I have to admit I’m jealous…Not that I want to be 21 again but as graduation approaches and students try and find a job, I’m amazed at the opportunities…
There are two steps in securing the first position…”Finding” the job and “getting” the job….Getting the job hasn’t really changed over all these years…During the interview process you convince someone you have the skills they need…But finding the job has never been easier…
Every major media outlet lists their openings on a website…It’s as simple as clicking and scrolling…Take WHDH-TV in Boston, for example…They currently have no less than eighteen(18) jobs listed…Some full time, some part time…But 18 jobs in a top ten market? …What could be bad?
1735 DeSales Street NW, Washington DC 20036….it’s still ingrained in my brain after all these years…The address for Broadcasting Magazine, back then, the only and I say “only” source of jobs in the TV news industry…Click the link for the magazine and scroll to page 160…I did that every week…But as you’ll see, almost none of the listings told you where (or what station) these jobs were…Lots of box numbers where to send your 3/4 inch videotape resume in hopes of starting the process…Most of the times, you never heard anything, let alone got your tape back…It was kind of like applying for college…If you got a “thin” letter it meant “thank you for your interest and we’ll keep your resume on file”…
But today, sites like JournalismJobs.com and TV Jobs.Com do much of the heavy lifting….
Now it’s time for you to do your part…Matt Pepin, Digital Sports Editor for The Boston Globe recently told students at the Boston University Sports Journalism Seminar Series, “Do some research when you’re applying for a job, learn something about who the paper’s audience is before you interview”… Pam Bechtold Snyder, an Executive Producer with NBC Universal was even more candid…”Look at the station’s bio page(s), see what demographic they might need”
Perhaps selfishly, I asked Bechtold what skill she wished she had learned here at B-U that came up in her job travels…For the record, Pam was student of mine and later a teaching assistant…”I wasn’t used to the crisis mode in my first jobs” she told the students…Something for me to integrate into my teaching – time limits, last second story coverage, producing a package from start to finish “in” class perhaps…
As someone who works closely with students trying to join the workforce for the first time, I sometimes am frustrated by the desire “to get a job in Boston/New England” mindset…Let’s be honest, you’re not ready for this market and limiting your job search is not the best strategy…Employers understand that also…”(the smaller markets) are were the next talent is gonna come from”, Pepin said…The understanding being that it takes time to refine your craft and there’s a certain progression to that learning curve…For Matt it was Middletown and Poughkeepsie, New York…For Pam it was Plattsburgh, Vermont and Greenville , South Carolina…I spent my journalism formative years in beautiful downtown Malden, Massachusetts…
Now, we’d all like to think we’re ready for that first job, eager and willing to do whatever it takes…Taking the steps before the interview process is worth paying attention to…”We search their social media pages” Pepin as much as warned…That’s as much to see that you understand the technology as it is to see how you portray yourself publicly…After all, you will be a face of their station/newspaper/outlet…
There are currently 45 sports jobs listed on TVJobs.com in places like Grand Junction, Colorado, market 187, to Chicago, Illinois, market 3…JournalismJobs.Com lists some of the same jobs but among its 116 jobs listed are sixty one in newspapers and 50 in television…I know I could land one of those!…And so can you!…
I’m jealous….
13 Comments
Taylor Ventrice posted on April 9, 2018 at 12:29 pm
As a junior, people always say to me that I have so much time to figure out what I want to do and find a job. But, in my mind, I have no time at all. Graduating college with a job is my goal, and I think about it every day. This seminar with Matt Pepin and Pam Bechtold Snyder just reiterated me of everything I already have been told. I know I can get a job, but the job isn’t going to be in New York City, and I’ve been preparing myself for that huge change of scenery.
There are a plethora of jobs out there. The process seems simple and a bit redundant when you compare the process to the internship process. You apply online. They contact you if they’re interested. Then you prepare for the interview and tell them why you’re better/different from all the other candidates. “You tell them how you’d make their jobs easier,” Frank Shorr. But, the one part I’m not used to is the resume reel. I have a resume reel put together right now, but as anyone can imagine, it needs a lot of work. After listening to several of these seminars this semester, I have learned what exactly producers and managers look for when hiring talent. And that is the biggest take away I got from this past seminar. Listening to Snyder tell us we need: active standups, creative storytelling, dynamic standups with movements, show and tell, and different backdrops, put into perspective for me what exactly it is I need to do to find a job. “Show that you can make uninteresting memorable,” said Snyder, and that is what I plan to do!
Nicole Ericson posted on April 9, 2018 at 2:11 pm
Being a senior with one month left in college, I am a mix of emotions. It has come to that point where it is time to enter the ‘real world’. While I am very excited to start the next chapter of my life, I am also nervous. Throughout my years interning, I have had many responsibilities in different areas of sports organizations. I have done social media, marketing, promotions, production work and client services. However, with all of these experiences it is difficult to pick one that I want to continue to pursue.
With that being said, Matt Pepin and Pam Bechtold Snyder mentioned that being versatile was a great quality to have. This made me feel better about my resume and how I have built it over the years. My internships have prepared me for what is to come, so there is no need for me to be nervous. Pepin and Snyder made me feel more comfortable about the search for job number one. Both stated that there are jobs out there, and the key is building relationships early on. At every internship I have made it a goal to build and maintain relationships with the people I work with. Pepin even mentioned that the people you meet early on in your career can help you later on and you never know where they will lead you or what doors they might open.
After hearing what Pepin and Snyder had to say, I know exactly what digital media editors and producers will be looking for when hiring. It was a good insight into how they think and what they are looking for in the long run. Strong reels and clips are a necessity. If you don’t grab their attention in the first 10 seconds then you get sent to the bottom of the pile. But if you come off like you just get it, then you might be lucky and they will take a chance on you.
I’m ready for the next chapter of my life and after hearing what Pepin and Snyder had to say, I am ready to begin a new journey. Finding that first job may be hard, but in due time I know I will find the right fit. Until then, it’s consistently reaching out to connections and continuing to build relationships. With graduation right around the corner, it’s scary to think I won’t be heading into the summer with another internship, but this time I’m ready to find my place for the next year or two.
Ashleigh Shanley posted on April 10, 2018 at 10:46 am
If you don’t like college basketball, maybe don’t apply to a job in Raleigh-Durham,” said Pam Bechtold Snyder of NBC Universal. This point completely resonated with me during our last seminar. While Boston University has helped me improve my journalism skills in monumental ways, when I was initially looking at graduate programs I never thought about visiting places where I was really interested in their top covered sports. For me, I knew Boston is one of the biggest sports markets, so it was a no brainer for me to choose to attend BU. However, one part of my experience that has been difficult is the minimal interest in college sports. While collegiate hockey is big in Boston, the market and fans definitely focus on the city’s four major sports teams. Again, this has still been an incredible experience, but I have definitely missed my intense college sports talk a lot. As a result, when I was looking for internships over the past few months – I knew I wanted a position where I was back in the college sports realm.
So, that led me to look at opportunities at Boston College, Harvard University, and Northeastern University to start off. It was so interesting hearing Bechtold Snyder’s advice the other night because I have had the same thoughts going through my head recently. I love journalism, but I do not know particularly what area I want to focus in on. I love television – where I enjoy behind the scenes and on camera work, but I also have a lot of fun writing as well– even the range from news recaps to long, narrative pieces. So, what field I want to end up in, I’m not completely sure. However, I know for a fact I am very passionate about covering college sports.
Hearing her advice already made me think ahead to my next job after Harvard. While aiming high, I know I want to end up working in communications at a school in one of the Power Five conferences, or working in a city that reports heavily on college sports. As Bechtold Snyder said, the southern markets live and breathe college football, so if you’re interested, apply down there. This advice really did help me moving forward and organizing my career goals. While not much goes according to plan, there are still so many jobs out there waiting to be filled and so many different ways to mix my passion of journalism and collegiate sports. Looking back at our media relations seminar, both Stacey James and Matt Johnson spoke highly about starting off covering a team. And while you may not be able to tell as balanced of a story as most journalist want to, you have your foot in the door. Any way to do this just helps so much to get the experience and learn how to deal with crises that happen in reporting. And starting off as video producer at Harvard University definitely has helped me begin my career, but as for the next step – I now know I should focus on being at a school or city where college sports are the big talk of the town. Even if it is not the most ideal location, if I am passionate about what I am covering, it will help to make my work so much better. But for now, I’ll get the lay of the land with my first job and let myself gain the skills of how to best respond to crises and mistakes.
Elizabeth Pentikis posted on April 10, 2018 at 9:05 pm
https://goo.gl/sYtMwV
Matthew Doherty posted on April 11, 2018 at 1:48 pm
After interning in the Cape Cod Baseball League last summer, I realized that the path to the “majors” for a baseball player and a journalist is eerily similar. And both Matt Pepin and Pam Bechtold Snyder backed up my assumption in Thursday’s seminar.
In the Cape Cod League, both the interns (broadcasters/writers) and the players are doing the same thing; honing their respective crafts for the next level. Although the players are more popular in the moment, one of my fellow interns reminded me, “Never be afraid to talk to a player because chances are you’re going to go further in your field then they are in theirs….” I’ll never forget that.
Now back to my baseball/journalist comparison. In the Cape League, both the players and interns are “working” for free and are trying to get noticed for potential job opportunities in the future. For both parties, it’s really the last summer of freedom and innocence. A year from then, the players will leave college and get drafted to the MLB while the interns will graduate college and find a job.
One of the players on the Cape team I covered always said “See you in High A” to the other players. When a player gets drafted out of college by an MLB team, they will immediately get placed in the minor leagues, no matter how talented the they are and no matter what round they were drafted in. Every player drafted has to work their way up the system, just like in journalism.
In baseball, a first round pick will get millions of dollars and then the spend the next three years in places like West Virginia, Iowa, and South Carolina before they reach the big league club in the big city.
It’s the same in journalism. You might be the star in college and an extremely talented journalist, but chances are you will start out in a small market in the middle of nowhere and work your way up. Just like Matt and Pam did. And just like thousands of baseball players do. In other sports and fields, the top talent goes straight the big leagues, but not in baseball or journalism.
A year before I interned for the Orleans Firebirds, the organization had a star broadcaster, who was named an All-American by STAA, and a star centerfielder, who was drafted 9th overall in the MLB Draft. They spent this past summer together again…. in the middle of Idaho.
It’s funny how it works… but it does.
Jane Rose posted on April 11, 2018 at 2:42 pm
Getting the job… Something I’ve been asked about nearly everyday for the past few months, and one I have gotten to used to answering with “That’s my least favorite subject to talk about.”
A lot of the tips given in this week’s seminar with Matt Pepin and Pam Bechtold Snyder immediately brought me back to the internship I had back home in Buffalo, where I learned more than I ever could’ve imagined.
The first being Pam’s comment about the crisis behind the scenes. This summer a tornado touch down, something that is not typical for us — we aren’t Oklahoma after all. I was lucky enough to be in the studio seeing the black clouds rolling in and the mayhem that ensued. The news director took her heels off to sprint to the studio, all three meteorologists were called in, and the phones were ringing off the hook. It was chaos and I loved every minute of it. The atmosphere whenever there was breaking news was what I lived for, and convinced me I was entering the right business. With that being said, if you aren’t someone who can manage a crisis filled with screaming, swearing and running, you might want to rethink the path. You can’t learn how to thrive under pressure. None of this stuff ever happened at BUTV after all…
The second was the idea of telling an employer how to make their life easier. My mentor this summer told me how she came to her interview in Buffalo, aware of all the current news going on in the city AND with people she had contacted about it who could help with the story. She was hired on the spot as an anchor straight out of college. Unheard of. Having initiative isn’t a given nowadays, so I think when employers see that, you’re going to be irresistible.
As I’ve learned from my internship, and classes here at BU, such as newsroom and sports broadcasting, everyone has to jump in and help each other out. There is no I in TEAM when it comes to sports broadcasting (or in life in general).
Because of BU, I have mixed feelings about graduating and being an adult.
Do I feel prepared to find AND get that first job? Absolutely
Do I feel prepared to enter the real world where I have to make my own dentist appointments and do taxes? Absolutely not
Matt Dresens posted on April 11, 2018 at 3:16 pm
A reoccurring theme this semester has been “breaking into the industry.” During my sophomore year at Suffolk University, before transferring to BU in January 2017, I took and an “intro to broadcast journalism” class. While the class was pretty much exactly what you think it would be (basic script writing, radio and TV packages), there was one specific class that really stood out.
We watched a documentary on local news. It followed three students from local colleges (I think Quinnipiac and UConn, could be wrong) on their career path out of school. This was my first awakening to the fact that I will more than likely end in some unknown area of the country covering local sports.
What was so interesting in the documentary was to see how in each case the broadcasters gained valuable experience in incredibly small markets. This experience paid dividends for them and the speakers from last class. When Matt Pepin from the Boston Globe talked about the smaller markets being like the minor leagues, that really seemed to hit home with me. Time and time again, you will see players develop in ECHL and AHL before becoming stars in the NHL.
Not everyone is going to Jack Eichel out of college. Development and maturity, no matter, if it’s on the ice or in the press box, takes time and experience.
I genuinely look forward to being shipped off to (let’s be consistent here) Mankato, Minnesota and delving into the local sports scene there. Like literally any job in any field, you’re going to have to work your way up the totem pole. I know that I have the determination to be successful in their field. I also know that I won’t get paid much out of school, unlike most of my business major friends. Honestly, at the start, I’m ok with that. Sports have always been my dream, and I’m not going to let my first salary crush that dream.
I have plenty of experience working and doing a large amount of work for no pay at all. If you put in the effort and show that you really want this, you will move up. You will make more money and you will have a fulfilling career.
Laura Guerriero posted on April 11, 2018 at 8:55 pm
While I’m not currently looking for a job, I AM currently on the hunt for an internship, and boy does it feel like an uphill battle. For most positions I have been looking at, if you don’t have that high-up connection, you can rest assured you will receive either that rejection email or no response at all. 20-plus applications sent in, and I have only heard back from a handful of them, all but one flat-out rejecting me from the start. I’ve always just assumed this carries over into finding any real job post-graduation, but as we have discussed many times, the fact that this is not the case is extremely reassuring.
One thing that Pam Bechtold Snyder said that stuck out to me the most came at the end of the discussion when we have the time to go up to our guests and ask the questions we might not have wanted to ask in front of the class. Ask questions. I know, it may be something everyone already knows, and I may just be late to the party, but she stressed asking questions at the end of the interview (if and when you get one). Things like what are the company’s most important values are and what direction the company is headed in are questions I had never thought to ask. I will admit that I am new to the whole job interview thing.
Something else that stuck with me was Matt Pepin’s suggestion to send potential employers more than just your sports clips. We’ve been drilling the idea of standing out by using as many platforms as possible and doing something within sports that will make us stand out, but what if the piece that sets you apart isn’t the one you wrote about the local sports team? Good work is good work, and potential employers will recognize that.
I had the opportunity to talk to someone that works at NBC that had started out as an intern for the company last week, and when I asked her about her experience as an intern, she discussed the importance of becoming a “yes man” and how that helped her nab a full-time job at the company. She volunteered to work whatever jobs her bosses needed someone to do, and through one of those jobs, answering phones at the front desk, she was able to build connections with many people within the company. This ties into Pepin’s comment about starting networking as early as possible. Get out there and make connections wherever you can, because you never know when they will benefit you. Most of the time, these opportunities I hear people say they have had, it’s because of a connection they happen to have.
Guess I should start stepping up my LinkedIn game…
Jessica Citronberg posted on April 11, 2018 at 11:11 pm
Will it all work out?
That’s a question that I think about a lot, especially with May coming closer and closer every second. Yes, I will find a job. My first one won’t be the job I have forever and maybe I’ll have to wait tables or work retail for a few months until I find something I really love.
But in the end, it will all work out. Maybe? Yes. It definitely keeps me at night, and I’ve probably applied for around 35 jobs already.
While I’m now leaning more towards the sports marketing/sales division of jobs, the advice from Matt Pepin and Pam Bechtold Snyder was incredibly useful. Differentiating yourself from other candidates applies in any field, and being able to stick up for yourself in an interview is a key asset.
The BUTV10 show I’ve been working on since sophomore year, Offsides, just won an award. I’m really not a bragger, and just tweeting about it felt like a lot for me. I’ve been debating with my mom about how to bring this up in interviews and how to put it on my resume and professional website.
Maybe I’ll post on LinkedIn, I should definitely update my resume, but the idea of sharing this information with the world seemed a little daunting. But if I want to really be considered as a serious applicant in any field, I should be able to stick up for myself, right?
I’m definitely a humble person (although my roommate Jane might argue otherwise) and I think that’s the biggest struggle I’ve had in my job search thus far. When an interviewer asks why I deserve a certain job, I feel a little uncomfortable talking myself up.
I’ve definitely gotten better at advocating for myself through my years in COM, but I definitely still have a ways to go.
The caption on my cover photo on Facebook reads “ha lol please stop asking me about post-grad plans”
People probably won’t stop asking about it, but hopefully I’ll have an answer soon! Fingers crossed…
Andrew Mason posted on April 11, 2018 at 11:57 pm
It Will All Work Out…
Lucky for me (I think), I am not quite yet as stressed as the seniors in our Thursday Sports Seminar class with landing that first job. But as a junior at BU, I have been working frantically to find a summer internship relating to sports journalism. And while internships are both important and awesome experiences, something that can happen to upperclassmen who find themselves in “panic mode” while searching for one out of college is that they bite at the first hook. As much as I don’t want to admit it, this happened to me. All fall semester I was caught up in the “you don’t have an internship yet?” storm, sending me into a spiral of chaos while I hunted for any intern position that I could get my hands on.
Well, I got one. Long story short, it turns out it really wasn’t what I was looking for. The position is paid – great. I can live at home in Los Angeles during the summer – perfect. But journalism-wise, it’s starting to look as if it will not be providing me with the experience that I was led on to believe it would. To be honest, I realize now that ending up in this awkward situation is my fault. This revelation manifested itself to me last Thursday, when Matt Pepin, Digital Sports Editor for The Boston Globe, and Pam Bechtold Snyder, an Executive Producer with NBC Universal, came into class to discuss landing “that first job”.
It’s key to go into a job (or internship in my case) interview with the notion that you are not the only party being examined. As important as it is for you, the timid college student, to make a good impression and prove that you can bring something valuable to a company, make sure the company is the right fit for you as well. Bechtold Snyder stressed the significance of doing a decent amount of research on the “big fish” of the company you are applying for. What are their values? What standards do they hold their journalists to? As selfish as it seems, how can they help you in the long term? Overall, don’t be afraid to ask them questions too.
I get it – everyone has to start somewhere. You aren’t going to get that top-market perfect job out of college. Fact of the matter is, you may never get that gig. But like Bechtold Snyder noted, it frustrates her when her NBC Universal team brings on an intern or hires a new employee that isn’t happy to be there. In a case like that, nobody wins.
When you do find a job option that fits you, one of the easiest ways to make sure your application gets thrown in the trash is to be one dimensional. Showcasing a wide range of abilities when it comes to reporting looks great in the eye of an employer. Pepin mentioned that even when applying for a hockey beat writing job, throwing in a sample clip of a non sports story shows versatility and a willingness to branch out. As Frank may remember from last semester’s Sports Talk Radio class, I could talk for days about basketball and football. But that was about it. I hardly even knew the rules of baseball and hockey, let alone possessed the knowledge to broadcast either. In the city of Boston, you can see how that was in issue. So I buckled up tight, got ready, and began watching and studying both baseball and hockey. Now I am proud to say that I have acted as the color commentator for both BU Women’s Ice Hockey and Softball games for the Patriot League Network on Campus Insiders. In this day and age, you must be able to jump out of your comfort zone at the snap of a finger. Displaying your ability to report across a range of topics proves to somebody looking over your application or reel that you can in fact become a multidimensional addition to their team.
It may be the difference between landing that first job or not.
Alanna McDonough-Rice posted on April 12, 2018 at 12:33 am
I think one of the hardest things to remember when we look for a job is the right fit for ourselves. We have to consider where we want to live. What kind of company we want to work for and which position we want, but we also have to focus on places who will give us a shot and hire us.
Finding a balance between what we want and who will take a chance on us, in my opinion, is the hardest part. For some people they are perfectly content to make 20k in Walla Walla, Washington, but that’s not always an option for everyone. Sometimes not even the small markets have a space for you or you can’t afford to make so little. It’s harder out in the real world, but at least our internships and experiences help us navigate it with a little more confidence.
Striking a balance is a challenge and finding the right market with a sport you love on top of that can be even more challenging. Sometimes places down South or out West want you, but you can’t stand football or basketball. Do you tough it out and get the experience and then move on to a better position in the future or do you turn down the offer?
Figuring out the next move is tough. Going with your gut and doing what makes you happy is what’s important. Don’t do something because people tell you it’s right for you, do it because you believe it’s right for you.
Jacqui Manning posted on April 12, 2018 at 1:36 pm
I want to focus on the introduction of your blog post for a moment. You, one of the great professionals in the journalism business are jealous of aspiring millennial journalists. I have to say, while I am not going into journalism, I too, am jealous of my fellow classmates. This is a time in our profession that truly has endless possibilities. There is no set direction for where the field can go… who knows what new form of technology will be invented? Who knows what the next “podcast” trend will be? My fellow classmates have an opportunity to change the way journalism is introduced to the world, and it is going to be so exciting to see what they do.
Now, before they can change the world, they have to get a job. In class last week, and in your blog post, you listed hundreds of job openings that exist in the journalism profession. The only issue is, many of those jobs are at local, small stations, papers, etc. This is where the problem lies: No one wants to work in those places. And i’m not just speaking for journalism– everyone wants to just make it big right away. I think the internet has something to do with this, but the reality of life is that you have to start small and work your way up. Especially in competitive fields like journalism, you have to make a name for yourself before you can earn an anchor job in cities like Boston, or New York. I am learning this at my first job every day. We all want to be the best in the biz, to make it to places like Boston and Washington, but before you can get there, you have to earn your way there. Regardless of if you get a lucky break, you have to keep that lucky break. I think it’s important to realize that not every person in the world can get the dream job right away. Especially in a profession like journalism, one that millions of people rely on everywhere, you have to earn it, and work hard. Each and every week, we get journalists in class who have different backgrounds, skills, etc. but share one thing in common: A strong work ethic and passion for the business.
I am surrounded by some passionate, talented kids every week, and I hope they keep that fire as they go into the world. Jane and Jess for example, may start out in small stations and papers, but I know with their dedication that I am going to be reading their names on national papers someday.
So, good luck to the future journalists from the class of 2018. There are options everywhere, it’s what you do with those options that will set you a part.
Shane Rhodes posted on April 12, 2018 at 6:02 pm
People constantly say that journalism, in some way or another, is dying. I see it in the complete opposite way, though. And, because of that, I’m not worried about getting a job when I graduate, and I don’t think anyone else in our class should be either.
Outlets, whether print or online, will always be looking for a source of cheap, talented content producers, whether it be as interns, part-time or full-time employees. Regardless of subject matter, there will be a job out there, somewhere. If you’re willing to go to it is a whole different story, but they are there for the taking. It may not be your dream job, but, a job is a job — it’s a paycheck — and that’s something we can’t take for granted in this day and age.
Something I am worried about is making a good first impression when applying for a job, however. First impressions can make or break you in certain situations. It can be difficult, like walking on eggshells, but doable if you are in the right mindset about where you are and where you want to go as a journalist.
So, when I heard stories of people asking, up front, about money, time off and the like — things better off tabbed for future talks — I was horrified. That being said, I believe all of us are smart enough to hold off on such comments. I also think we all would be willing to dig a little bit or do some research before getting into anything too serious with any one outlet.
All of us are definitely at varying degrees of “readiness” but, in the end, I think everyone in this class is more than capable of landing a job, whether it be one they are satisfied with or one they can use to springboard them to another. We are all passionate about or dedicated to some concentration or another (or maybe more than one), and I think that attitude will go along way in getting us that “first” job.