Journalists over the weekend jumped aboard the #FirstSevenJobs trend, listing early gigs to highlight their bottom-up quest to earn paying jobs in the media industry.
The #FirstSevenJobs hashtag began trending after Twitter user Marian Call asked her followers to participate, according to Time. Since then, the hashtag has exploded — celebrities such as Lin-Manuel Miranda have joined in, with the “Hamilton” creator listing jobs including nude model for a drawing class ($14 per hour).
Many reporters, editors and producers recounted their journeys from minimum wage (or unpaid) salaries to their current positions.
David Kocieniewski was a Mister Softee driver before becoming an investigative reporter for Bloomberg News:
https://twitter.com/davidkski/status/762275543379214337
Seattle Times book editor and columnist Mary Ann Gwinn scrubbed dishes before poring over books:
Drugstore clerk
Milkshake maker
Television factory line worker
Dishwasher
Camp counselor
Secretary
Special Ed teacher#firstsevenjobs— Mary Ann Gwinn 🐁 (@gwinnma) August 7, 2016
Emily Nussbaum was an “anti-shoplifting-tagger” and a clown before becoming TV critic for The New Yorker.
Babysitter. Clown. Anti-shoplifting-tagger. Temp. Publishing intern. Waitress. Battered women’s shelter kid’s-programmer. #firstsevenjobs
— Emily Nussbaum (@emilynussbaum) August 6, 2016
Bill Adair, creator of PolitiFact, started off as a paperboy:
#first7jobs
Paperboy
Grocery bagger
Saturday obit writer
Survey taker
Reporter
Oliver the Otter
Production assist.— Bill Adair (@BillAdairDuke) August 7, 2016
Jane Bradley coached kids in sports before turning to journalism. She is a former BBC correspondent and a current investigative reporter for BuzzFeedUK:
https://twitter.com/jane__bradley/status/762235776801333249
Poynter’s Roy Peter Clark was a tax-free liquor runner before becoming Poynter’s writing coach:
newsboy
lawn boy
soda jerk
bag boy
tax free liquor runner
mail room clerk
summer camp dude— Roy Peter Clark (@RoyPeterClark) August 7, 2016
Ann Telnaes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist who works for The Washington Post, was once a theme park caricaturist:
#firstsevenjobs
fast food server
office runner
waitress, bartender
theme park caricaturist
character animator
WD Imagineer
ed cartoonist— Ann Telnaes (@AnnTelnaes) August 7, 2016
The responses prove there are more ways to journalistic stardom than the standard internship route. Journalists, want to share your #FirstSevenJobs with us? Drop them in a comment on our Facebook page or tweet at us @Poynter, and we’ll include them in this post.
