Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Color Paper in Portfolio?
Q. I am at a metro daily and am in the process of applying for another job. Up until
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now I always had a fairly modest application package, with a cover letter, resume and nine or 10 hard-copy clips in a manila envelope.
I plan to apply at some fairly large and prestigious newspapers and/or magazines and wonder whether I need to step up my application package with binders, color copies of my stories, etc.
What is standard?
Thanks.
TampaA. No, no, no.
Do not use binders, color copies, etc.
Your KISS portfolio -- Keep it Simple, Sweetheart -- is plenty.
Any print reporter who wants a portfolio upgrade these days should do it by adding multimedia content.
Multimedia doesn't just mean photos, audio and video. Think about interactive databases, blogs and collaborations with informational graphic artists.
Coming Wednesday: He has been at his current job for six months but now has an opportunity to get a raise and work for a company with a bigger name. The jobs are comparable. Should he go?
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Monday, May 19, 2008
How to Recover from Firings?
Q. A few years after college, I kind of fell into journalism. I interned at a small public radio station, and then when I couldn't get a full-time radio job, I took a job at a small local weekly paper. A year later I took a job at a bigger paper, working on several weekly community news sections. I only took the job because the editors made it clear during the interview that the weekly (a brand-new project at the time) would lead to a job on the daily.
A year and a half later, after I had been passed over for opening after opening at the daily, the editor-in-chief told me he would only hire me on the daily's features staff, even though it was clear no one on the features staff would be leaving anytime soon (four writers, and three had been there over a decade). I started looking for a new job, my work performance suffered and I was fired. It was really hard to deal with, but I survived, right?
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Several months later I was offered what seemed like a dream job. It was in public radio, and I would be running a bureau by myself in a small town. I paid for all the moving expenses myself, but that was OK. My new salary was almost $20k more than my old salary. (Another reason I was fed up with my old job was that after a year my workload had effectively tripled, from six to eight stories a week to 12 to 16, and my "raise" was $500. I'm not in journalism for the money, obviously, but when you know that the reporters on the daily are making $35k and you are making $24k and doing twice the number of stories per week, it is really frustrating.)
So, I move to this town where I know no one, spend all my time trying to make contacts and set up a brand new station all by myself, and five months into it, the station decides "I'm not the right person for the job." The human resources director wouldn't give me any other reason for letting me go, and none of my former bosses would talk to me about it. So I was stuck in a tiny town with no job, no prospects, no friends and a lease on an apartment for seven more months. I was dating someone in a bigger city, so I decided to break my lease, move to the city and hope that I'd be able to freelance until I could find a job.
Cut to 10 months later. My boyfriend dumped me right when I moved here. I haven't found a job, other than waiting tables. I've had innumerable story ideas rejected, and my attempts to freelance for the local public radio station have been passed on. I made inroads at one alt-weekly, but then the editor I was working with got fired. I started freelancing for a different alt-weekly, and that editor decided she didn't like my writing. I'm kind of at my wits end. I obviously don't have the stamina and guts for a successful freelance career. But now that I've been unemployed for almost a year and have involuntarily left my last two jobs, I'm scared that no one will hire me, especially in this market.
I
am a good reporter and writer, both for radio and in print, but I've been applying for jobs all over the country for months without even one nibble. I'm thinking about grad school again (I got into Columbia last year but turned the school down because I had just gotten the awesome job offer for the job that I then lost), but that still gives me another year with nothing. I am so bitter and discouraged -- how on earth do I market myself? And if I actually ever do get a job offer in another city, I want to ask for some sort of contract or agreement that if things don't work out, they will pay for me to break my lease and leave town, so I'm not out several thousand dollars in moving expenses again. I feel like I'm so desperate to get a job that I don't know if anyone would give me such a deal ...
Still StrugglingA. You are a survivor, that's for sure.
Let me take the end of your question, first, because it is simple. You will not find an employer who agrees to compensate you to break a lease and move away if things don't work out. It won't happen, and no one will hire a pessimist who is already making plans for failure. You've got to try to raise your confidence before you go to any more interviews.
Next thing: I have taken a few minutes to read your resume and some of the columns on your Web site. The site is not helping you. The resume is fine, but too much of what you have posted on the site is about getting dumped.
Now, to your main question. You have run into dead-ends three times and no one has even told you why. I won't presume to know. You are right -- that can look bad to prospective employers. You need to try something different. Your resume says you are a nit-picky copy editor. I like that. If your editing is good, you should be able to prove it on an editing test. Copy editors are generally in short supply. You have basic Web skills and some audio experience. These could be a complement to editing as you move from a copy desk into new media. You might try that.
Should you go to Columbia? You already have an Ivy League degree education, and it sounds like you have accumulated a lot of debt. I'd think twice about that. If grad school will be your ticket out, I'd really consider other fields, rather than more education in one that has not been working for you.
Coming Tuesday: This metro reporter wants to move up and asks whether colorful folders or paper will help dress up his portfolio.
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Friday, May 16, 2008
Can New Media Save My Career?
Q. I've been a journalist for 20 years, mostly writing and reporting, but for the last few years, mostly editing. I've picked up a few other skills -- I can do podcasts, I can post stories to a Web site, I can edit digital audio tape and take OK digital photos.
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But I feel very, very, VERY nervous about my future, given the state of our industry and the fact that as a mid-level journalist, my employer could hire two newbies with fantastic digital skills for what they pay me. Yeah, sure, I could write five stories on deadline in the time it takes a rookie to do one, but as you well know, that does not necessarily provide job insurance for older journalists.
I have kids to put through college and must remain employed for at least another 10 to 15 years before I can retire. Many colleagues my age have not been so lucky, so I am worried.
I want to hedge my bets and learn new skills now in case the ax falls in my corner of the newsroom and I have to find a new job. It seems like Web content manager is a huge and growing job category for many news organizations. What do I need to learn to be qualified for that?
And if I want to learn HTML, what is the best place to learn that? Posting stories to a Web site at my job requires no programming skills -- you push a series of buttons and it's done automatically. Or do you think I'm dreaming to think that a news Web site would consider hiring someone who was born, gasp, before 1970?
Experienced and AnxiousA. You speak for many, many mid-career journalists.
Your assets are your experience, your various new media skills and that you have already set your sights on a potential next job.
When I, a somewhat older journalist, began doing more Web work, I asked Steve Chin. president and founder of
MKMedia and managing editor of
Reznetnews, what I should do. I'd like to pass his advice on to you.
Chin told me that I'm an editor and that the Web needs good editors. He said that, by the time I could ever catch up to programmers and designers, they would be on to the next tools.
Learning HTML might help you a little, but it is not essential. You are a tool user, not a tool maker. Your experience and the skills you already have are valuable to Web content managers. The role you are trying to create will require news judgment, leadership, team-building, evangelizing, data analysis and strategic thinking. If you can demonstrate those skills, you should be able to move further into content management and might be able to pull down the kind of salary you'll need to pay those college bills.
The recruiter asks back: Are you on the same journey? What is working for you? Tell the rest of us
by clicking here.
Coming Monday: The loss of two jobs and a relationship have left her stranded and without meaningful journalism work. What can help her get back on track?
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Thursday, May 15, 2008
How Can I Break Back In?
Q. I am a recent college journalism graduate (graduated two years ago) and have been living abroad on a research scholarship ever since. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about getting back into journalism and I am unsure where to begin.
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During college, I had a couple of newspaper internships and was a photographer for the school paper. While abroad, I have done a small amount of freelance and photography, but nothing too substantial.
Most job openings I seem to be finding require two years of reporting experience, and I don't believe I could afford to do an unpaid internship. Do you have any advice as to how to best approach this?
Thanks,
Getting Back into the GameA. This will be as difficult as you suspect.
I would not recommend you pursue internships paid or unpaid. Instead, I would go after real jobs.
Your lack of consistent, recent experience makes it unlikely larger newsrooms will take a chance on you. Try to pick up where you left off by asking your old editors for help and applying for paid jobs at small dailies or, if that doesn't pan out, weeklies.
Try to get started any way you can -- even very small -- and to rapidly work your way up once you become re-established.
Joe on internships:
"Breaking In: The JobsPage.com Guide to Newspaper Internships."
Coming Friday: This mid-career journalist is worried about her career and wonders which new-media skills can help her save her career.
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
How Does a Police Reporter Pursue PR?
Q. I'm a police reporter who is looking to move his family to another state this summer and am thinking about changing my career to public relations. I am uncertain, however, as to how to present my 12 years as a journalist in a way that would be attractive to employers. Any thoughts?
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A. I asked a friend, Jason Brown at Hermanoff & Associates Public Relations in Farmington Hills, Mich., to help us out. He wrote this:
When reporters are looking to make the switch from journalism to public relations, I often tell them to focus on two areas in their cover letter or in the interviews:
Strong writing skills: Whether the position you seek is with a public relations firm or inside a corporate relations department, the employer will want to see your previous work. If your writing is strong, then that will be a key selling point to any company.
Understanding media: Explain that your experience as a reporter is a valuable asset for the position. Given this experience, you should have a clear understanding of:
- What a reporter would look for in a pitch from a public relations person.
- How to package the client's message in a way that seems appealing to the reporter where you are trying to place a story.
Coming Thursday: She moved overseas after completing college and some internships. Her experience since then has been light. How can she break back in to journalism?
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Has My Job Become a Trap?
Q. I am a recent college graduate with a year of experience reporting for a smaller paper, and I am also a freelance photographer for smaller publications.
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I accepted a job as an editorial assistant just to break into a larger paper, but since being here I feel miserable. I have had contact with other editorial assistants who have been here three years or more and still weren't able to get a reporting job. Is this a dead end, or do you think I should be seeking other outlets for reporting jobs?
Am I missing the whole "You have to crawl before you walk" motto?
Wrong Move?A. Sorry to say, this may have been a bad move. I have met many editorial assistants who chose to be smaller fish in big ponds when the small pond would have had them do what they like a whole lot
sooner. In some places, there seem to be unwritten rules about promoting editorial assistants into bigger new jobs. Instead, the paper or magazine looks outside.
Because large operations tend to pay better, they are enticing,
but people who want to get back to what they really love are faced with the prospect of taking a pay cut to go to a smaller place. The unwritten no-promote rules and the comparatively comfier wages turn it into a trap. Some call it a velvet coffin.
Talk to your editors. Get some straight answers about what happens to editorial assistants there and what they think can happen for you. Ask whether emerging opportunities on the Web desk might provide opportunities that haven't existed before. If their description of your future doesn't match your expectation, it will be time to look elsewhere.
Coming Wednesday: This police reporter wants to move to public relations when he and his family move. How should he position himself?
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Monday, May 12, 2008
Experience for Worker-Student-Mom?
Q. I have a unique situation. I migrated to the U.S. at 18 and obtained an associate's degree in computers. I realized that I hated the field, so I switched to journalism. Unfortunately not knowing any better at the time because I was new to the education system, I pursued a bachelor of arts in communications, which hasn't helped me land a journalism job.
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I've been writing for free for the last three to four years, hoping to gain some experience, but it hasn't helped much. I worked full-time jobs through all my degrees thus far. I'm currently pursuing my master's in journalism.
My dilemma is that I'm a married 31-year-old with a young child, so doing summer internships are out of the question due to my current full-time job. So how do I gain any hands-on experience? I want to learn but I can't seem to find an outlet that will accommodate my situation. Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Tricia A. You clearly have your hands full.
Despite your serious pursuit of a good journalism education, I don't think that will be enough all by itself. You'll simply have to get more experience. I don't see how you can fit in substantial journalism work while
you are working toward your master's degree, working full-time and raising a child. The only give you have is on that job. I don't know your financial picture, but I would try to shift some of my work hours from this job, which seems to be non-journalistic, to something that gets you published and paid.
I understand that you hate working in computers, but I wonder whether that experience might give you a unique advantage that could help you get a paid opportunity to do some online journalism. I would certainly start saving or lining up child-care help to get an internship upon graduation. I'd hope to use that as a transition into full-time, paid journalism, so I'd work harder on landing something with a good, smaller outlet that might be more likely than a big one to hire new grads.
Your schedule sounds intricate, and this will take time and planning. In addition to looking at your day-to-day minutes and hours, you might see if there are options for arranging your academic semesters to allow some time to get that all-important work experience in.
Good luck with this really tough set of demands.
Coming Tuesday: She took a job as an editorial assistant at a large newspaper, but now finds that she and the other assistants cannot advance to bigger and better jobs. Did she make the wrong move?
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