Joe Grimm's News Jobs Café: Ask the recruiter

Should I Put My GPA on My Resume?

Q: I have a few questions.

First, some friends were recently debating whether it's good to include college GPA on a resume. I assume it's probably seen as mandatory for internships, but at what point do you scrap that? I'm a two-year vet of newspapers and had a pretty strong GPA (about 3.7) and graduated with honors and distinction. Does anyone care?

Second, how much value do recruiters give to international experience (particularly at English-language papers)?

Lastly, I'm nearing the completion of my first novel and have some interest from publishers. Obviously, I don't include fiction writing in any applications. But is that kind of a side-career something that employers need to know about? Could that be seen as a negative?

Thank you,

Van

A: OK, 1-2-3:

1. Resumes are GPA-optional, even for internship candidates. Put it on if it's high, omit it if it's under 3.0, And, yes, two years is probably long enough.

2. Not as much as they would give to experience at U.S. newspapers of a similar or even somewhat smaller size. It's about comparable experience.

3. Recruiters can go either way on your fiction-writing side job. But don't wear your beret to the interview.

Note: "Ask the Recruiter" has moved to Poynter's new Career Center. The new home is here. Remember to change your bookmark.

How to Structure a Resume for Freelancing?

Q: I graduated from J-school 2.5 years ago. While in school, I wrote on a freelance basis for a variety of newspapers and magazines. Since I graduated, however, I began working in corporate marketing/communications. I have held positions in two different companies.

I am interested in obtaining some freelance work for a local newspaper, and am in the middle of preparing my resume. Is it more appropriate to list my experience in chronological order or begin with journalism experience, which, in my case, is a bit dated? My most current clip is from 2004.

Sincerely,

David

A: Structure your resume in reverse chronological order. That is, with the most recent experience at the top. Don't omit jobs, as this will create a gap. Most employers can imagine far worse ways to fill those gaps then whatever you were actually doing.

In this case, making a move back to journalism, an objective line could help prospective employers examine your experience from the frame of mind you want them in. Then accentuate the journalistic experiences and minimize the parts that don't add to the picture you're trying to paint.

Which Circulation Can I Claim?

Q: I have a question about how recruiters look at a newspaper's circulation size. Here's my situation:  I'm a reporter at a 15,000 circulation newspaper. I have a possible job offer coming up to work for a company that produces two dailies in a metro area.

Both dailies are in neighboring cities and share the same stories every day. The reporters are considered employees of both newspapers.

The question: The two newspapers' circulation is about 50,000 combined. One is about 15,000, and the other paper's size is around 35,000.  Would moving there look the same on my resume as going from my current job to a 50,000-circulation newspaper?  I hope to eventuallymove on to a larger daily.

Ben

A: Just be honest and clear about it. You'll be able to say, "Was a reporter in a newsroom that served two dailies with a combined daily circulation of 50,000."

There's no great tragedy even if editors come away thinking you worked at a 35,000-circulation paper. You'll be more than doubling your circulation size -- even at the 35,000 level -- and I don't think most editors of larger papers will see a huge difference between 35,000 and 50,000.

Will you be working in a larger newsroom with better editors and bigger news to cover? Those pluses can takje your work to a new level. That's what really matters.

Whatever you do, don't be guilty of resume inflation.

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

Displaying My Multimedia Skills?

Q: First off a hearty thanks for these columns. I've read them for a year and am still learning.

You have mentioned more than a few times that newspapers are looking for people with multimedia experience. How should I highlight a substantial Web background when applying for reporting internships?

I am an undergraduate senior with strong writing and editing experience at a college paper. I spent this summer writing for a small daily. But I also have seven years experience as a freelance graphic designer, and have designed scores of Wb sites, including a few for a major university.

Besides a general familiarity with multimedia production, how can I hghlight this second aspect of my experience within the confines of a rporting internship application?

Josh

A: sounds as though you may be afraid of getting pigeon-holed in a production role when you really want to be out on the streets.

If that's the case, I would not work hard to play up my mutimedia skills. Our skills are relevant only wehn we plan to use them.

However, if you can pitch yourself as a multimedia reporter, with some abilities to gather audio, photo and video, you'll be a find for some newspaper.

On your resume, write about how you have applied your multimedia skills on the job and list the software programs you have genuine expertise with. Some editors will key on specific software. Others will key on how you have used it. All who hire you for your multimedia skills will want you to use them.

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

How Do I Explain the Layoff?

Q: I noticed on your blog that you'll be in St. Louis at the College Media Advisors conference at the end of the month.

I feel as though I owe you at least a cup of coffee as a thanks for all the tips you've given out.

Partly due to your advice, I landed a student correspondent job last June in the Akron Beacon Journal features department. I have the job until next Saturday, when I unfortunately get laid off. Now I'm preparing to apply for summer internships and am back reading through tips.

I'm just a student correspondent (here, it's like an internship, but I can only work 20 hours a week). I graduate in May.

Here;s the question: How in the world do I explain being laid off in my resume? Do I even mention it?

Dan

A: I'm sorry to hear you lost that 20-hour position. Certainly, it's understandable, given that the B-J reduced newsroom staffing by about 25 percent, starting with the newest people. You didn't have a chance.

But a resume is typically not the place to explain why you leave a job. Do that in the interview. In the case of students, the question will seldom be asked. If it is, you have a good answer.

 

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

List hobbies on resume?

A helpful article in the long-running debate on whether to put hobbies on your résumé advises us to do it if the avocation is in the mainstream and relevant to the position we're seeking.

It's in the Courier-Post online out of Cherry Hill, N.J.

Journalism awards on my resume?

Q: On my résumé, I have a sentence naming all the groups that have given me awards, instead of listing them year by year. Think that's a good way to go? And what about awards one wins in collaboration with one or two other reporters?

Ink Stained

A: Grouping by association, rather than date, can keep your résumé from getting unwieldy.

In an age of growing reliance on teamwork, team awards are just fine.

Hobbies on resume?

Q: At a journalism conference years ago, I was told by an editor from a large metro newspaper that listing other interests on your résumé, such as hiking or fishing, demonstrates that you're not just a city hall or school board junkie. It shows you are multi-dimensional, have other interests and able to cover a variety of events.

Is this true or does the "other interests" listing on a professional résumé look childish? Someone else said it's fine if you're fresh out of college, but unprofessional for those with a few years of reporting experience.

Thanks!

Kate

A: Editors, like normal people, are all different. Some like 'em and some don't.

Safest are outside interests that have journalistic applications: travel, languages, pop culture.

Less relevant, but still showing leadership or an adventurous spirit can be good, too: marathon running, art, music, volunteer work.

Still less relevant to the job will make more editors wonder: crafts, collecting, shopping.

I advise against listing interests that may have editors pigeon-hole you outside of journailsm, or think about you in strange ways: nail care, hair styling, massage.

But don't go by the list, thing about the relevance. If an applicant for a gardening or environmental job is a Master Gardener, I'm interested. If the retail reporter is a black-belt shopper, I can buy that. I am not as excited that the City Hall reporter is a SCUBA diver.

If the former nail technician says, "Working with people's hands -- physically touching them as I worked and talked to them -- taught me to quickly establish rapport and get them to trust me," I'm listening.

I am generalizing to say that more conservative and old-school editors are interested only in outside interests that are most tightly looped into journalism. Some candidates have found that they really clicked with an editor who shared an obscure interest, but matchups are rare.

Final thought: Treat your résumé differently depending on whether you are using it to get an interview, as in responding to an ad, or presenting it as the same time you'll interview, like at a job fair.

Help that doesn't

I've been surfing around, looking at journalists' résumés for a workshop I'm doing tonight with the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

One of the lousy examples I'll use in this "The Résumé Doctor" schtick comes from a service that posted what it called a sample résumé for a journalist. Wordy, no concept of Associated Press style -- you get the idea.

Rather than pay money to have a generic company make you look like a dope, ask a fellow journalist to help you look smart. Or at least consult the stylebook.

One gem I have to pass along: Someone's objective line says, "To obtain a position in the field of print or broadcast journalism. Plan B could be any clerical support positions." I hear that.

List professional memberships?

Q: Please withhold my name, as I don't want my bosses to realize that I'm looking for a job. (Strange, though, I think I recognize one of my colleagues in your columns ...)

Should I list my professional memberships on my résumé? I don't want to load my résumé with credentials that anyone can pay for. On the other hand, I don't want to omit information that might boost my chances or catch an editor's eye.

I'm not as active a member as I would like to be because of the remoteness of my current paper. So, I can't list my positions in those associations as, say, "cookie baking coordinator" or something like that. (I hope a move can change that, though I don't think editors care about that sort of thing.) Of course, I know I might be making a big deal out of nothing. Someone will spend maybe two seconds on that section of my résumé.

Active Member

A: It is a turn-ff when people list every organization under the sun, but are active in none. It implies they are fluffing up their résumés or that they will be the same way on the job: a member of everything, but never a contributor.

Yes, try to be active, as you say you'd like to do, and limit your claims to a couple of groups where you do something. I am not impressed when I see 10 associations listed. Two or three are normal and fine.

Even if you are remote from an organization and its chapters, you can contribute on-line or by volunteering to work at regional or national conferences. Sometimes it is even possible to do a little outreach for the national organization at local colleges.

Error in resume format?

Q: I made a stupid, but honest mistake. I've been working off of the same résumé since college about four years ago. When formatting my résumé, I embedded a hyperlink with my college e-mail address. When I changed the e-mail address years later, the first two letters of my new address were the same. I received a copy of my résumé back from an automated program (the news organization is quite large), which revealed the underlying hyperlink-- to my college e-mail account.

The question is: how do I recover? Given the emphasis on having clean copy on a résumé, is there any excuse for having an email bounced back.

Should I just resend the résumé and pretend nothing happened?

Dan

A: Yes, send it again and say nothing.

It sounds as though some big corporate computer simply coughed up your e-mail.

I doubt any humans -- or editors -- saw it.

Even if they did, I think most would shrug it off as a formatting error rather than a horrific typo.

How to list skills on resume?

Q: I am currently making a résumé for a pagination position at a local newspaper. I have everything done except the skills section.

In high school, I went through four years of desktop publishing/pagination and have all the necessary skills and experience for an entry-level position in this field. I am asking for advice on how to word my skills section.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Steven in Arkansas

A: List the software you know, as well as an example or two of how you applied that knowledge.

SKILLS

QuarkXPress: Designed a monthly, black and white high school newspaper of 12-16 tabloid pages.

Include short job on resume?

Q: I had a reporting internship at a major daily paper, and was only there a little over three weeks (full-time) due to a near-fatal car accident.

I've debated over the past few years whether to include it.  One part of me says it's dishonest to omit the information, and shortchanging myself. The other part says I shouldn't include it, because I didn't finish it.

However, sometimes I do use the few clips I got when applying for jobs, and the "XXXXXX Staff Writer" draws a few questions about what did happen.

Stephanie

A: Without a doubt, include it.

Sometimes, people want to drop thinks that ended quickly and badly. Sometimes people with long résumés truncate things to keep under the one-page ceiling that some editors still want. The former can be conniving; the latter is simple condensing.

In your case, you have a good explanation for why the internship ended and it does not reflect on your work. The fact that the paper chose you is a good thing. And, it gives those clips some context. So, tell it. Eventually, I expect it will be squeezed off, but there's no reason to leave it off yet

What is a soft copy?

Q: I was asked to provide a "soft copy" of my résumé to a company who wants to interview me next week.  What the heck is a "soft copy"?

Jeri

A: THIS is a soft copy. If you make a printout of it, that's a hard copy.

Professional associations on résumé?

Q: I've read what you've posted about resumes, but I have a question I don't think you've yet addressed. What do recruiters think of memberships in professional journalism organizations? Do they even mean anything? Should or shouldn't I put NAHJ on my résumé (i.e. is it worth the extra "professional memberships" line?)

Sara

A: It is helpful to belong to journalism organization, especially if you do some work as a member and take advantage of the networking opportunities.

Membership in an organization says something about your interests and initiative. Belonging to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists likely says something about your ethnicity. To newspapers that are trying to better reflect their communities, that can be helpful, as Latinos are one of the most under-represented groups in newsrooms.

It does not hold, though, that if one organization is good, two must be better and a dozen must be great. We wonder about people who join everything in sight -- especially is they are active in none.

E-mail applications?

Q: I've sent out a number of résumés by e-mail. I just wonder how truly receptive are editors to receiving resumes, cover letters and clips this way?

R.B.

A: Good question. My guess is that you have not had as many responses as you’d like, or you wouldn’t be asking. I don’t know about other recruiters, but I get about 150 e-mails a day. Most are trash and I spike them without opening them. Your application will look like spam if the subject line is blank or too generic.

Once opened, e-mails look like spam if they are not addressed to a specific person (the one you’re e-mailing).

Your e-mail will also get junked if it is just a sentence or two long and carries attachments along with it. We know that we can download little bugs and critters by opening attachments; it is inconvenient to open a lot of attachments (which can be so large they plug up our e-mail folders, anyway) and it can be difficult to navigate among several open items at a time.

If you avoid these traps (ineffective subject lines, generic letters, lots of attachments), you’ll have a better chance of getting someone’s attention by e-mail.

Hard-copy mail is still more effective, unless the editor specifically requests e-mail.

How to list small papers?

Q: When people list small-newspaper jobs on their résumés, is it necessary to include specific information about that newspaper? For example, under Columbia Missourian should it say something like "Award-winning daily newspaper with a circulation of X,XXX and lab newspaper for MU School of Journalism?" I guess this question only comes into play when you've worked at a small or student newspaper that might not be that well known. I've started a résumé-design service and I don't want to give any of my customers the wrong advice.

Becky

A: I would give some details about small newspapers. It’s sort of like the Associated Press’ philosophy of putting state names with all but the largest cities.

For smaller newspapers, I would make sure the city and state are obvious and I would put down the circulation. You might also add whether the newspaper is morning or afternoon and who the owner is or whether it is independent. This gives hiring editors a context by which to understand the paper and, perhaps, the kind of work done there.

 

Freelancing experience on my resume?

Q: What is the best way to put freelance experience on my resume?

D'Arcy D., Montreal

A: That depends. If you have extensive freelance work for a few publications, state the names of the publications with the time period during which you did your work. You may list the publications singly.

If, on the other hand, you have done just a few articles for each of several publications, list a job description, such as freelance writer, with the time period and the most impressive publications from your list of clients.

If freelancing is part of a resume that includes permanent, full-time positions, you'll be best to take the second approach.

Do not list your articles by headline or title. This implies that your work is not extensive, and that you are naive. Rather, state the type of work you did, such as profiles, medical features or stories on sporting events, with the relevant publication.