The Spectator has opened its summer internships, with applicants asked to perform some unusual tasks, including editing down the personal blogs of one of Brexit’s leading figures and analysing Beyoncé lyrics.
The weekly current affairs magazine has a no-CV policy for its interns, which this year have been split into four categories: social media, research, data/web, editing and commissioning.
Applicants are instead asked to choose and complete three tasks for their category, which include some standard tests and some more unusual ones.
Those interested in the editing internship could suggest three people who might write the Spectator diary, or they could condense one of Vote Leave campaign director Dominic Cummings’s lengthy blogs down to 500 words.
Equally, someone who wants to complete a research internship could search for two factual errors in any newspaper op-ed of their choice – or provide socioeconomic support for any two Beyoncé lyrics.
In a blog announcing the internships yesterday, editor Fraser Nelson said: “In journalism, all that matters is flair, enthusiasm and capacity for hard work.
“We don’t care where, or whether, you went to university. That’s why we recruit our interns from aptitude tests alone.”
The two-week internships are paid – although “not very much” according to Nelson – and transport costs are covered.
The magazine will also make arrangements for those who are unable to stay with family and friends in London for the duration, with Nelson saying “no-one should be inhibited from applying on any grounds”.
Last year, a 48-year-old mother-of-three was selected as one of 12 interns from about 150 applications.
Explaining the no-CV policy, Nelson has previously said: “The whole idea is to exclude no one, for any reason. One of my pet hates is the new trend of marking people down for having a good CV, for having gone to boarding school or Oxford etc. It’s disgraceful bigotry.”
He added: “At The Spectator, we’re pro-talent. End of.”
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