Since becoming the Detroit Free Press' recruiter in 1990, my work and the journalism industry have changed in unexpected ways. The transformation is rapid. One benefit is that I now learn from and help other Gannett recruiters. NewsRecruiter.com is a hub site that helps keep everything organized. It tells you what I am up to, it links to my latest work and it is a test site for new projects. My best ideas have always come from you, so please write.
>more bio
>resume
>e-mail
>twitter
|
A student asked me last week how important a person's journalim school is to a person's career.
I gave have my standard answer: I can find average candidates at great universities and great candidates at average universities.
The secret for students is to get into the best school they can -- and to the work as hard as they can.
I was just talking with a friend of mine who teaches journalism within a communications department. They are looking at curricula and the classic debate of theory vs. practice.
It occurred to me that while most oxymorons, like army intelligence, are at least two words long, there is a candidate for one-word oxymoron.
It is "collegial."
On campus at the Medill School of Journalism last week, I ran into two young friends. They are first-year students.
She asked him how hard his schedule is.
He said it is easier now that he has dropped his hardest class.
Later, we saw the professor in that class running on campus. The student said that the professor is good and that he was the only reason that the student almost stuck with it.
I wish he had.
I care more for people who work hard -- even if it hurts their grades. And truly good professors are golden.
Have you noticed how universities all over have eliminated one of our seasons?
The cold one.
Schools everywhere list three terms: fall, spring and summer.
It seems like a widespread case of wishful thinking.
We are right in the middle of what should be your busiest month for internship applications. The first deadlines will be Nov. 1, believe it or not.
I applaud journalism schools that make internships a requirement of graduating. I do not, however, approve of programs that do little to help students get them, prepare for them or evaluate them. Nor do I like program that tell students they don't need to chase internships until they are juniors or senikors.
Students should get as much experience as they can and schools should earn the tuition moneythey collect by helping with that.
The University of Missouri School of Journalism's Honor Medals went to an interesting group of people Tuesday.
They included a photojournalist, a couple of broadcasters, a citizen journalist, marketers and a food writer.
Each was scheduled to give a master class on campus.
Attention collegiate copy editors: The deadline for winning $1,000 or $2,500 in the American Copy Editors Society headline writing contest is Oct. 15. Go to www.copydesk.org.
Who knows? Your pay per word could putyo at the top of the journalism game.
I don't like ratings of academic programs.
After more than 15 years of interviewing on college campuses, I am convinced that rankings mean very
little. Wonderful talent has come from no-name schools and great programs have produced duds. Far more important than your program's reputation or ranking is your individual effort/
So, I read with interest the Michigan Daily article by Daniel Strauss that the Ross School of Business' MBA program has slips in The Wall Street Journal rankings from first to seventh.
The WSJ ranking is based on reports from 4,430 business company recruiters, who seem to have felt that the UM students were arrogant. Dean Robert Dolan said it might just be that the students received so many offers they turned down a lot of the recruiters. Well, that culd be. But he added, "I will be in touch with the people who did the survey and ask them for information on what we're doing and what we need to do."
Good, non-defensive response. But still dont like ratings.
(Michigan Daily photo by Shay Spaniola)
One career service staffer's favorite statement of the fall: "I don't know why they have to judge me by their standards."
Response Option 1: "Did you hear what you just said?"
Response Option 2: "If this is going to be a venting session, just blog about it and I'll ready it later."
The Medill School has to be the most talked-about journalism school in the country theses days.
John Levine's full-speed-ahead plan to integrate journalism, marketing and technology has ruffled students and alumni alike.
The latest examination is in this month's issue of ChicagoMag.com. Both sides of the debate seem to be calling the focus of Medill teaching a moral issue.
A fresh batch of students will be arriving in a little more than two weeks. They will be the first to go through the new program, start to finish.
|
The Best of Ask the Recruiter: Thousands of journalists Poynter Online looking for answers to career questions. How do you get ahead? What should you ask in an interview? Or insist on in a salary negotiation? What is the future for news media? The best have gone into this book. Each chapter contains an essay by a guest recruiter or journalist with experience in newspapers, TV, radio, online or academia. So, through the questions of your inquisitive peers, get a recruiter's eye view of managing your career. >Buy it
Breaking In is the insider's guide to landing and acing your newspaper internship. These are your strategies for applying, interviewing, succeeding and then using your newspaper internship to launch your career. This book is based on the www.JobsPage.com Web site, which Detroit Free Press Recruiting and Development Editor Joe Grimm created as a strategy guide to newspaper careers. Twenty news recruiters, editors and journalists have contributed to the book. >Buy it
Bringing the News Century-old postcards celebrate newsies in photographs and artwork, in groups or singly, black and white or color. The newsboys -- and girls, as well as a few adults -- are always portrayed in hard-knock ways. Feet and calves are sometimes bare. Patches cling to elbows and knees. They cover their heads with stocking caps or the floppy hats we still know as "newsboys." If there is inside you a scrappy, survive-by-your-wits newsie, you'll enjoy this collection of cards and carriers bringing news in old-fashioned ways. (Twenty-five images.) >Buy it
|