“Offer growth. People want to get better … if yours is a place where it takes five years to find a new opportunity, people will find another way.” — Joe Grimm, recruiting and development editor, Detroit Free Press
Editors of small daily newspapers are terrified of turnover. And for good reason. Reporters are hard to come by, particularly for weekly and small daily publications that have shallow pockets and little to offer in terms of benefits or career counseling.
Journalism graduates beginning their careers at community newspapers often find little opportunity within the confines of their first newspaper job. Working nights, weekends, facing deadlines 365 days a year while making less than $10 per hour, the daily grind eventually wears them down.
Editors are equally frustrated. They find hope with each new hire. “This one seems really good, really motivated,” they say. “I think this one has a lot of potential.” But as the new protégé becomes disillusioned with his career choice, the editor is once again faced with another round of interviews.
And the turnover wheel continues to spin.
Reporter Hopscotch
Most mid-size to large dailies require at least five years of experience in a newsroom, but most small dailies retain their J-School grads for only a year or two. Why? The obvious monetary reasons come to mind. As one publisher said, “These companies don’t want retention because they don’t want to raise their salaries.”
But there’s more to it than the almighty dollar.
Rookie reporters become frustrated after learning the ladder ends at the first rung. They reach out for career advancement, find it unattainable, and often destroy their credibility by making one lateral move after another, scrounging for the next pseudo-title and a 50-cent salary increase.
Eager editors, in an effort to recruit good reporters, fuel industry turnover by “headhunting” from one another, offering young reporters meager salary increases and empty promises of career advancement.
Rookie reporters become frustrated after learning the ladder ends at the first rung.As a result, reporters at small dailies often hop from one job to the next, eventually gaining more than the required five years of experience but still lacking the tools they need to be hired at a larger publication.
This leaves us with one heck of an inescapable challenge. Do we as editors fight for more money? Maybe. Should we try to give other incentives such as daily praise, clip contests, special section bonuses? Absolutely. And there’s no doubt that we should continue to promote from within, allowing reporters to grow into leadership roles in our newsrooms.
But even with every incentive our creative minds can muster, we will still be found lacking because our foundation is turned upside down.
Upside Down
Our primary focus is to keep reporters for as long as possible. We hope that internal incentives will support our retention efforts and eventually lead to greater job satisfaction and less turnover.
We celebrate birthdays, offer bonuses when possible, and give daily praise. In fact, we do everything prescribed by the experts. So why do we continue to lose young reporters prematurely?
Small newspapers operate under an inverted pyramid that needs to be flipped to its correct position.
Our dated pyramid begins with a desire to retain employees, which we fuel with internal incentive. The hope is that enough incentive will keep our employees for at least another month or two. Here’s what that looks like:
This method works to a degree, but we are still missing the mark.
Career Development Model
The community newspaper industry has operated under the inverted pyramid model for decades. Have we learned anything? Apparently not. Reporters continue to leave after a year or two.
But what if we flipped our pyramid?
What if the foundation were career development, supported by a well-designed, consistent, and comprehensive training program tailored to meet the specific needs of each reporter? Where before our pyramid focused on retention, the revised pyramid would embrace turnover, even encourage it. And, in the end, would grow a constructive culture and invariably produce higher retention results.
Maybe our new pyramid would look something like this:
Under the new model, employee retention is a byproduct of career development.
The Unsaid
Anyone who has worked in this industry for an extended period of time is well aware of “the unsaid.” We want to lose people! How can we keep them if we can’t pay them more money? How can we keep them when we know they will eventually want advancements we cannot provide?
Truth told, we want to replace them when they reach the monetary ceiling. But we lie, and they lie. We tell them diligence will bring them far in our organization; they tell us they want to work with us for many, many years.
In the classic management book “The One Minute Manager,” we are told to invest in our people. We are told to use “honesty” as the foundation of this investment.
Rather than make promises based on incentives we can’t deliver, let’s make promises based on what someone else can. Our goal should be to lose our reporters — to opportunity.
Taking Action
The method is a four-step career development plan that begins before the reporter is hired. Recruit, Research, Reinforce, and Repeat.
Recruit:
Recruiting should begin while you are at full staff. You need candidates now, not tomorrow morning, when a reporter says he is leaving in two weeks.
Here are a few tips:
- Avoid hiring reporters who have made several lateral moves.
- Look for high-spirited, motivated J-School grads who want to move forward in their careers.
- Be very careful when hiring the “community news veteran.” The old adage “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” often applies to reporters who have worked at small dailies for more than six years.
- Avoid hiring candidates who have a passion for writing but show little interest in the research and reporting side of the job. You want journalists. People who have a passion for the news.
- When writing your employment ads, mention the value of career development. Make sure candidates understand the four-step method and that you intend to help place them at a larger publication.
Research:
Ask each reporter to summarize his goals. This should be his first assignment on his first day of work. Ask him to be specific and realistic.
1. Where do you want to be following your tenure at this newspaper? Include specifics, i.e. “I want a job as a public finance reporter at the Dallas Business Journal.”
2. What will it take to get you there?
3. What are your weaknesses? Strengths? E.g., “In my next job, I would like to either move into a position at a mid-size daily where I can concentrate more on features/opinion/lifestyles writing or pursue some kind of editing job. I need to be more succinct, better organized in terms of order of information and clear in my own mind as to how the reader is affected by what I am writing.”
Reinforce:
Now you’re ready to develop, with the help of your reporter, a detailed plan to help him reach his goal.
1. Create two files — one for you and one for the reporter.
2. Compile a list of goals based on his desired career move. Develop a timeline and action dates and be consistent with weekly training efforts.
3. Celebrate success. Be consistent with this one. Make sure your reporter knows he has made progress, but make sure he is equally aware of areas where he needs improvement.
3. As the reporter nears the end of the career plan, help choose clips for his portfolio, give advice on writing his cover letter and resume, and offer tips on how to handle his interview.
4. Finally, target the newspapers for which he would like to work and send out resumes, clips, and letters of recommendation.
Repeat:
Now it’s time to reap your reward.
1. When the reporter announces he has landed the new job, plan an off-site celebration, complete with going away gifts from the newsroom staff, cake, cards, the whole enchilada.
2. Make a “success” announcement to the rest of the newspaper staff.
3. Submit the information along with a photograph to your company newsletter. You’ve won a long-fought battle. Make it known.
4. Repeat the process. Reporters still working toward their goals will be motivated by the success and your job will become even easier.
Conclusion
Our newsrooms should be similar to the television show “ER.” We are real doctors with real patients, but we’re also a teaching and learning facility. We are here to provide the tools they need; once they have them, they can decide whether to stay in community journalism or move on to a larger publication.
Yes, some reporters will choose the path of lateral movement, leaving after a year or two on their first job. Others will take our advice to heart and advance to the next level. And, who knows, maybe a few will stay indefinitely.
