fshorr's blog

Because I am in a slightly different position then most of you (first year grad student with a full year before I graduate), this seminar affected me differently. First off, I realized that I have few, if any, of the highly marketable skills that Prof. Shorr says that all of you have. Maybe this is because I’ve only completed one semester, but either way I’ll be attempting to diversify my portfolio in the coming year. Second, I’m not in need of job in the coming weeks.

However, what I am in need of is an internship. This clearly was very important to both Ron and Amy as they both said they look very highly on practical experience. This is something I probably would have put off because I procrastinate, but now will be actively pursuing at the conclusion of the semester. In a way this applies to everyone else in the class because you all have internship experience, but also because you may have to take any job you can get because as Amy said, “I prefer to see any type of job in the industry.”

Maybe because I have a year left it hasn’t quite hit me yet, but the idea of working in a small market doesn’t really bother me. I like the idea that it’s a place where you can make mistakes and gain experience before getting where you want to go, and it seems like most of these small market jobs are just out west or in the south not really that many people going off to obscure places (I guess we’ll have to wait and see how I feel next year when I’m shipped off to Montana).

Final point. I found it interesting when Amy mentioned finding a name to attach to the email when sending out your tapes or resume’. Essentially, this is just another way of saying form a relationship. By finding the news editor’s name you are saying that you care about the job and also are attempting to connect with them beyond an anonymous basis. Although not a completely novel concept, I found that it was very useful and worth her mentioning.

Heading into last week’s seminar, I wasn’t so sure about the journalism job landscape; I kept wondering how many jobs were out there. Whenever I have told family and friends that I was majoring in journalism, they would always ask, “But isn’t that a dying industry?” Well if those same people come up to me today, I have much more confidence in telling them that journalism positions still exist for recent graduates. After graduation in May, there is a good chance I won’t be working where I want to be, but at least I know that there are journalism opportunities somewhere. To actually believe that there are jobs, I guess that I needed these seminar guests (who are involved with the hiring process) to tell me there are jobs in journalism.

The one part about this seminar (and about this class in general) that makes me most nervous is moving far away to work at a newspaper or website. I’ve never known what it’s like to be away from family and friends, and that change is definitely what scares me the most. It would be nice to catch a break and not have to move all the way to North Dakota, but it seems like finding a job around here is unlikely for a journalist starting out. I’m going to have to overcome this fear before graduation, so I can open up many more possibilities for my career.

However, the one way I can hopefully get past this fear is that I really enjoy covering local news stories, and most of the starter jobs in the middle of nowhere are small markets. I’ve done a few internships at local newspapers and websites, and I enjoy telling stories of people who nobody knows about; they can be the most fascinating stories, much more than on the national level. It is also quite rewarding to get a friendly e-mail after the story is published from the person the article was written about. Knowing that they appreciate your work is one of the best feelings a writer can get.

For this entire semester, we’ve been learning about most every subtlety and detail that relates to the practice of sports journalism, but last week, we moved on to something that has been on our minds regardless of whether we talked this semester about beat writing or sports talk radio — getting that first job. Even for those of us that aren’t graduating in December or May, it’s something that we will all be facing and it’s incredibly important that we know how to approach what is an admittedly intimidating and overwhelming process for many of us preparing to enter the “real world.” Getting into the industry is as simple as getting that first job, regardless of where it is, and moving on from there, but based on what we learned, getting that foot in the door is the most important thing.

Whether we like it or not, that first job will likely be in a small, remote area we’ve never been to before. It’s the reality of the business that you have to start at the bottom in order to make it to the top and it’s something that a lot of people in class like Joe (in his comment) seem to be perfectly fine with (being from Kentucky myself, I’ve been in enough podunk towns to know I probably wouldn’t mind it either). Better yet, it makes us better sports journalists if we’re willing to accept the reality of moving to a small town. As Josh mentioned, it gives you the chance to gain experience and grow in a more intimate environment where there is greater room for error. There’s effectively a job ladder in place for sports journalism from smaller markets to larger ones, and it exists for a reason. And as Amy mentioned, being in these smaller, unfamiliar places give us a chance to learn more about ourselves both personally and professionally.

Additionally, one thing that I really took away from this was the ability to be able to have a wide variety of skills, and it’s something we should all take to heart. This isn’t the sports journalism world that existed even ten years ago — print majors can’t be confined to reporting on events and writing about them, while broadcast majors can’t solely focus on reading off a teleprompter in front of a camera.

Finally, I, like Rick, have been told time and time again not to get into journalism from people who feel that it’s dying. While I’m still a little bit scared by the uncertainty that lies ahead, I can have confidence after Thursday’s seminar that journalism is not dying. More than anything, journalism (building off the last point) seems to be in a state of flux, and it’s a change that people are still trying to figure out how to monetize in the age of the Internet. The first jobs for all of us are out there somewhere, it’s just a matter of us being able to find them and after last week’s seminar, and I feel that’s something I’m more prepared for than ever.

I feel almost guilty about going against the grain on this one and saying that the seminar just seemed to be a bit dull and lack luster. Perhaps the almost disinterest and blasé attitude both of these speakers exuded made me in turn exhausted listening to them. I am not certain if both Ron and Amy were actually tired or if they were actually sick of talking about the industry and how to break into it as a recent graduate. Whatever the case may have been, I wish that they were more enthusiastic.

Concerning the information they both presented, it was all valid and all the same, nothing new, nothing that interesting. Haven’t most of us been told the same things: get a good demonstration of your skills on a website with a demo reel, apply like mad to small markets and hope something sticks to the wall and be prepared to work awful hours, night shifts and early, early mornings…yes, we have. And yes, it appears that most of us are in it for t he long haul and ready to take on these challenges.

The one aspect that did appeal to me was when Amy broke down how she examines a demo reel. I found this very important and informative; like a bit of juicy gossip that I luckily overheard.

All in all, the seminar was fine. I really believe that with a bit more pep and emotion, these speakers could have really engaged me more with what they were saying.

I really enjoyed hearing from Amy and Ron, not only for the valuable information they shared with us, but for their honesty. Rather than sugar-coating their work experience, they were brutally honest about just how difficult it is during the first couple of years at your first job in the middle of no where. Amy was completely willing to admit that that her first job was in a crappy place with very low income and that she is still paying off loans. I thought their honestly was inspiring because it is a testament to how much they genuinely enjoy their jobs. Amy and Ron’s honestly supports the most important thing I have taken away from all of these seminars combined. That is that you have to LOVE journalism to succeed in it because, one, it takes a lot more than any other job to get to where you want to be and two, once you’re where you want to be, you still have to be willing to sacrifice many other areas of your life with the insane hours you have to work. So, if you don’t absolutely love it, don’t bother doing it.

A valuable seminar that came just in time for job application season. It’s been fun this semester hearing from a lot of professional writers and broadcasters who were hired for their first job way back when…but it was even better meeting the kind of people who hired them. It was almost like meeting the person who reads the BU application essays before you write them.

Ron and Amy have probably seen well over a thousand resumes in their day, and they provided a great perspective on what makes people stand out: internship experience, passion, energy, and yeah, a good demo reel.

I enjoyed the optimism of the discussion, and the theme of “you have the skills to succeed, as long as you’re willing to relocate.” But I’m sure it’s not that simple. Alright, I’ll move to Peoria and work my tail off, but I have a hard time believing “small market station” means “sure, what the hell, we’ll hire a kid out of college. Come on down!”

This week at the minor league baseball job fair, there were 100 broadcasting job seekers competing for 6 broadcasting jobs. It sounds a bit extreme, but who’s to say the competition for sports reporting jobs isn’t as fierce?

So if a willingness to relocate and a solid reel aren’t enough, how do we stand out? David mentioned this in his post, and we’ve heard it all before: networking. If you know 3+ important people who would have your back as a reference, people in the industry who would tell your potential employer that you rock the house, that can be a deal maker.

There are a million journalism majors out there with a lot of the same skills as us, so we’ll need every advantage we can get — from the BU logo on our diploma to the exclusive advice from Ron and Amy.

And as Larry Ridley told us a few weeks ago, “you’ll be told more times that you can count, but you only need one yes.”

Despite the fact that I am just trying to break in to this business, it was nice to hear that I do, in fact, have some valuable skills that other people may not have. That made me feel much better about this job hunt that is driving me crazy right now.

I feel like we keep hearing the same advice over and over again, so it must be valid. It was nice to get a little extra input from the people who actually do the hiring, though. It is different to ask the questions about getting hired before you actually apply.

Other than that, I feel like I am just typing the same things I have been typing all semester. I really enjoyed Amy and Ron though. I feel like the things they said carried a little more weight just because it was coming from the people in charge. I think I’m ready to kick this job hunt into high gear now.