Unlike Craig Wilson at USA Today, I love having interns in our newsroom. Why? Because good interns make me feel lazy, and remind me how hard I worked during my own internships. Not that I do anything about these recollections. Usually, I just go to lunch. Ahh, memories. And, anyway, I mostly just ran around like a coked-up ferret, hoping that constant motion would disguise the fact that I had no idea what I was doing.

Well, that may have been only nine years ago, but it was a different era in journalism. So, how do you make a good impression at your newspaper internship today? You’d think it would go without saying by now, but just in case you haven’t heard: Competently writing 12-inch stories that were assigned to you does not even come close to cutting it. You must bring more to the table. Skills, yes. Both traditional reporting skills, obviously, and multimedia. But, more importantly, I’m talking about attitude and outlook.

Now let me introduce you to Alejandra Cancino, a recent University of Florida graduate who started her internship in The Post’s metro department on Monday, and who came highly recommended by Mindy McAdams. After spending a few days in orientation and training, Alejandra on Thursday headed out to her first story, a little nine-incher on a charity fundraiser. This is standard stuff, and I know for a fact that most of us would have phoned it in. But Alejandra, with zero prompting and using her own equipment, grabbed some audio at the event, edited it herself and put together a little Soundslides presentation.

This isn’t earth-shattering stuff, but that’s my point: It shouldn’t be. Alejandra isn’t a “multimedia” intern, she’s an old-fashioned local reporting intern. This, as TV news anchors are so fond of saying, is The New Normal. So, print journalism students, if you aren’t willing to work at least this hard or go as far out of your way for a routine story, please don’t come around our newsroom expecting a job.