Getting a Job

• Be specific when you look

• Tailor your resume

• Prepare your portfolio

• Watch the ads—be opportunistic

• Be proactive—court potential employers

• Get your references prepped

• Be realistic, but shoot high

• Set aside some cash for proactive travel

Be specific• Pitch yourself as what you want to be

• “A job at a newspaper”—bad

• “A copy-editing job”—good

• “A general-assignment reporting job”—good

• If you have a specialty, pitch it, but be ready to back it up

Think geography• Want to work in NYC? Go there.

• If Times won’t hire you, maybe Jersey Journal will!

• If you’re bound geographically, draw a circle on a map.

• Research all possible pubs in that circle.

• Geography doesn’t matter to serious climbers—be ready to move.

Tailor your resume• Put professional experience at the top.

• Education next.

• ALWAYS list references, despite what career counselors tell you.

• References should be combination of professional and academic.

• List only journalism-related extracurricular activities—activists scare editors!

Reporting portfolios• Not more than a dozen articles unless

requested.

• A bunch of varied spot stories is always good.

• At least a couple of enterprise stories that show you can simplify complexity.

• At least one profile.

• Short, snappy features are rare, welcome.

Reporters II• Reproduce your articles with headline and

folio line on the page.

• Use screen shot, raw copy for Web stuff.

• Notebook-size repros okay.

• Always include any corrections, or leave that article out.

• Include art.

• Keep raw copy in case you’re asked.

Editor portfolios• Full-size tear sheets are best.

• Repros with folio line second-best.

• Screen shots for Web.

• Save raw copy for comparison.

• Shoot for a variety of edits, as reporters do.

• Note which tearsheets are layouts or story edits.

• Not more than a dozen examples to start.

Watch the ads: the big 6

• editorandpublisher.com/

• journalismjobs.com/

• mediabistro.com

• poynter.org

• monster.com

• craigslist.com

• mediabistro.com/abm/joblistings/

Other job sites• http://www.magazine.org/

One application for multiple magazines,

listings of jobs.

• http://www.nppa.org/

Career advice, some jobs…

Other job sites• www.asne.org/

internships, jobs, job fairs

• www.freep.com/jobspage/

jobs and career-development tools

Be proactive• Select half a dozen places you’d like to

work, and begin hounding them.

• Follow up resumes and letters with phone calls. Ask for m.e. if unaware of whom to contact.

• Offer to show up at the office for an interview, test, try-out.

• Read and know the product before you start stalking.

Work your contacts• Hiring is not always on merit.

• If you know someone, use that connection.

• Use job fairs, professional meetings to develop new contacts.

• Follow them up relentlessly.

• Be courteous and persistent—just like a good reporter.

Internships• For graduates, internships are extended

job interviews.

• Jobs are best, but internships can be good, too.

• Be the first there, the last to leave.

• Finish your work, then ask to do what you really want—write that feature after your shift.

Interviewing• Stress your experience and

professionalism.

• Don’t talk a lot about your life goals—be brief.

• Stress your willingness to learn and grow.

• Say, honestly, you’re willing to stay three years.

• Be careful about taking an editing job when you want to report.