business journalism professors 2014: preparing students for jobs by mike wong
Post on 18-Oct-2014
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Mike Wong presents "Preparing Students for Jobs" during the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism's annual Business Journalism Week, Jan. 5, 2014. Wong is the director of Career Services at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The annual event features two concurrent seminars, Business Journalism Professors and Strictly Financials for journalists. For more information about business journalism training, please visit http://businessjournalism.org.TRANSCRIPT
Title Slide Preparing students for jobs & working with local media
Jan. 5, 2014 Business Journalism Professors
Seminar
Wong Mike
• Director, Cronkite Career Services • Manage 600 internships per year • Teach career-‐preparaLon course for
seniors and graduate students • 16 years of professional experience as TV
news manager in Phoenix (NBC and PBS affiliates)
• 12 years of experience providing media training for internaLonal journalists from Bosnia, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovakia and Serbia.
Tulumello Kathy
• Business Center director for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com • Responsible for business news coverage for azcentral.com and The Arizona Republic
Building for Success Key role for professors - help students acquire work experience and publication in media outlets. • Prepare the students • Relationships with local media
The building blocks 1. Relevant Experience & Skills 2. Resume 3. ReputaLon 4. RelaLonships (professional) 5. Reach out to local media
1. Advise students to Build Experience and Skills
• Internships • Immersion programs • Campus Media
Where Should Students Search?
J-Jobs
2. Advise students to Build Resume, PorAolio
• Relevant experience • Resume (Traditional and Online) • Organizing a portfolio
3. Advise Students to PracCce Professionalism, Build ReputaCon • In EMAIL address [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] • VM greeLng “Hey, this is Stan, The Man. I can’t get to your call at the moment ‘cuz I’m too lazy to answer the phone.’ Leave a message. Out.”
An actual E-‐Mail:
Michael .... I am sLlling waiLng for my travel authorizaLon form. You will have to follow up on this and get it to me. You had menLoned that today you would hopefully get it to me. You need to follow up on this as it is coming up in about a week!!!!!!!! Please FOLLOW UP ASAP!!!!! I Can't understand why the business office is waiLng sooo long!!!
An actual E-‐Mail: Hey Mike, I am sorry. I had my computer ASU open and I was talking with a friend about this. They said I needed to be more asserLve. I had no idea they wrote that unLl now. On Tue, Jul 31, 2012 at 7:26 PM, Michael Wong <[email protected]> wrote: I was out yesterday. I did not see anyone from the business office today. They know about it. I hope to get it to you tomorrow. Also, for future reference, you need to be more professional in your business communicaLon. The exclamaLon points are unnecessary. The all caps are unnecessary. The tone of your EMAIL is not very good. You will not get very far if you keep communicaLng this way.
In wriJen communicaCon to employers, faculty, staff • Avoid ALL CAPS • Avoid exclamaLon points and
Doubles and Triples-‐ !!! (see how bad it looks?)
• Write “Thank You” Notes
Maintain Professionalism . . .
• In social media
According to a study by Reppler (a social media monitoring service)
91% of recruiters use social networking sites to screen prospecLve employees
During the hiring process, which social networks do you use to screen
prospects?
FB: 76% Twiner: 53% LinkedIn: 48%
Source: Reppler
Have you ever rejected a candidate because of what you saw about them
on a social networking site?
Yes: 69% No: 26%
Don’t use those sites to screen candidates: 5%
Source: Reppler
4. Advise Students to Build Professional RelaConships
• Use professors as resources and recommenders • Network at internships
• Get involved with career-‐related clubs • Anend professional development, seminars, mixers • Reach out to alumni • Find mentors
5. Work with local media The professor’s relaLonship with local media and employers in your market is criLcal for your students’ success. TOP PRIORITY: get published, aired. Professional experience builds confidence and porrolios.
How? Who? • Internet sites, newspapers, radio, TV, in your local market • NaLonal media
• WSJ, USA Today, LATimes, etc., Reuters, Bloomberg, CNBC
• Trade publicaLons • Corporate media / investor relaLons . . . Think beyond tradiConal media
Two examples from class: Robin Blom, Ball State Univ. Ball State Daily News, Muncie Free Press, Muncie Voice, The Muncie Times, The Star Press, Hope for Women’s Magazine
Neil Foote, Univ. of North Texas Denton Record-‐Chronicle, Lemons PublicaCons (Denton Business Journal, Krum News)
Story ideas that work • Careers, jobs
• IdenLfy topics and assign to students. Use local resources – career advisers, HR experts
• Small business features • Send students out to visit local businesses and find
an interesLng angle.
• Entrepreneurs • Talk to Chambers and other business organizaLons
in town to find out who is starLng businesses.
• Future of your town – economics, growth • Downtown – what’s happening? • ResidenLal development • Any manufacturing in your town? What?
Beyond tradiConal media • WHAT? Industries in your markets
• Retail • Pets • Manufacturing • EducaLon • Entertainment, etc.
• What companies are in your market and what industries do they represent? • Look for trade publicaLons, corporate media
Bring the editors to the classroom
• Face-‐to-‐face with the students • Tell about their companies • What do they value in their coverage? • What skills do they need most? • Describe the “ideal reporter candidate?” • How can students contribute best and get published?
Make your media partners happy • Know the editors’ needs
• Find niches for student work (Career pages, Spotlight on Local Business) • Ask for assignments – press releases • If possible, pair students & reporters on local business coverage
Make it ‘easy’ for the editor This is another key to success …
Student work should be “ready to publish” • Spend class Lme reviewing student work • Get students involved • Re-‐work, edit
Yes, it takes *me – but it’s the surest way to help students get those clips, por;olio they need.
Takeaway Do’s • Do challenge / require students to be published. • Do encourage students to seek their own outlets for their work. • Do ask editors for assignments. Meet with them before class begins to idenLfy needs, pain points. • Do engage the class in reviewing each others’ work. CriLque, revise. • Do reach out to corporate communicators.
Takeaway Don’ts • Don’t overlook non-‐tradiLonal outlets. • Don’t miss opportuniLes with companies, organizaLons and trade publicaLons. • Don’t underesLmate the Lme it takes to work with students on ediLng, revisions. • Don’t forget – it’s all about clips and porrolios that lead to internships and job.
And don’t forget ~ • Make it easy on the editors, and they will be your friends for many semesters.