Joe Grimm's News Jobs Café: Ask the recruiter

47 Applications and 1 Answer?

Q: Here's my deal: I've worked at a 100,000-circulation daily for nearly seven years. Five of those in features, writing reviews and lifestyle stories. A year ago, I moved to the newsroom as a beat reporter. I'm trying to move to another paper: bigger would be nice; smaller would be OK if it's a quality paper in a scenic location. I'm applying to both news and features writing jobs. I've sent out 47 resume/cover letters. Nothing, except one e-mail request asking for more clips.

A friend suggested I join the National Association of Black Journalists to network even though I'm white. I'm not sure that would work. Tonight, a 22-year-old editorial assistant who's just came to work at our paper, told me I needed to contact recruiters.

Here's my question: Am I searching the wrong way or are there just too many laid-off journalists applying for too few jobs. My boss talks about how it's the toughest job market since 1991. But will it ever get better?

Beth

A: That lack of response can certainly be disheartening.

All the factors you mention could be at work: searching at places that are not hiring, trying to compete in a flooded market or a lack of contacts.

The only variable you can really work on is the networking. I wouldn't join any group where I might not feel like I really fit solely for the networking opportunities. Join a group like the Society of Professional Journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors or the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors. There are many more groups, for education reporting, military reporting, photography, design, editing and more. I have recruited at these groups and more. The Council of National Journalism Organizations has links to more than 60. If you're looking for a group to join, choose one where you share  goals and where you would like to get involved and make a contribution.

If you prefer not to join, you can attend the annual conference and job fair of NABJ or some other organization by registering as a non-member.

You can also meet recruiters and hiring editors at seminars, state press associations and on the job.

You might even try the kind of on-line networking that Sree Sreenivasan has written about.

Keep plugging, keep an eye open for live openings in your target areas and get out to see people.

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

Pitching Freelance Articles?

Q: I was a non-traditional student and recently earned my bachelor's degree at the age of 32. I went to college right out of high school. I went to school part-time longer than I can remember and quit school to work full-time more times than I can count. Eventually, I realized it was time to bite the proverbial bullet and went back to school with a flurry of credit hours that would have impressed some medical school students.

In between starting and finishing my English degree (writing emphasis), I worked for both a daily and weekly newspaper as a reporter (and sometimes opinion writer for the weekly). I also have some freelancing experience. Unfortunately, I don't have any professional writing experience in the last few years.

I realize you'll probably suggest some freelancing to get a few current by-lines, but I have never written professionally in the Detroit-area. I have no contacts here and don't know where to start.

Any advice you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Nathan

A: The first step toward freelancing anywhere is to analyze the publications in the market. Gather them up from newsstands and other outlets and search out the top several likeliest targets.

Read several issues of each. Learn what they publish and what the approach is like. Pay attention to the titles in bylines, which can indicate which pieces are freelanced. At the Detroit Free Press, for example, freelancers are billed as "special writers." In other publications, freelancers may be called correspondents.

Once you have identified the sections that take freelance work, come up with a couple of story ideas that suit the editorial needs you have identified.

Then look online or call to get the names of editors responsible for those sections. Call them up, ready to pitch.

Treat any assignment like gold. Get details on the editor's requirements and fill them to a the letter. It is far easier to establish a continuing freelance arrangement with an editor or two than to have to go through all these steps over and over again as you bounce from paper to magazine to Web site.

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

Job Connections?

Q: I'm a young reporter at my first paper and have done some solid work. I love journalism and want to continue to grow at a bigger paper, but I don't have many contacts outside of the paper I currently work for. I didn't do a series of internships like most young reporters and I didn't go to a college known for its journalism program. My journalist friends, who took the more traditional route, are landing great jobs based on WHO they know at papers where they used to intern. But their clips and writing aren't better than mine. What approach should I take as I look for a new job? Should I speak with more experienced reporters at my current paper to help guide me through? To refer me to their contacts at other papers? Any advice would be appreciated.

Gina

A: Is it who you know or what you know?

Clearly, it's both.

You need to build a network. Start with colleagues who seem up to helping you with some introductions. Competitive people won't help, so don't spend much time wishing they would.

Join a journalism association, do some work for it and try to get to its convention.

E-mail people who can help you and ask for advice, as you have done with me.

Follow the industry news so you know what is going on.

Pay attention to where people go as they leave your paper or move around. They should be part of your network, too.

Breaking in as a freelancer?

Q: Since I finished college in May, 2005, I've worked at two smallish dailies in my company. I'm definitely not ready to leave my current job yet, but I would really like to try my hand at freelancing on the side.

I did this once before during my last semester of school, because our assignment was to write, pitch and get a piece published. Luckily, mine made the front cover of the weekly paper I chose and I was paid.

My company does permit us to write on the side as long as the stories aren't for competing publications. How can I break into freelancing for a magazine or other publication without too many connections to other working journalists? How do I explain to my sources that I'm writing a story without being affiliated with the publication I want to pitch it to? I would be grateful for any information you can give me.

Hoping For More Experience

A: This can work. It sounds like your company has an accommodating freelance policy.

Begin by choosing a publication that you can write for more than once. It is not efficient to invest a lot of time in researching and pitching to be a one-hit wonder.

Once you have a publication picked out and have studied a few issues, find out who handles the freelancers and pitch your story. As you don't have much a of a network, you will be building one. This person will be part of ity. If they agree to consider the article, tell sources, "I am freelancing an article for Magazine X." I can tell you would not imply that you are a staffer for it.

Isolated bureau reporter?

Q: Five months ago, I accepted a position as the first-ever correspondent for a regional paper in a different state from where I report. I expected to be challenged and have been. It's hard to know which stories to cover and how to expand local issues into regional issues but I'm learning.

I am also learning I want to work in a newsroom with editors who want to coach their reporters. Now I work independently, a lone wolf in an office an hour from the newsroom with editors who are unfamiliar with my town's issues and stressed enough helping the reporters in the main office.

I like where I live and I like my job, but I am frustrated. I don't feel like I am improving, nor do I feel like I'm helping the paper. How can I find a newsroom that will offer as many challenges but also help me through them? Should I look elsewhere or are there basic resources to top into that I have overlooked?

How can I best find a newsroom that wants to coach reporters who are inexperienced? I am happy to educate myself outside of work but I don't know where to turn.

Lisa

P.S. You maintain an excellent Web site. I wish there were more like it.

A: I feel for you.

Hindsight being 20-20, you now see the flaw in being a one-person bureau.

But now that you're in the situation, make the best of it. At least you like your job and where you're working.

You simply have to build a network -- and you'll be doing most of the work yourself. Start with others at the paper, both editors and colleagues. Extend yourself to show up there, even if it means stretching your day. Take in some social activities, try to get to the main office for meetings or any kind of learning opportunities. Use the phone and e-mail to build a network. Pay attention to the best writing at the paper and introduce yourself to the peers whose work you most respect. Don't be an island.

Build a network where you live. The best reporting happens outside the office, of course, and you have been handed a good opportunity to immerse yourself in your community. While maintaining your journalistic distance, learn your beat from the perspective of people in that town who seem sharp. Seek out the people who have been around as well as the ones who have a different take on things. The best way to learn journalism, of course, is by doing it and when editors' time comes up short, learn from the issues you're covering.

Hang in. Make this job last a solid year. When it is time to move, go for a paper that has a learning culture -- and get a job near other staffers, while maintaining your habit of immersing yourself in the community.

Do others who have been in this situation have suggestions?

Use my connection?

Q: I applied for a position with an agency that it closely connected with my current job. I know the director and have worked with her on shared cases, and I know she is aware of my qualifications and experience. I submitted my cover letter and resume a week ago.

Is it acceptable for me to contact her directly since I know she will ultimately be the one who interviews and hires for this position?

Rebecca

A: Absolutely.

It always seems strange to me when former students or other people who I know well become quite formal, start addressing me as Mr. Grimm or going through artificial channels.

If the director wants you to birddog someone else, she'll tell you.

Friend's help in landing job?

Q: A friend from my newspaper got hired at another paper this week. Now, her new paper has posted an ad for another position. I'm thinking about applying for the position. But would her newspaper be less likely to hire me because they wouldn't want to take another reporter away when my paper is down one? Do editors care about considering a job candidate when they just hired away her co-worker who worked from the same paper?

If I do apply, should I use the same references she used, or none from my current paper? I would have chosen one of the same editors she used.

I realize I could get eliminated for not fitting the requirements of the job opening.

Anonymous

A: If your friend is very new there -- and if you don't quite meet the requirements of the job -- it would be best to wait. If, in a month, they still haven't filled the spot and your friend has had enough time to make a good impression, it may be time to apply. Using the same reference could be a good thing if the first hire went well.

Editors typically do not care very much if they take a couple good people in a row from the same paper. The exceptions would be if it is another newspaper in the same chain or if the editors know each other informally.

How do I stay in touch?

Q: I'm interning at a 60k daily until the end of the year. Is it too early to start reconnecting with editors I've met in the past year? Several of them told me to keep in touch -- I just don't know what I should be doing when I'm not really available for a few more months. I've seen lots of interesting job listings lately, but my impression is that they're usually looking to fill them quickly. At the same time, if I wait till three months till the end of the year, will the holidays and vacations make it tricky to land a job?

N.H.

A: They said stay in touch; stay in touch.

You don't need to wait until you think they might have an opening you can immediately fill. That's a guessing game you can't easily win. Instead, maintain the connection, even when neither you nor they are looking to do anything immediately. You'll have better luck if you try to stay on their radar screens than if you try to blip in at just the right moment.

Keeping job lead warm?

Q: Do you have any tips on ways to keep contacts at papers warm while the hiring market is cold? What kinds of conversations should I consider when keeping in touch?

Brendan

A: This is a very good question, especially in a hibernating economy.

You want to find a place that is closer to persistence than to pestilence.

I would use three kinds of communication. Periodically, every couple months, perhaps, send in a piece of your best work or news on a promotion or new opportunity, re-expressing your interest. Keep this letter short and informal so that the editor will be clear you are touching base, but not expecting a response. Every three months or so, call or e-mail and ask whether there are any openings on the horizon.

Finally, and only if it is practical, try to visit once or maybe twice a year for an informal catch-up. In a visit or phone call, ask whether you, as a candidate, are someone the newspaper would interview for an opening right now. If you’re not, it is best to know that and to ask what steps you should be taking now to move into the next-ready category.

It would be a shame to pepper the editor with clips and e-mails, only to find out that, in the newspaper’s judgment, there is a long waiting list in front of you.