Oral History Interview with Laura Miller, October 30, 2014 Page: 8 of 25
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Chase: So you did all of these internships and stuff, so when you graduated, what was
your first job outside of graduation?
Laura: One thing, also, and this is a girl thing that guys wouldn't appreciate. For years, I
had read Glamour magazine, which was my favorite national magazine as a teenager.
And so I remember thinking, I have done enough internships, and I have worked hard
enough to apply to be one of the Top Ten College Women, which is an annual feature
they have had since the 1950's. They pick ten college women a year to highlight, their
idea of successful college women who are ready for a career. So they selected me in
1980. For me that was a huge deal, and it almost cost me getting my first job out of
college because I interviewed with The Miami Herald, and I sent down a copy of that
article with a big copy of the picture that they ran. When I went to Miami to interview,
the managing editor said, "Why would you send me this picture of yourself all blown
up?" I said, "Because I won this big award, and it was the biggest thing that has ever
happened to me." He said, "Yeah, but I think it's really weird. You're a girl, and this is
like a glamour picture. Why would you send this to me? It really makes me wonder about
your judgment and what your values are." I was like, "I'm really sorry I sent it, but I'm
really going to work hard for you, so please hire me." I got hired anyway, but it was a
mistake.
Chase: Another misstep that you had to explain?
Laura: Well, I'll tell you the other misstep. Fast forward, I am a young reporter doing
great investigative journalism, and I applied to The Washington Post to be an
investigative reporter at the Washington Post. I get to Washington, to the last set of
interviews, and I sit down with Woodward. He's interviewing me because he's the head
of the investigative journalism team, and he says, "Well, why in your resume does it say
that from June to September of 1980 you worked at the LA Times as a reporter?" I said,
"Because I did." He said, "Well, why doesn't it say 'intern' as opposed to 'reporter'?" I
said, "Because my job was a reporter." He said, "You are purposely using deception on
your resume, in order to not say that you were an intern, and you are trying to show
something that you aren't. You did it in three different spots; therefore you are not at the
caliber that we want at the Washington Post."
Chase: That's high stakes. That's intense.
Laura: Oh yeah, and then I didn't get the job.
Chase: It wasn't intentional, was it?
Laura: No. I mean, it was obvious that it was an internship, right? It said that I was in
college from '76 to '80, and then it said summer '78, summer '79, summer '80. These
three months. It wasn't even a conscious anything, but he saw it as being, you know, a
stretch, and so I didn't get the job. It was shocking. So another piece of advice -- to
college students crafting their resumes: make sure you say it's an internship. I always
hear these horror stories about resume padding, but this was so inadvertent and so minor.
Chase: Just one little discretion of a word. Yeah.
Laura: Yeah. So anyway, lesson learned. I have a lot of lessons learned.
Chase: That's great. So just be brutally honest?
Laura: Yeah. I always make sure that my kids say "intern" -- don't say that you're an
administrative assistant. Say that you are an intern. Intern, intern, all the way down.
Yeah, I'm really careful about it.
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Carter, Chase & Miller, Laura. Oral History Interview with Laura Miller, October 30, 2014, text, October 30, 2014; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth586995/m1/8/: accessed June 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism.