Horace Greeley is widely credited with having said “go west young man, go west”…little did he know that his popular expansionist term would apply to journalism students trying to find their first job….and maybe we’d have too add, “include the numbers 100 through 286 as well”….Because in all practicality, that’s where the soon to be grads are going to wind up…
Markets like El Paso, Texas, Charleston, South Carolina and ft. Smith Arkansas just crack the top one hundred so be prepared for some small time living and some big time hard work…Taking part is a sports journalism seminar recently, Bill Higgins, Sports Editor of the Cape Cod Times said that “the only thing we can predict is unpredictability… They’ll be writing, editing, a lot of night work…You’d be surprised how many people come in and don’t realize they’ll be working until 12, 12:30 in the morning…Sports is a weekend animal…”
And if the pay doesn’t scare you away it might be the age old argument,” should I take any job just to get my foot in the door”?…If you want to be on air, says John Verilli , News Director at Boston’s WBZ-TV, absolutely not…”If you want to be a sports reporter on air, on TV, I usually recommend them not become desk assistants or producers…They are very different tasks, you get pigeonholed.”
The road to working in sports journalism hasn’t changed much over the years…It may be easier than ever to find the jobs now but certainly just as hard to secure them…there are more people for fewer jobs and in the end, that may just make the product you see on air better than ever…
It’s an adventure…every journalist started the same way…you’ll have a great story someday!
19 Comments
Lia posted on December 8, 2010 at 2:26 pm
I think that this was a nice way to sort of wrap up what we’d been hearing about for the whole semester. Whether we want to hear it or not, we’ve learned that we must be open to all possibilities in this job, and that is what will get us opportunities. If we have to move to wherever, Louisiana, we must do so. If we have to be a weekend sports anchor, we must forget about going out with our friends. If we want to be in this industry, we have to work hard. To be honest, this semester’s been kind of draining listening to people telling us how we must give up familiar places, our social lives and our free time. But look at everyone who’s made it in this field. They’ve all survived and they all managed to get a life (more or less). A girl at my internship at NESN this semester told me that her boyfriend broke up with her because he couldn’t handle her hours. Her response to him was that she obviously must love the job if she’s willing to do the hours that HE can’t even imagine working. I think that we’re all in this class for a reason – because we love sports. You have to love it to be in this field. While that may be obvious to many people, it was one of the things that has become completely clear to me over the course of this semester.
If you have that love, then you’ll be able to set your heart and mind to your job and do it to the best of your ability. I think that the flip-side to all this depressing talk about never going out and sacrificing everything for your career is that we are the future of journalism. At NESN, everyone is young and smart (although they’re still working out the kinks). We have ideas about how to combine social media and sports and the Internet and sports. Even Professor Shorr had a better idea for Bill Higgins regarding the Cape Cod High School Super Bowl highlights. We’re the ones with the ideas, we’re the technology-savy generation and that’s going to give us the benefit in finding jobs. Hopefully.
Angus Dunk posted on December 8, 2010 at 5:35 pm
This seminar was a reality check for me personally with regard to the odds I’m up against in making a career of broadcast journalism. Jobs are the primary concern for all of us, especially sports broadcasters, who are struggling more with the current status of the news industry and the country’s economy. As we learned from almost every broadcaster this semester, one has to be in the right place at the right time. Bill Higgins emphasized this point too when he said, “a lot of it’s about timing.”
But now doesn’t seem to be the right time. John Verilli of WBZ-TV in Boston explained that his station has had to condense its sports department because cutbacks are necessary in the current industry. Unfortunately, sports media is the target choice to suffer.
So what can we do to standout? The main priority and objective is to focus on what makes the core of journalism, writing. John stressed the importance of having an in-depth and completely comprehensive knowledge so one can adapt to any form of journalism when applying for a job.
“I can teach people how to write for television, but I can’t teach them how to write,” said Verilli.
Bill Higgins built on this point. “You think that would be the core of what you’re looking for,” said Higgins.
I found their comments about having a strong knowledge of writing particularly interesting. Even more important was that John stressed it and he works in television. Sure, we all want to be broadcasters and just talk for a living, but the reality is that many people like to read and not just watch television. Hard copy is the basis of how many people still get their sports and news in today’s age.
Personally, I haven’t felt that the College of Communication has equipped me with sufficient writing skills for the reporting world. I placed out of basic news writing after transferring to Boston University and my two broadcast classes have given me mediocre feedback on how to improve my writing. Based on this, I plan to pursue more print journalism courses in my last year and a half at BU to make sure I’m fully immersed in this aspect of the trade before I pursue a full-time job.
I also gained a lot of vital facts on how to make myself standout on a job application when I’m up against two hundred other qualified applicants competing for the same position. John stressed to us the difficulty of simply getting your foot in the door can be. Joel asked Verilli, “How does it look to employer if you take a year off before you apply for a position in media?” John responded by saying it depends on what you do with that year off and you have to be careful if you take a path like that. Furthermore, he stressed the importance of knowing how to advertise one’s self. One needs internships on one’s resume, but also hiring an agent can be helpful according to Verilli. Whether this applies to people such as ourselves just trying to earn our first job in the media business after college, I thought the point was a creative one and pretty helpful. Agents know how to advertise and sell their talent if they decide to represent someone and can “push the envelope” in ways that we perhaps can’t. The trick is to fine someone who’s good at PR and putting a spin on things.
Bill stressed the importance of “versatility with sports journalism.” He noted, you may be covering a sailboat race in Nantucket that doesn’t have any specific interest to you, but you may be required to cover that story. Thus, as Higgins said one needs “creativity” and “passion” to survive the wide world of sports.
Taking all of this into account, it’s amazing the amount of preparation that is required from each of us to simply penetrate small sports markets. Covering high school football or hockey in these markets back in the 80’s might have been last pick of the litter in those days for sports broadcasters. However, with the number of people applying to small town markets that seems awfully good, even if it’s in Guilford, Connecticut or Ithaca, New York.
Having Bill and John come into class was of great value for me. When I do apply for jobs I’ll have a better idea of what a news director or editor is looking for from me.
Matt Goisman posted on December 8, 2010 at 6:07 pm
It’s strange: when Kirk Minihane and Joe Haggerty kicked off the seminar series, they announced that newspapers were “toast.” And yet the skill that newspaper writing requires above all else- the ability to WRITE- is still alive and kicking. This whole seminar series can perhaps be seen as learning the ways in which the traditional skills of print reporting will translate to the multi-media world we will undoubtedly immerse ourselves in. Write well, and you’ll be hired somewhere.
And as much as newspapers may be declining, even Professor Shorr has admitted that in some of these smaller markets- the ones we’ll start off in- that decline will be more gradual, or perhaps non-existent. Sure, Charleston might be a small market. But no one outside of there is going to cover the RiverDogs, class A affiliate of the Yankees (although a Yankees beat writer might occasionally give them a line or two in a notebook article). So if you’re willing to cover the RiverDogs, at least for awhile (and why not? That oh-so-important love of sports that Lia mentioned should translate to the minor leagues), there might be a position for you at the Charleston Post and Courier or on WCBD. And if you can do it well, if you can approach it with the same professionalism that you would a Yankees game, then that could be the first step in reaching the big markets we all dream of. Remember Kevin Walsh: whatever you do, shine.
This was a great final seminar (or second-to-last), because it drove home the need for multiple skill sets (reporting, writing, shooting/editing, etc.) in order to get that first job. Bill Higgins made it clear to us that sports journalism is a very demanding field. It requires long hours, irregular schedules, and few days off. But Mike Muldoon said way back when that if you do what you love, it doesn’t feel like work. Cliched, but hopefully we’ve all had that experience already. Personally, I salivate at the thought of staying up late covering an NBA game, then going into the locker room to meet the coaches and players, and then getting to tell the story my own way. And if it takes til 4 AM? Well… that still beats working in an unheated retail warehouse during the holiday shopping season.
Jake Safane posted on December 8, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Unfortunately I didn’t get as much out of this week’s seminar as I hoped, but that’s mainly because most of the advice for getting a job has been addressed by other journalists in the earlier classes.
Even though it’s obviously hard to make it in this business, it’s good to know that we’re ahead of where these prospective employers think we might be coming out of college. We already know that we need to be prepared to start small and be able to work in a variety of subjects, and most of us have internships and can write, shoot, and edit. If anything, hearing how behind the Cape Cod Times is on the multimedia front gives me encouragement, because even if I have to start small, I know that there are places where I can offer a unique skill set and really add something to a company.
On the other hand, this seminar also gives me pause because even though I have an idea of how to get a job, I’m not positive I’ll be able to handle the hours. Most of the journalists that came in seem burnt out and have work as the primary time-consumer in their life, and I don’t want that to happen to me. Yeah it’s cool to work in sports, but not at the expense of being dead tired every day. Hearing Bill and John reminded me that bosses want to squeeze everything out of their employees that they can without much concern for our personal lives. Bill commented that if you can’t cover an assignment because your family’s in town then you’re going to get passed over next time around. This seems pretty harsh to me.
All I can say is that from what I heard in the seminar, I think I can work in this field and do it well, but I don’t know how long I can sustain the lifestyle. I’ll give it a try for a year or two, but I’m prepared to take my talents to another field if need be.
Francis posted on December 8, 2010 at 10:58 pm
I came away from this seminar encouraged that I may find a job when I leave BU in a few months. Listening to Bill talk about a medium-sized paper like the Cape Cod Times, ideas were running through my head about what I could offer them that they don’t currently have. Professor Shorr said it afterwards that most of these people are scared of us and they should be. It really would have been easy to cover the D-Y playoff game and post something to the website to drive traffic to the site. I did that all summer so it wouldn’t be anything new to me.
That also has me looking for jobs with on-line newspapers who are looking to do that kind of stuff. I never thought I would be looking at newspapers for jobs, but I think if you can do this stuff on-line, you are going to have a job for a while, even if the printed version of the newspaper becomes extinct.
As for on-air jobs, even though John pretty much ended any hope I had of staying in the Boston area, I’m open to the fact I may have to move away for a few years to get my start. I was talking to my aunt and uncle recently about the job search and living in Binghamton, NY, they knew a little bit about small market sports reporters. Even just as viewers, they can see that people only go to places like Binghamton for a year or two to cover the Mets’ AA affiliate and then leave for bigger markets.
Now I have to go find 10-15 stand up clips for my montage.
Joel Senick posted on December 9, 2010 at 12:03 am
I think if there is one theme that has been hammered into our heads this semester, it is that to get into this business, we have to be willing to go anywhere, do anything and accept any sort of pay. Forget about college, it’s the actual job that applies the “weeding out” process, as we have heard from former guests that many people realize they cannot handle what the job throws at them.
I agree with Jake in that I too have questioned if I really want to join the news media profession. Hearing about the lives (or lack there of) of the guests that have come through, it seems like journalism is going to be a young persons profession, not just because of evolving technology, but human energy. I can accept the fact that I will have to move to a small market and I am not too hung up on the fact that my salary will be low, but I am not sure how I will react to the hours of the job. I guess we will find out (hopefully).
I asked John about the cons of taking time off between graduation and job hunting. His answer was honest, and I talked to him about the issue afterward. He admitted that even if you are doing something productive, you still need to produce some sort of news to keep yourself current, not matter what the situation is. Even though it may be a tough situation, the editing software and tools of today make this at least a possibility for a prospective journalist. I am not sure if this could have been done as easy 20-25 years ago (speaking specifically to the broadcast field).
It may be cliché, but it seems that if you really want it bad enough, you will at least be given the opportunity to make it in the news/sports media business.
Tristan Hobbes posted on December 9, 2010 at 11:14 am
I agree with Lia.
If we all don’t know it yet, you have to LOVE this job in order to do it. That love transcends everything else. If you don’t enjoy what you are doing, don’t do it. And with the hours this kind of job requires, it would be foolish to think you can get by without loving it.
While this seminar wrapped up most of what has been said this semester, I still found some things interesting. Maybe it’s just me, but it appears that once you get the job, its a piece of cake after that as far as quality of work goes. Bill Higgins talked about the cover letter’s head reads for those applying to the Cape Cod Times and how he doesn’t even read on if there is a mistake in it. I laughed to myself because I spent my summer on the Cape opening the Cape Cod Times and seeing error after error in nearly every article! This includes headlines, player names, scores, standings, anything you can think of, just wrong. Maybe its just me but I feel once you’re in, you’re in.
But getting in is the hard part and, honestly, after this seminar I don’t think I want to work for a local news station to do sports. I have no problem moving to a deserted area of the United States to cover tumble-weed bowling (doesn’t really exist…or does it) but I am sure as hell not going to bust my ass and only get three minutes of air time! What’s the point!? Clearly, my main goal is to become a play-by-play broadcaster so that skews my judgment, but how does that make anyone want to be a sports anchor?
I know you have to start small to move up in the world but it just doesn’t seem right. But then again, I don’t have any chance to get any of these jobs because I didn’t do an internship at NESN or Comcast or WEEI…we get it, we need to do internships!
And Fran, if you need any help with that montage let me know!
Adam Silvers posted on December 9, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Listening to Professor Shorr rattle off the names of towns I’ve never heard of, let alone been to, never hit me harder than it did after last weeks seminar. Maybe I just needed to hear it from a different voice, but I finally realize, and am starting to get comfortable with, the idea of moving to a small market in order to start my sports broadcasting career.
It now appears that this is inevitable, but also necessary, because I would rather make mistakes and learn from them at a station where not too many people are listening, then get my first big market job and not be prepared. We all have the basic tools to be the one-man band in a small market. We can all write, shoot, edit, and post to the web and while it may not seem like a big deal to us, it really is if you listen to guys like Bill Higgins from the Cape Cod Times. Most of us already touched on it in earlier posts but I feel like it can’t be stressed enough, we scare the traditional mediums of news and in these smaller markets they are still working with traditional mediums and there is definitely not an advanced online department, if any online department at all.
We have been given a great gift to study sports journalism in one of the greatest sports cities in the world, so lets bring that education and motivation with us wherever we go, because chances are they’ll be better off with us.
I’m finally comfortable with moving somewhere I’ve never heard of to cover sports because that’s my dream, and I’m determined to work hard and find my way back to the east coast at some point.
So get ready Walla Walla, Washington, and the likes….here we come.
Ben posted on December 9, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Lets all be honest here and say this has probably been on all our minds since the start of the course. If your like me, its been on your mind since way before that. Like Jake, I didn’t get a ton of new out of this week simply because almost everything mentioned has been talked about in previous sessions. We’ve heard you need to be willing to go anywhere to make it in the business. We’ve heard that your going to work bad hours and your social life will suffer because of it. We’ve heard we need to get internships now (useful advice considering most of us are a semester from graduating). I suppose this seminar hammered those points home, but really I think they were pretty well ingrained in us already. The question that remains is are we willing to do those things to make it. I don’t think its a question we can answer right now because its impossible to know until we’re actually in that position. Maybe 4 months into a job there will be a night where you ask yourself is it really worth it. Or maybe 8 months into not finding a job you’ll need to ask yourself if you’re really cut out for it. But my point is, I think you can only answer those questions when you’re actually in that position.
The one thing I took away from this seminar was how much our reels/resumes need to impress for us to even have a chance. John mentioned how many responses he got from a simple job as an online sports producer. Both mentioned that they almost never take the time to view everything an applicant sends them and if they aren’t blown away right off the bat by you, then chances are they’ll move to the next applicant without giving you a second glance. The biggest thing I got from this is we need to stand out right away or we’ll get passed over (not sure a montage of over a dozen stand ups is the best way to do that, but…)
Another thing that caught me was when John mentioned that if we take an off-air position (producer, PA) then we’ll likely be type-cast in that role throughout our careers. Something to keep in mind, because there may be a time when we’ll have to make the decision between on-air and off-air.
Katie posted on December 9, 2010 at 3:14 pm
One of the only things I’ve heard two ways about the news industry is whether you should go into a job just to get your foot in the door, or whether you should hold out for the job you really want. When I was interning over the summer at a news station, I asked one of the reporters about this. She looked me straight in the face and asked me why I would waste time as a producer if it wasn’t what I loved and really wanted to be doing, and especially because there’s always the chance I either won’t be able to move up, or it will take much longer than I’d like. I was glad to hear this echoed by John Verilli, because that gave the extra bit of encouragement to set the bar high and not just take a job I won’t be happy with.
Something the guests said that took me a little by surprise was the insistence that cover letters be addressed correctly. Do people really send cover letters that aren’t specific to the person or place they’re applying?? I feel like COM has taught us better than that, it should be common sense. I was glad to hear, though, that both guests actually took the time to look through the properly-addressed resumes and tapes, not just glanced through and decided that you’re not right for this on-air job because of something superficial or because they weren’t paying attention. Obviously looks are important for on-air jobs, as is voice as poise, and obviously, as Ben said, you do have to stand out, but it was nice to hear they were careful with selections.
As far as having to start in the middle of nowhere, that was nothing new to hear–I’ve been hearing that for years now. And I’m well prepared to start in a small town. While I’m currently dreading putting together a reel and sending out applications, I’m going to focus on trying to get a job somewhere in North Carolina so I can live with relatives while I make zero money and try to get on my feet. As everyone has said above, working in this field takes dedication above everything else–you need the experience, you need to put the time in, but once you get where you want to be it will all have been worth it. You won’t be stuck in a small town forever.
Jack Flagler posted on December 9, 2010 at 3:15 pm
At the beginning of this year, I recognized that I would be moving outside of Boston to start my sports journalism career, but I put together a list of places I could live. The pacific northwest seems nice…so do college towns like Ann Arbor, Madison and Austin.
Now, there’s no list. I recognize that even though I was at peace with leaving Boston for a while and then making my way back, even narrowing it down to a few cities is setting the bar too high. As others have said on these blog posts and in the seminar series, if you love the job the location is moot. Plus, Lake Charles, Louisiana is only a couple hours from Baton Rouge – and I’m sure the rent is dirt cheap!
I totally agree with Tristan’s point about “once you’re in you’re in.” We all know we can write. We all have at least some technical skills which will be rare in the small markets we’re heading to. Even though Bill and John spent a lot of time talking about how hard this business has become, I still left that seminar with a sense of confidence. Not just because I want to be good at my job, but because if I really excel in a small market it means I’ll be there for a shorter amount of time. And although I’ve talked myself into going to Lake Charles, El Paso or Bangor, the quicker I can move on from those towns the better.
Laura posted on December 9, 2010 at 4:19 pm
This just in from the Baseball Winter Meetings: there are jobs (in baseball) EVERYWHERE! (Also Ken Rosenthal likes to eat animal crackers with his lunch, Johnny Damon is rocking the off-season mohawk, and Kevin Millar is freakishly tan.) Anyway, the points Bill and John, as well as Professor Shorr, have made were reiterated all weekend at the workshops at the meetings. I almost felt I was sitting in one of our seminars because I heard, you need to start from the bottom, you need to be willing to move anywhere, and you need to be able to do it all. The most important part of any of these first jobs or internships though is proving yourself. You have to work harder, volunteer longer, and complain the least. Employers will take note and see your potential to move up.
I’ve also learned that qualities like self-motivation and loyalty as well as going above and beyond what is asked of you is sometimes more important than what it says on your resume. We all have the opportunity to get jobs with the training we’re leaving BU with, but it seems it is the attitude you take into those jobs that will really set you apart though. The ability to not pigeon-hole yourself into one niche position is vital when we’re just starting out because doing a phenomenal job at one position you might not have been looking for has the possibility to move on to bigger and better opportunities. If I’ve learned anything from this entire seminar or even the people down at the winter meetings, it is that you have a passion, are willing to work hard at it, and take advantage of all opportunities you are given you will succeed
Jillian posted on December 9, 2010 at 4:34 pm
I don’t know about anyone else, but I find it kind of ironic that the two guests we had in to discuss ‘getting the first job’ were from two of the mediums that have been slowly declining in recent years – newspapers and local TV sports. Since high school I have always wanted to be on-air, even then knowing that I would have to start out small and work my way up. But lately, in the past year-and-a-half of graduate school, my dreams and goals have completely changed. Like Tristan, I no longer want to do on-air local sports coverage, and for the exact reason he said – all that work for only two minutes! I am much more interested in looking towards the online and multimedia side of sports journalism. I feel like this is where I can really put my education and talents to use. When you are online you can write, you can podcast, you can make video packages, you can put together slide-shows or photo galleries…the possibilities really are endless.
Now, in order to get all these opportunities I realize I will likely still have to start out small. For example – go to a minor league sports market and work with a specific team to revamp and upgrade their website. This would give me an opportunity to be in sports, be creative and be versatile. Like some other classmates have mentioned, it’s encouraging that we have all these different dimensions to offer as journalists that a lot of people currently in the field are still trying to figure out. We can do, as one person, what might have been costing a team or station three people. It’s important that we make this information stand out when applying for jobs.
As far as people who are concerned about long hours and weekends and not having a social life – I say get over it and just try to enjoy the ride because, honestly, it won’t stay that way forever. You just have to pay your dues at the beginning for the first few years to prove yourself until that big break comes along. And if you can’t wait it out or push through then maybe that shows that this isn’t the right field for you, but at least then you can still say you tried. Because, really, what better time than now to throw caution to the wind and take a chance in this field? We are in our 20s with nothing tying us down! Personally, I can give a few years to pursuing my dreams before I worry about having “a life.” John and Bill and every other guest we’ve had in these seminars started out this exact way, and look at them now – most are happily married with families and lives. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Finally, I’d like to share with everyone a great resource for sports job postings. If you aren’t signed up already, you need to go to http://www.teamworkonline.com immediately and set up an account, it’s free. You add your name and email and then can go through and set your notification preferences. This pulls down a complete list of job fields that you can click through and choose what interests you. Once signed up you will get around 20 emails a week each containing job post suggestions based on your notifications. These jobs range from the minor leagues (Camden Riversharks of the Atlantic baseball league) all the way up to the majors (Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA). It really helps you find those hidden small market teams that you may have never heard of, but could end up being the best experience of your life. GOOD LUCK 🙂
Emily posted on December 9, 2010 at 4:44 pm
I am right with Jillian. Right out of undergrad, I had never worked a day in my life. Swimming was my job, and upon graduating I was lost. I was lucky enough to land a job at FOX in LA and loved it. It took me two years to decide that I needed to go back to school. Yet, my direction has completly changed. I change my mind everyday about what I want to do and as many time as I hear it, I am finally believing that only a few people are in the job that they wanted right out of school. Those people are lucky. CNN has said that the average person changed their career at least five times. While, that sometimes scares me, I try to look at it as an adventure.
The old adage says that life twists and turns perfectly with your experiences. Each experience you have is a learning experience, those then become pieces of wisdom. Graduate school is not necessarily about the finals or the tests, it is about the contacts that you make and the oppotunities that you have. If you take advantage of those, everyone in this class should have a job at the end of the year. This class has been a great experience; some of the speakers have been better than others, but each person in there is a valuable person to know, to have spoken with and maybe we will run into them again, down the road.
Brad Kasnet posted on December 9, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Until I find a better job, I will always wonder if it was the right decision to leave the job I had to come to grad school at COM. I’ve seen first-hand 250 resumes come in for a single opening and it drives home the point that sometimes its better to be lucky than good. As one of our guests said, sometimes it really is all about timing. You never know when you’ll be somewhere that a higher-up will leave and suddenly you find yourself filling in for them and proving yourself in a larger role. At the same time, it’s important not to get discouraged when you see it happen to someone else and a door you thought might open suddenly closes.
When it comes to looking for jobs, I’m a bit more stubborn about where I’ll move to, so I’m more open to the different types of work I’ll do. Whether it’s broadcasting, print journalism, media relations or video production, I’m hoping that I’ll be able to cast a wide enough net that I’ll be able to reel something in.
I’ve also seen people take jobs in offices or retail and just work on the side as a broadcaster or journalist. Again, I’d rather be working in sports full-time – even if it’s not in the role that would be my first choice – then just do a little work on the side in a role that I really like. It may be a better way to get a break in the job you really love, but it’s a break that may never come either way, so I’d rather at least set myself up for a career that I enjoy in sports.
A lot of people leave the industry because it really is a miserable job to have with a family. Employers can afford to keep these jobs this way because they know there is no shortage of people willing to step in if someone leaves. It’s important to know what you’re getting into. Besides, as bad as it seems to spend nine straight Saturdays working, you’re getting paid to watch a basketball game that most people are paying to see. There are worse ways to spend a weekend.
Molly posted on December 9, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Last fall, I completed an internship with the Harvard Department of Athletics. I worked primarily within the marketing department: planning in-game promotions, writing PA scripts and working most home games. It would be an understatement to say that the internship was time-consuming and exhausting, as many are. Being that it was also my first direct experience in the field, I absorbed as much as I could, and loved every minute of those four months. At a recent interview, I was asked: “What were your expectations before starting your internship at Harvard?” I was puzzled, and at best, unsure of the answer my potential future boss was anticipating.
After last week’s seminar, I realized just how much preconceived notions about our first job, in any sports communication capacity, are just that. I went into that internship with little to no expectations, and learned more than I would have in any classroom. Although I would love to stay in Boston, or move toward Philadelphia and closer to home, I realize that in this business you have to be willing to move in order to take that first step. And after the hard adjustment of a move across country or into an area unknown, you’ll have to work hard and focus on your job and future career more than you ever have before.
John Verilli made a statement when he urged us to not take a production or assistant position if what we really want to do is be in front of the camera. He explained how settling for something other than what you want to do will only hold you back from getting to or heading toward the career you want.
Bill Higgins made one comment that stuck with me. He said, “Ignorance is sometimes the best way to go into a story.” I think this statement is true, beyond just a story. Maybe ignorance is the best way to approach any expectations about your future employment.
Needless to say, now when I look back on how I approached that question in the interview, I did take Bill’s advice. My answer was along the lines of the following:
“I didn’t have any expectations. It was my first real work experience in the field, and I can now say that gained firsthand insight into long hours, hard work and a small social life. But most importantly, I learned what it will take for me to be successful in my future career.”
Lose the expectations. Don’t settle for a job if it isn’t the one you really want. Be willing to move, anywhere. And remember, the real, hard work starts once you get there.
Seth posted on December 9, 2010 at 5:32 pm
The biggest conclusion I arrived at after this seminar was the significance of the cover letter. Cover letters have always been a bit of a mystery to me. When I asked what I should include, people would stare at me with blank faces and say, “Well try to show that you know something about the employer. Write about who you are.” I’m not someone who enjoys bragging or marketing myself but it seems like in this market, you have to take every chance to get ahead. And after listening to John Verilli and John Higgins I feel like I have a better idea of cover letters and marketing myself. After listening to Higgins especially, I know that illustrating all of the multi-media skills I have won’t be seen as bravado but as a new opportunity for both myself and potential employers. Being able to do everything from writing for print, radio and TV, to producing video and radio packages, to even putting together audio slideshows, can help convince an employer to give you a chance. Even though you’re not likely going to be able to show off all those skills in a reel or a resume website, seeing those skills on paper might give you that needed leg-up in the job search.
The seminar was great because it really made me eager to begin the process and pointed me in the right direction. I know that at this point I’m not where I need to be to be employed. I don’t know if I’ll ever put together a reel with 10-15 standups in a montage but I know that I need more standups, more recorded calls and more published pieces to show off what I can do. But that’s the beauty of this course, better to find out now rather than later! I’m looking forward to taking every spare moment I have this winter break and next semester to make myself employable. Instead of being potentially turned off by the hours (which is understandable) like Jake and Joel, I want to start now and show to some degree I can take the long hours and stress.
The best part of this seminar though was how it opened my eyes to all the jobs that I could possibly fill. Like Fran I never expected to apply to a job with a newspaper as a broadcast journalism graduate, but why not? Play-by-play jobs are hard to come by, why not utilize all the skills I’ve learned over the past four years and try to free lance as a broadcaster. Another interesting point was when Verilli discussed not taking a potential job as a producer if you ever want to get on-air. I don’t think I want to go into TV, especially not right away, but as Katie said it was nice to know how people in the industry might see it. We’re about to reach the holiday season/vacation for everyone, but I for one can’t wait to utilize my winter break broadcasting games, writing for the web and putting together my reel.
Chris posted on December 9, 2010 at 5:58 pm
THIS JUST IN LAURA: WE KNOW YOU WENT TO THE BASEBALL MEETINGS. CONGRATULATIONS. NOT EVERYONE HAS THE MONEY TO GO TO ORLANDO FOR A WEEK THAT MOST PEOPLE HAVE 25 PAGE PAPERS DUE. WE KNOW. YOU HAVE A MILLION JOB OFFERS. CON-FREAKING-GRATS.
Moving on.
So, how about that seminar last week? If anything, it just proved what we already know: this industry sucks. It is fickle, it constantly changes, nothing is guaranteed, and you have to be willing to make nickels and dimes at the beginning to just get to a point where you can hopefully…HOPEFULLY…make a name for yourself and earn a living.
And yes, there are jobs out there, we just have to put on our big boy/girl pants and go find them. Talk to people, make connections, network (even if you’re as awkward of a social networker as I am), these are all things that I’ve been told time and time again during the course of this semester.
But the part that really boggled my mind was that Bill Higgins has the gall to tell people how to properly punctuate a cover letter when, as Tristan said, his sports editors during the CCBL season–the time of the year that his paper sees the most circulation BAR NONE–are out there making terrible mistakes, grammatical, AP style, you name it.
So then we’re sitting there after class, and Prof. Shorr makes the point that I think has never been more obvious: WE ARE SO MUCH BETTER THAN SOME OF THE PEOPLE IN THE INDUSTRY ALREADY. But the industry is so fickle that some employers may never know that because they’re just not looking right now, they’re looking for a man if you’re a woman, or vice versa if you’re a guy, etc.
It’s aggravating to think who in the business has a job already, and what they’ve done to get there. But in the end, it’s not worth complaining about it. It’s up to us go and make our reels, get them out there, follow up and keep looking. And then as Justin Kucher told us a couple Mondays ago, never aim to stay in one market for more than a year. Always keep searching for the next level, because even when you think you’re there, you can keep going. You can be better than everyone already in the market, people who might’ve gotten that lucky break and are just coasting. Those who don’t appreciate just how tough it is to find a steady job in the industry, we’ve got to go out there and outclass them and earn our position, wherever it may be.
Mallory posted on September 14, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Twitter is in no way a “new” thing – however it has now taken on a completely new purpose. No longer are people interested in the tweets about what you had for breakfast, Twitter is being used as a tool for breaking the news from anywhere. It’s a key source for this thing called citizen journalism that is sometimes seen as a threat to journalism professionals. But there’s no escaping the changing times. Social media is prevalent in every journalist’s life everyday, so let’s embrace it. Gasper and Rapoport are dominant examples of how to utilize Twitter and blogging to enhance your career, have a leg up on the competition, and to be someone everyone wants to follow.
Also discussed, was this idea of ‘Twitter etiquette.’ People follow what you tweet and have the opportunity to reply – they can either retweet (major plus because more people see your original comment) or they can reply and pick you apart. According to Gasper, Rapoport made a faux pas by tweeting from the synagogue but I completely disagree. Rapoport’s appeal is his casual, incessant tweeting. Now you can either follow him or ignore him but to call it inappropriate is just wrong. Twitter is not and never was around to strictly provide hard news. It’s a user forum, nothing is monitored or spell checked. I see it as a personal outlet, while your employers and your peers may read it, you’re not ultimately writing to appease them or need their approval – these are your thoughts in those brief 140 characters.
This seminar didn’t necessarily open my eyes to the positive and demanding impact Twitter has had sports journalism but rather reinforced that your tweets are your voice and your portal to making yourself stand out (whether that be in a positive or negative way). Tweeting has made the job of a journalist more demanding, always needing to have your PDA in hand, but since when has the job of a journalist been “easy”…