Joe Grimm's News Jobs Café: Ask the recruiter

Move to a Job with a Faster Pace?

Q: I graduated from one of those "marquee" J-schools in the summer, and after three months surfing my parents' couch, I landed a job at a well-respected trade newspaper in a very, very big city. Given the state of the newspaper business, I was getting a lot of very polite "please keep in touch" emails from metro editors. So when presented with a solid job offer (and the chance to get off my parents' couch) I jumped at it.

The location is great (top three market), the pay is excellent for someone just out of school (around $40k), and my colleagues are cheerful and willing to lend a hand to the new kid. There's only one problem: I hate it.

Although we're a daily paper, we're also a trade pub, and the editors don't want spot news. They like features and analysis. It is not unusual for a reporter to spend a week on a single story. I find the pace to be mind-numbingly slow. I love to jump at a breaking story. I have a hard time dragging myself out of bed in the morning to go to work.

I'm also afraid that working at a trade daily is not exactly a stepping stone on my way to my ultimate goal: a job at a wire service or on a metro desk. I took this job because it was a solid paycheck at a newspaper. But have I taken detour that is leading away from an eventual daily hard news reporting gig? Should I just suck it up and be thankful that during this hiring crunch I have a job at all?

Thanks,

Restless

A: Yes, you are going to have to suck it up a little. Recalling those three months on the couch will help.

But you have to get out of this place where you hate to go to work. That can kill a career. It's pretty clear that you have taken a job at a place that has the wrong culture and that you did it for some good reasons, not knowing entirely what to look for. But let's get a new job in 2007.

Work with your editors to try to change the metabolism in your little corner of the newsroom. Tell them what you're looking for, volunteer for or pitch every potential breaking-news article and run, run, run. I wouldn't be surprised if they hired you, in part, for your go-getter attitude. Max it out.

Make this job work and you'll get the experience and clips you need to get the next job, which you will no doubt make sure has a culture that is more favorable to you.

Must Clips be Original Copies?

Q: First and foremost, thank you for this excellent and incredibly helpful column.

I am a 24-year-old recent college graduate (non-journalism background) and am wrapping up my first internship at a mid-size daily.

The experience has been enriching but I'm looking to make the next great leap: a full-time job. 

While asking my editors for advice, they all cautioned me to send only original "newsprint" clips from my job. I was simply planning on printing off my stories from our internal computer library at the newspaper and mailing them. Some of my newsprint clips are bulky, messy or non-existent (foolish me, I forgot to clip them!). The printouts would not include any artwork and resemble your typical MS Word document but they are clean-looking and would make compiling multiple applications easier. They would mention where the clip was played (A01, B01, etc.) in the paper, as well.   

So, do I need send in the "originals" (i.e. my articles cut out as they appeared on the paper) or can I sneak by with the printouts? If the former, what should I do about my "lost" clips? Steal them from the local public library?

Any advice would help.

Frank

A: I'm afraid I have to disagree with your editors on this.

Most of the editors I know would prefer copies or printouts.

Originals have their problems. For one thing, they are scarce. We do not want to be responsible for returning one-of-a-kind clips to you. We feel better if we know we're working with copies and nothing you expect to get back.

Second, the convenience factor is considerable. If you have neatly ordered clips in a standard size -- as you get when you photocopy them -- they are easier to handle, file and for making additional copies.

Printouts are as acceptable as photocopies. But don't dare change them, not even to correct someone else's error. They have to be true representations of what was published.

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Do I Need Experience to Teach Journalism?

Q: I'm a junior undergraduate student majoring in journalism. Your section, as well as all of Poynter actually, has been really helpful for me, so thanks.

My question is this, I'm not exactly sure what I want to do in the journalism field, but I definitely think I want to eventually teach at the college level. Is it better to try getting my Master's or PhD after I work in the "real world" for a few years, or go ahead and get it now? Also, in terms of clips, what matters most: quality or the date you wrote them?

Thanks again for your advice!

Beth

A:And thanks you for your kind remarks.

Newsrooms of all types benefit greatly from good work done by excellent profs, so I appreciate the question.

The best professors of journalistic skills have a healthy balance. (Teachers of theory and research are a different matter.) Teachers of skills know both theory and practice. They can aim for the mountaintop, but they have worn out their own shoe leather chasing down stories. They know, firsthand, what it is like to make the edits that save someone else and to be saved by an editor.

They knowledgeably discuss a-matter, b-rolls and chi-squares. They have learned from other good professors as well as veteran reporters, cranky assignment editors and the amazing array of people they have met on their beats.

They have seen and heard a thousand things on the street and in the newsroom -- but are wise enough not to bore their students with all of them in the classroom.

They know how journalism has gotten to be where it is today and they have an idea about where it is going.

To be able to do all this, a person must be schooled in both the classroom and the newsroom. Before you get a master's degree or a doctorate, you ought to work in a newsroom. In fact, you might not ever need the doctorate to be a great journalism professor. But you can't skip the newsroom. If you do, you'll be teaching second-hand, and your students will know it.

On clips: It all depends. How good is good, and how old is old? If you're choosing between good but old and new but weak, it sounds like you need to get busy generating some good, new clips.

Note: "Ask the Recruiter" has moved to Poynter's new Career Center. The new home is here. Don't forget to change your bookmark.

Path to Travel Writing?

Q: I have been strongly considering doing everything in my power (an internship writing news for a NPR station affiliate, editor my my community college paper, a small handful of articles in local weekly mags) to make a move into the University of North Carolina J-School, after I attain my associate's degree in English.

I realize now that I don't want to write about local issues. I want to write op-ed pieces in the newpaper industry, but I don't think that is feasible unless you work for a paper for many years?

I like the idea of writing for travel, fiction, and non-fiction in magazines. How logical is it to plan a career in magazines or doing op-ed Any input is appreciated.

Gary in Wilmington, N.C.

A: You have just described the dream of a great many people. Unfortunately for you, many of them are not just dreaming about this, they are working hard to achive it. Ironically, they are working as local-news reporters.

You have two choices: Learn all that you can about reporting and writing in an entry-level position and work your way toward your dream job, or go straight for the magazine and travel and op-ed jobs. I'd be lying by omission if I didn't warn you that a lot of people who chose the second path wind up working for a while as waiters or drivers and then going into another business.

The direct path is not impossible, but it seems to happen less frequently than working your way there through the business.

Note: "Ask the Recruiter" has moved to Poynter's new Career Center. The new home is here. Don't forget to change your bookmark.

Have I Lost the Spark for Journalism?

Q: I have three years experience in general news reporting at a regional newspaper. I have gathered enough experience, but feel my career is stagnant. I feel I have failed to look for innovative story ideas. I seldom get positive feedback on my writing style. I don't want to quit journalism -- until I have improved.

How can I change the situation? Is it time to go to a new newsroom?

Anonymous

A: Well, something sure needs to change.

But let me ask you this: If you're saying "I don't want to quit journalism until I have improved," it sounds like you plan to leave, anyway. So I would just go now rather than remain stagnant or work through a job change.

If you plan to stay indefinitely, I would look for mentors in your present job or get inspired to come up with the innovative ideas that will help you get a new job.

Either way, you're going to have to light this fire yourself.

Note: "Ask the Recruiter" has moved to Poynter's new Career Center. The new home is here. Don't forget to change your bookmark.

Stop Going to School to Start Job?

Q: How important is it to have a bachelor’s degree to have a successful career in journalism in today’s industry? The reason I ask is this: I have some friends who are part-time clerks/copy editors at the newspaper I work at.

They’ve been lured away from finishing school by the prospect of working full-time, before finishing their degrees. Sure, they have a job now (why the newspaper is content to employ people full-time who haven’t finished their degrees could be another question I guess, but I’ll first stick to my first inquiry for now). I worry that if there are ever future layoffs at our paper these people could potentially be left in the cold – plenty of experience but no credentials behind their names, making them unattractive candidates to future employers.

You always hear about "old-timers" who’ve cut their teeth in the industry without any formal schooling in journalism. But how often does that really go on today? Would you advise young people to finish school before choosing to work full-time in journalism? Am I off-base in telling them it might be in their best interest to finish their degrees, despite how appealing a salary and benefits is at the moment?

Melinda

A: I admire your concern for your friends and share the value you place in a college degree.

However, it is still possible to have your career and sheepskin, too.

Working before graduation is not the real danger. The real danger is bagging college altogether and figuring that experience alone will get you what you want. It probably won't.

If work prevents a person from going to college, that can be a problem. But the paycheck -- and a tuition reimbursement program -- might make a job the key to getting a degree.

They are not making a bad decision, but they should keep going to school if they hope to snare the jobs and bigger paychecks that are enjoyed by people who finish what they start in college.

Note: "Ask the Recruiter" has moved to Poynter's new Career Center. The new home is here. Don't forget to change your bookmark.