get real-world experience. 

French, alongside three other Northwestern students, traveled to New York through the Northwestern Externship Program (NEXT), run by the Northwestern Alumni Association (NAA) and Northwestern Career Advancement (NCA). For more than 20 years, this program has matched students with Northwestern alumni, who they shadow for one to two days virtually or in person, experiencing the ins and outs of alums’ jobs firsthand. 

She and her peers got to shadow alum Rick Segall (Medill ’93), a senior producer on the show, all day and witness the entire process of putting together The View, from meetings and script editing to overcoming any legal barriers associated with broadcasting a live television show. 

“I had the best time,” French said. “We got to see the studios they film live segments in, and we got to go back into the control rooms as well. Each of our interests were individually curated and based on that, we met with producers, directors and more people who work on the show.”  

The opportunity NEXT offers to see the day-to-day of various jobs, companies or industries is not common according to Caitlin Wyler, NAA’s director of alumni engagement.  

“You can have informational interviews, coffee chats, that sort of thing, but actually getting to spend the day with someone and meet people doing that work is not a typical experience,” Wyler said. “I think it allows students to find out more of the pros and cons of a specific role, company or industry.” 

In the past, students have participated in externships at companies like Google and HBO or shadowed at physician’s offices and every industry in between through NEXT. Some have traveled as far as England or Asia while others have participated virtually from Evanston.  

The application process occurs each fall, beginning with students registering on the NAA website. Wyler recommends beginning this process early. 

Once the application opens, students are able to search through the list of alumni hosts based on industry, field, job title, location and in-person versus virtual. They can then rank up to eight externships they would be interested in attending in order of preference, and submit a short statement of interest for each, alongside their resume. 

Then, the matching process begins. Alumni review the applications to their site and rank the applications based on which students best fit the externship opportunity. Then, an algorithm – with help from Wyler and the NCA staff – finalizes the matches, which are announced late in Fall Quarter. 

“We try to match as many students as possible, but not everyone will get an externship,” Wyler said. “That’s why we recommend students apply to more than one. It gives you a better chance of getting matched.”   

The externships typically take place between January and June of each academic year at a date agreed upon between students and their alumni hosts. 

Students fund their own way if they match with an in-person externship opportunity, which may include transportation and lodging costs. While Wyler hopes to create a fund to help students cover these expenses in future years, she also emphasized the value of offering virtual externships, which have increased since the pandemic and can be a more accessible, while still deeply insightful, experience. 

“Some alumni only work remotely,” Wyler said. “So that’s just their workplace. But it has made it so a lot of students are available to attend an externship somewhere farther away.”  

Once matched, Wyler said, students should expect to attend an orientation session given by NAA and NCA, then set up an introductory call with their alumni host to schedule the day of shadowing. 

NEXT applications will open in the fall for students who, like French, want to learn more about their prospective careers. 

“The experience reaffirmed to me that broadcast journalism and live TV production is what I want to do with my career,” French said. “Throughout the day, I was completely in a state of shock because I could really see myself doing it. It has made me more confident in the path I eventually want to take.”