Q. I am a senior in college and am ready to start my job hunt. I have a year's experience at my student paper and have spent the last year working about 30 hours a week at the local 30,000-circulation daily. I have gotten many clips, been allowed to cover some big stories and will have worked there for almost two years when I graduate.

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Like everyone else in my position, I have heard horror stories about how hard it is to find a job after college. Luckily, the editor at the paper I work now has mentioned they would like to hire me full time after I graduate. I am also applying for internships at bigger dailies in hopes of getting my foot in the door for future hires. I love the paper where I am currently working part-time at but am really anxious to get out of my college town. I grew up in a metropolis and miss city life dearly.

Here is my question: What are your thoughts on alternative weeklies? I pick them up in the larger cities I visit and many seem to encourage investigative journalism and have interesting stories. I have also heard that they are not suffering the same kind of economic pressures that the dailies are facing. The reporting does not have the daily pressures of a traditional paper, though, and some wear their politics on their sleeve. Would writing for that kind of publication be detrimental to any ambitions to move on to a bigger daily? What kind of jobs do those writers move on to? Would a college grad even have a chance of getting hired there?

Thanks for your consideration,

Student

A. Whoa! That's a lot of questions. Let me try to answer them all with a strategy.

You seem to know where you want to wind up. The question is about finding the best way to get there.

As you have something like an offer in your back pocket, sit down with that editor, express your gratitude, but ask for a little time as you first explore some options. I am hoping that you have built up two years of goodwill and that the editor will let you test the waters.

Joe Grimm

You know what kind of work the local newspaper would have you do; find out what kind of job you could get at an alternative weekly. They do hire some people straight out of college, but you need to learn what the work would be. Would it be meaningful stories or more clerical? Or both?

As you ultimately plan to be at a daily, find out where the alums of these publications wind up. And to double check that, call editors at a couple of your long-term target publications and ask them where they hire from.

Generally speaking, the sooner you get with dailies the better, as editors can unfairly pigeonhole you as a weekly or monthly writer.

Grimm on moving from internships to jobs: "Breaking In: The JobsPage.com Guide to Newspaper Internships."