El Campo, Texas, Wynne, Arkansas, Huntington WV, even Cedar Rapids, IA…small newspapers needing writers, stations looking for sports reporters, local viewers looking for the next Chris Berman or Suzy Kolber…Talk to every anchor, producer, writer and you find a story of humble beginnings, of small towns, long shifts and not so much money…Everyone has a story and each one is usually more fascinating than the next…
Let’s get something out of the way, right up front…your dream job exists!…whether it’s in the aforementioned cities or in White River Junction, Vermont, don’t be deterred from going after it…Sites like TVJobs.com and Medialine.com exist to start the process…these are real jobs in real places….
But these sites are just one of the ways to start the process…Morry Levine , of Comcastsportsnet New England, visited the Boston University Sports Journalism seminar series recently and remembered how he did it the old fashioned way…”Even if you don’t know anyone, cold call areas that you want to be in and say ‘I’m gonna be in the area, can i stop by, can I have two minutes of your time and there are people who are going to give you their time.”
Both Levine and Michael McDermott, Sports Editor of the Providence Journal agree that getting a recommendation for a job is perhaps the most important door opener and that’s where leaving a positive impression during your internship can be key…
And as scary as leaving the college womb can be, understand you have skills that employers need…McDermott put it this way, “You guys come into it with an advantage of knowing that you’re going to have to be flexible. I’m looking for someone who’s competent, passionate but also collaborative as well.” You can do this…Now get out there and let the journey begin…The Atascadero News and (station) KAWE, Bemidji, Minnesota is waiting for your call….
25 Comments
Ashley Driscoll posted on December 2, 2012 at 8:13 pm
You know how the advice for house searching is “location location location”? For job searching it would be “network network network”.
It’s not necessarily about what you know; it’s about who you know.
Morry Levine advised us to network and to build contacts, because it’s all about “knowing somebody who knows somebody”. That’s why this class is effective: it gives us a pool of potential contact points from which we can build a larger network.
Levine’s recommendation to post your work on http://www.medialine.com was quite valuable. You still have to do your footwork in order to get your material in front of a potential employer, but it can’t hurt to post your material on a website where they might look anyway. It’s a great passive way to get your work noticed and potentially even get a job offer.
When I finish this grad program in a few weeks, I will begin the full-time job I was recently offered. As I look back at how I came to this job, I feel confident that there are a few things that put me above and beyond the other candidates. Below are a few tips that were given to me which were helpful throughout the job search and interview process:
-keep in touch with people you used to work with, you never know who they might know or what positions might open that they may be able to help you get into
-do your research… often one of the earliest interview questions is, “What do you know about us?”
-wear a suit… even if it’s an informal working environment and the staff doesn’t adhere to any foreseeable dress code… it will show you care about the job and you will stand out from other candidates
-write a thank you note (typed, not handwritten)… it gives you a chance to prove that you were listening in the interview, tell them anything else you didn’t get a chance to, and it puts your name in front of them one last time.
In my opinion, the perfect recipe to succeed in finding a job would be to combine all the tactics we have been advised…
-keep an eye on job websites like http://www.journalismjobs.com and http://www.medialine.com
-network with people in the field
-keep in contact with people you know and ask them to refer to you to colleagues and friends
-blog, tweet, post, and continue to get your work out there
-cold call places you want to work and get out there and meet people face-to-face
Professor Shorr makes a great point: your dream job does exist. You can’t expect to get that dream job right out of college/grad school, but if you can get your foot in the door now you can network and search for other jobs while still working in the field.
Amy Barry posted on December 2, 2012 at 11:56 pm
When hitting the job market there isn’t a recipe to mix up in a bowl. There isn’t a right path to choose that’ll get you to check the employed box instead of the unemployed one. Even though there isn’t a step-by-step process or an arrow pointing down the road to choose there are steps that can be made along with way that will help build the recipe and the path.
For me, there are three necessary ingredients that’ll help make the right recipe to employment: brand, network and experience.
Every company, product, sports team possess an image that society can pick out, especially the big names that can be picked out without a description like Nike’s swoosh, McDonalds golden arches, the eagle on American Eagle’s clothing and Target’s red and white bulzeye, the list goes on and on. Before entering the world of ‘real life’ when you get a job, you should brand yourself.
Since my time at college professors have drilled in my head to make a presence on social media through Twitter, Facebook, blogs, online portfolio, etc. All of these things should sport the same image that you want to portray to an employer. Even your business card should hold the same look. No, I’m not saying each of these things should have an identical font and the same material, but choose a theme and stick with it throughout all of your mediums. With each of your mediums possessing the same theme it’ll look more professional and pulled together.
Once a ‘brand’ is develop, you should get it out there. The best way to do that is to network. Professor Shorr present a number of opportunities this semester to get to know the people throughout the industry in seminar, which is great, but the semester ends on Wednesday and so will those opportunities. For instance, say you’re covering a BU hockey game and their are reporters from a newspaper in the area when you get there. Instead of sitting down right away, pulling out your computer and talking to your friends introduce yourself to the reporters. Yes, it’s a good thing to hand out your business card to them, but don’t make it a business card relationship, make it a personal relationship. Once you make these relationships, make sure you keep them through e-mail or asking advice on an article here and there. They were in your shoes once, usually they’re happy to help.
Finally, the last ingredient is experience. Through my branding and networking opportunities have rose along the way during my collegiate career. For instance, this past Friday, I spent the day working with NBC Sports Network broadcasting the BU, BC hockey game. I got the opportunity through my contacts in BU’s sports information office not through applying for the position. After a 16 hour day of work I’ve never done before I was asked to e-mail my resume so I could work again. Moral of the story, when given a chance to do something and you are available, do it, for the most part, good things will come.
These three ingredients — branding, networking and experience start a path to employment in my opinion. Sooner or later the search begins, that’s where the websites and resumes come in, but if you have a solid brand, network connections and experience, with those things, I’ll stand out more than the next applicant.
Taylor Williams posted on December 3, 2012 at 8:15 am
In my opinion, this discussion is predicated on the premise that as a class of undergrads and grad students, each of us has different prerogatives for post-graduate life, work-related and not. Each of us has had and will continue to have different experiences with the job-search process.
I’m a grad student. In undergrad, I majored in business and only fell into journalism through a weird toss of the dice. Before that happened, I had a lot of sleepless nights, unanswered emails, and friends who were already sitting pretty with $50,000 a year and dental insurance. What I took from that super-awesome time, and what our guests touched on, is that in most cases, job searches are long, disheartening processes that instill rifts between friends, intense feelings of self-doubt and general urges to drown in booze.
Certainly a search in journalism is no exception. But I think the intangibles we master as journalists – empathy, engaging writing, attention to detail – are tools all job-seekers would covet. As journalists we seek to understand our subjects, to walk in their shoes and cater to their intellectual curiosities. WE are the ones with exceptional communication skills, the ones with perfectionist mentalities, the ones with instinctive awareness of what editors and readers want. Those traits have to be evinced on applications.
You can liken a successful job search to shooting a lengthy package or writing a feature story. Whether it’s an interview, a close-up shot, or an insightful comment, each element has to function as a well-edited, useful piece of information on its own and within the context of the larger project. I asked Mike and Morry about cover letters, but if I’m sending the wrong clips or the wrong copy of my resume (yeah, that happened), it’s all for naught. Mike’s advice on providing clips that demonstrate a unique take on an otherwise-routine event, or that generally display original storytelling, was not lost on this guy.
We’ve all been versed in the necessities of small markets, multimedia skills, and flexible hours for young journalists. Which is why I found the little pieces of advice more helpful: give your cover letter a sexy lede, put your best clip on top, state what you can offer the publication, not vice versa. Like Prof. Shorr, I found Morry’s bit on cold calling especially interesting for the larger message. The supply of journalists outstrips the demand; anything you can do to make an impression, to become a personality rather than a file, you should do.
Being able to find a job in a dynamic, cutthroat business like sports journalism is a skill in itself, but it’s only attainable through patience. It requires calculated targeting of opportunities, significant time getting familiar with the brand, and careful, concise tailoring to the language of the job ad. It runs on positivity. It’s filled with setback and frustration, but in my opinion, there will always be a need and demand for bona fide journalists, and it’s not worth selling out for law school. Those kids aren’t exactly blessed with jobs either these days.
Paul Ryan posted on December 3, 2012 at 10:35 am
After listening to both Morry and Michael on Thursday, a lot of preconceived notions I had about the job world through my own experiences or what other guests have told us were reiterated. You have to be willing, you have to be flexible, you have to be ready to work absolutely anywhere, because there are jobs waiting for you, you just have to want them. I think the biggest takeaway I got from this week was when Morry said something along the lines of, “be aggressive, but not too aggressive. Get your name out there and try to get your resume to the top of the pile.” Making yourself stand out in a way is very important in this field.
Many of the other points these two made were points that others have made in weeks past. Make connections, keep in contact with people you once worked with, always maintain a good relationship with your employer. Although it may seem a bit repetitive at times, I think it drills the point home even greater when just about everyone gives the same advice when it comes to entering the job world. These people do want to help us and hire us, it’s just the applicants job to make themselves stand out in a way, whether it be by cold calling or by having something in an online portfolio that no one else has.
This past weeks seminar helped in gaining a bit more perspective in how to get a job and helped build our contacts, but again, a lot of what Morry and Michael said echoed earlier lectures. After this final seminar on Wednesday, it’s up to us to get the job. Everyone has given their opinions on what’s best to do in order to get your resume to the top, now it’s up to us to actually go out and do these things, to be aggressive, to be different. We need to use resources like Medialine and TVJobs because if we’re not, we’re not taking advantage of the options at hand. This class has been a matter of listening about what others have to say. Now for the class, it’s a matter of doing to get that first job.
Kaleigh Fratkin posted on December 3, 2012 at 10:38 am
You have to start somewhere…
Much of this semester Professor Shorr has reiterated time again that in the field of print and broadcast journalism, you have to be prepared to start in “middle of no where” cities. Although Professor Shorr’s career doesn’t support this statement, seminar guests are that proof. Like much in life, I believe that a lot has to do with being in the right place at the right time or more so, like our guest this week explained, knowing someone who can “get you in the door.”
If you look at the sportscasters and analysts now a days on TV for the NHL network, NFL network, ESPN etc., certainly not all, but generally they are successful former career professional players or coaches. For example, on the NHL network, you will often see Barry Melrose, Kevin Weekes, Mike Johnson or Gary Green. But, you will also see sportscasters who were not former professional players like E.J. Hradek, Craig Button and Kathryn Tappen. After reading their bios you can see how their prior experience and early careers differ. The vast differences in their early careers gives hope to ambitious broadcast journalists students, like myself, who have big dreams to someday be on a big network as a sports analyst or sportscaster.
A good example of a well-known sportscaster who paid his dues and worked his way up by hard work and being in the right place at the right time is a Canadian sportscaster for CBC who is best known as the host of Hockey Night in Canada and the right-hand man to Don Cherry’s Coach’s Corner, is Ron MacLean. Ron grew up in Red Deer, Alberta. Canadians know Red Deer as a “hockey city” with freezing cold winters and the hometown of many current and former NHLers. His broadcasting career began in 1978 working part time at 98.9 CKRD-FM radio and 850 CKRD-AM radio (small town local radio stations). He eventually got a position doing weather with CKRD-TV. One could say that luck had a little to do with this, but Ron was called by the Program Director of the TV station to fill in for a sick friend who recommended him. He started out pushing buttons and playing commercials and then eventually was given the opportunity to become a disc jockey. In 1986, Ron started working at Hockey Night in Canada. He began telecasts out of western Canada, but then was in the right place at the right time once again when Dave Hodge was fired (due to an on air blowup). Ron then got his chance and he worked his first Stanley Cup Final and has been the game host ever since.
The link is a quick clip of Ron MacLean giving his insights on broadcasting and brief comments on his early broadcast career.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b6rYLoBgHE
Ron MacLean is an example of a sportscaster who clearly worked hard in his young career and remained persistent. A lot of our sports seminar guests have said, if you work hard, persevere, and don’t give up, you will get your shot. Eventually, the door will open, but in the meantime you have to work hard and remain positive.
Phillip Kisubika posted on December 3, 2012 at 11:58 am
For me, this seminar felt like a refresher course on what it takes to get a job. Professor Shorr always talks about how we’re most likely going to start our careers at some out-of-the way place like International Falls, Mont. or (my favorite) Walla Walla, Wash. Well, I did start out my career that way.
For three years after college, I worked as a sports writer at a weekly community newspaper in Watkinsville, Ga. For about a third of that time, I was a one-man sports section, covering high school and youth league sports for an entire county. Nothing like a Tuesday night covering high school softball and volleyball. Stuff like that really tests whether you want to do this for a living. I did, but I knew I wanted to do it on a bigger scale. That’s how I ended up here.
Anyway, I can say that a lot of what Morry Levine and Michael McDermott said applied to me in my first job hunt and will undoubtedly apply to my next one. They both talked about how much networking matters. I got the job in Watkinsville mainly because the guy who had the job before me remembered me. We had both covered Georgia football at the same time when I was working for the college newspaper. Sometimes it’s that easy, but most times, it’s not. You never know where the connections you make will take you.
I came to grad school to broaden my skill set so I could get a better job, but I also wanted to be a better writer. I now know how to handle a camera, edit audio and video and write for TV and radio, but the thing I’m most proud of is how much I think I’ve improved in terms of writing. If you can’t craft a good story, it doesn’t matter how many things you can do.
Kendall Salter posted on December 3, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Job searches are never fun. I can’t remember a time when I was looking forward to hunting for one. It isn’t easy: it’s stressful, competitive, energy-sapping and more often than not, frustrating. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.
Good job by Morry Levine and Michael McDermott helping us all get a leg up in the process. Most of what they talked about are things that I already assumed were important when looking for jobs — networking, presenting good clips, persistence. I’m not going to pretend that I learned anything groundbreaking during this seminar. But it was still important to hear it from the mouths of those making hiring decisions. If anything, their discussion about hiring practices and what they look for in prospective employees made the task seem even more tough.
I’m not expecting to land a dream gig for several years, but I am fine with that. In fact, I WANT the challenge of working my way through some other experiences. The way I see it, that’s part of the experience. If you work in a small town, you could be the top dog. Not so in a city market. You can break big stories, see different parts of the country, experience new interests and sport culture (rodeo in New Mexico, for example). That way, when one achieves what it is he wants to achieve, the success is more satisfying, having known what it took to get to that point.
The most important thing I took away is that it pays to be confident. Send your best clips. Embrace your well-rounded nature. These things will pay off in the end, I believe. It’s good to be diverse — specializing is important to a point — and be able to work with so many different stories and topics. I think I am well-suited to that. I’m ready. Send me out into the world. I grew up in a small town, so quaint won’t scare me.
Mary Gagliardi posted on December 3, 2012 at 1:18 pm
This seminar reiterated the fact that none of us are going to start out as the face of NBC sports in New York City. The journalism world is centered around paying your dues, proving yourself and working up the ladder. While there are jobs available in the field, getting your name to the top of the pile requires you to not only make connections but be able to snag a future employer with the first article in your clippings or the first 15 seconds of your reel.
A future employer may never see your resume. The resume piles are intimidatingly high filled with applicants just like us… It is common, as both Morrey Levine and Michael McDermott emphasized that employers will go with a recommendation from a trusted friend versus a potentially more experienced or qualified candidate from the resume pile. McDermott stated that frankly, no one wants to make a bad hire. A recommendation goes a long way with him because it comes with the guarantee from someone he trusts.
This is not an industry for the timid or under confident. While being overly aggressive and calling a station weekly probably would not be in anyone’s favor, most of our seminars have taught us that approaching a potential employer and being friendly and honest with them can do nothing but help. Darren Haynes, from a few seminars back, also recommended this approach. Whats the harm in introducing yourself. Prepare for rejection Levine warned us, but in this industry you can’t let that get you down or stop you. Levine told us if you call 30 stations and ask for face time, only 5 people may agree to meet with you. But it’s a way to get a foot in the door and make more valuable connections. Even if they are not looking to hire, they may be able to recommend you to someone who is, or could look to you in the future. Plus now they can put a face to a name and also have formed a personal connection.
I was surprised to learn that our youth can be seen as an advantage in this field. We are adaptable, up on the latest technology and most are willing to do just about anything to land that entry level job in the industry. While experience in the industry is a valuable quality on the résumé, there’s no doubt in that, both Levine and McDermott mentioned they have hired younger candidates as of recent, instead some of the more experienced competition.
Finally i was reassured not to be discouraged when the only offers out there are 25K jobs in Middleofnowhere, Kansas. This is the part of the process and you just have to keep your focus and your eye on the prize. Dont give and dont forget what you want. This seminar was very important for me big picture wise. If you work hard and have a little talent and luck you can move forward. Keep building your reel and looking for opportunities to move up the ladder as you gain experience and make even more of the valuable connections.
Also! An important note in the etiquette of connections – you can’t solely use these people for help in building your career. That is extremely transparent and phony. Build a relationship with people who can help you, but take an interest in their lives and make an effort to keep in touch! If the roles were reversed , we’d feel the same. You don’t want to merely be someone’s stepping stone.
Sandeep Chandrasekhar posted on December 3, 2012 at 2:29 pm
I believe everyone must pay their dues to become successful in any industry, including in sports media. An individual can only learn and really obtain so much information from school. The real education begins during a person’s first job because he or she must actually apply what was taught in school.
Personally, I think starting work in unknown areas like Arkansas and Northern Michigan is the best thing that can happen to an individual. There are few distractions in these areas, so people can actually learn and completely dedicate themselves to their respective fields. By working brutally long hours, an individual can truly appreciate hard work and learning about the various responsibilities associated with any field of work.
Yes, I understand the frustrations that may occur in working in lonely areas. People may actually doubt whether their hard work is really worth it, especially when they hardly get paid. However, I believe working in unknown places can really fuel a person’s motivations and really help them accelerate to higher positions in the industry. As with anything in life, a person needs to endure some hardships to get to the top of the mountain. No pain, no gain.
Therefore, I believe that in order to be successful in the sports media industry (or any profession), a person needs to expand their boundaries and be willing to adapt to different environments. It will strengthen an individual mentally and teach a person multiple valuable life skills, which people can carry for an eternity. I would have no problem travelling and working in new places because it will teach me what I need to do to accomplish my goals.
Nate Weitzer posted on December 3, 2012 at 7:40 pm
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
When you tell people that you plan on starting a career in Journalism their response is often a simple: “good luck.” Our chosen field is extremely competitive when it comes to finding a job, and the news business is constantly adapting in order to remain viable in today’s internet dominated world.
Those two factors make people justifiable skeptical about trying to work in sports media these days. Print journalism is particularly vulnerable due to the amount of content flooding the web, which is why Professor Shorr has pointed out that you have to be an expert in one particular field.
Our guests maintained that you have to be flexible when you take that first job, but regardless of the medium, you need to be extremely knowledgeable on the subjects that you are asked to report on. This applies to jobs in both print and broadcast, yet in the past there have been some undeniable differences between these fields.
As news outlets become increasingly multimedia based the lines between these two disciplines have become blurred. News-Editorial Journalism no longer means writing a column for the morning paper, it involves a combination of blogging, video-editing and insightful discussions that can help market your individual brand. Broadcasters have also crossed the dividing line by producing analytical pieces regularly for their news outlets.
The times have changed, and you can’t be a one-trick pony in this business. However there are still plenty of similarities in how you pursue that first job. Aspiring broadcasters must advertise themselves with visually enticing reels. Our guests confirmed that news editors will often fast forwarded through a compilation of job candidates and only slow down when they like someone’s presentation. Similarly, candidates for print jobs must put their best work at the top, and if they don’t present a quality lead in their clips they will likely be ignored.
Supplementing your work with a respectable recommendation and relevant experience can bolster your chances of success in this job market, but whether we’re talking about the first few months or several years of an evolving career, your work must remain up to par. That much, at least, will never change.
Jashvina Shah posted on December 3, 2012 at 8:49 pm
As professor Shorr noted after the seminar, we didn’t really learn anything new. The principles of finding a job revolve around four important things — skills, experience, flexibility and networking.
Basically you need to be willing to do everything (and know how to do everything) to cover anything from anywhere.
It’s hard to add anything important about searching for jobs that hasn’t already been mentioned, either by Professor Shorr or by Morry Levine and Michael McDermott. But I do think social media can be very helpful when trying to find a job. We’ve talked about having an online portfolio, but not much about Twitter or Facebook. Aside from the obvious words of warning that your Facebook and Twitter profiles should be devoid of questionable photos and the like, those are very good tools to market yourself.
Twitter is more important than Facebook in that regard. It’s a place where you can connect with others who are working in the field you’d like to be in. It’s also a great place to demonstrate your knowledge in the field you’d like to work in.
I use my Twitter account to talk (mostly) about college hockey, which is the sport I’m mainly interested in covering. It’s how I’ve developed a following of hockey fans and, most importantly, connected with other Hockey East/college hockey reporters. So now I already have a network of people who work in a field I’m interested in covering.
Some of the articles on Blackboard addressed other important things to keep in mind when searching for jobs. The article Go to the Web, young journalist! pushes journalism students to seek jobs reporting for the web and be willing to do things like blog. Or live in strange job markets, something Professor Shorr emphasized frequently.
In addition to flexibility, recommendations and connections are important. That’s one of the reasons why I ended up with the internship I did in Australia and a couple of my other internships here.
But experience is one of the most important aspects of looking for a job. So many people, advisors and professors, have always told me to do as much as I can. I’ve been told to take many internships and do as much as possible to get my work published. While I like to think I’ve had a good portion of internships, I also think experience is important because it helps you in addition to your future employer.
We heard McDermott talk about how he always looked at experience and how it looks good to an employer, but it’s also the best way to perfect your craft. My writing and reporting skills have grown so much just through writing and covering a bunch of different events through my different internships. Internships also offer a learning environment and are a space for interns to grow.
Even though we didn’t really learn anything new at this seminar, it was still great to hear Levine and McDermott speak to us. Their input is really invaluable because they hire people like us and know what works and what doesn’t.
Patrick Thomas posted on December 4, 2012 at 12:01 am
Whether you start in North Dakota or end up in the middle of nowhere, you get a start to a career. Like it or not, at least it is something.
It seems as if we have been told time and again where the jobs are and what we have to do to get them. To me, I think we almost have to have the attitude of a traveling bible salesman. Which means, just be willing to go from small town to town across the country for work selling a product which is ourselves.
Honestly, I look at it like this–we go to small markets, hone our skills, expand our creative content and build the basis for great careers. The best thing we can do for ourselves is make good with all internships we come across. Be at your best every day in your internships and who knows, five, six and maybe even seven years down the rode you could be working in a market like Boston because you impressed someone while you were still in school.
My biggest takeaway, which is becoming a cliche because I say that in every blog comment, was that we as prospective print/broadcast journalists should never miss a moment to impress someone in the industry.
Bust your ass now and reap the benefits later. Sure, do we want to do poorly in school? No. But do you think Stuart Scott got hired at the World Wide Leader in sports because he had a high GPA? Maybe, but I doubt it. Like the Producer at my first internship at WJOX 94.5 FM told me, “Look you can make an A in this class or you can make a C. All that goes out the window when you get on the job. As an employer, I want to know you can do the job and do it well”.
Just look at Brian Williams at NBC, he didn’t even finish college.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Williams
Morry said it best when he talked about not taking “no for an answer”. Be persistent, be courteous and show you have an aptitude for something specific in sports and you have a shot at making it in this world.
His thoughts on having a varied skill set gets us in the door but he agreed that a great quality such as camera presence or being an amazing news writer are great ways to make your way up the ladder. Emphasize your best assets as a journalist mentally and emotionally to promote yourself in the best light.
The Poynter Institute lists some great qualities to have as a prospective broadcast journalist.
http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/118945/8-essential-skills-for-anchors-any-journalist-covering-breaking-news/
Our awareness of social media outlets like twitter, linkedin, vimeo, etc. are to our advantage as young journalists. It may have never been a harder time to break into the industry. Butour affinities of technology as young people should give us an edge over someone ten years into the business.
Like Professor Shorr said: “Be versed in several things but be great in at least one if not two areas”.
The multitude of skills gets us the start, but the expertise gets us the job we love and want. Sounds like something to note.
Bobby LeBlanc posted on December 4, 2012 at 12:48 am
One thing I’ve learned throughout my life and into college is that if you don’t ask, your answer is always going to be no. You have to be able to put yourself out there. It’s something that I’ve personally struggled with but have come to learn the importance of at BU. What stuck out most about this seminar to me was when Morry Levine discussed the idea of cold calling to different areas. It’s a real way of putting yourself out there and at least giving yourself a chance. I am definitely going to take this of advice with me as I enter the workforce next year. You have to at least ask, or the answer will always be no.
Cold calls can certainly increase our chances in finding a job, however, I think it’s important to note that they cannot replace networking. Although clearly already discussed in the above comments, networking is really one of the most important things we can do to get a job. The following link is a document on the importance of networking provided by Hope College.
http://www.hope.edu/student/career/resources/Networking.pdf
The PDF gives us an important fact about networking. The Department of Labor reported from a survey that networking accounts for at least 69% of all annual hires. That is a high percentage and should be reason enough to always think about how we can further network ourselves. It’s not just about making contacts but rather developing those relationships as friends, colleagues, and professional contacts. The document goes on to give some basic but great advice on how to network appropriately. It notes that networking is a continual life process. We should always be networking.
One thing that Hope College also brings up is informational interviewing. It’s not just a good way to start networking, but it can also give you a good idea of what a certain job might be like. If someone gives you an informational interview, that’s your opportunity to ask what work is like for him or her. It’s like cold calling in a way, but it may even give you a better chance to meet the person you wish to speak with.
Whether we work as sports journalists someday or choose a different career path, networking should be something we do everyday. It’s a part of being in the workforce and creating opportunities. Put yourself out there and at least give them the chance to say yes.
Greg Huntoon posted on December 4, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Like most of the class, this seminar was more of a reemphasis for me. We have heard from the first day joining the program about what we are going to have to go through to get a job after we graduate. But it is nice to hear other people’s stories and learn the particular things that worked for them. The more we have on how to get a job, the better.
Something that I found interesting in Prof. Shorr’s blog post was when he mentioned our dream jobs existing, but that they may be in a big market or White River Junction. That brought me back to Morry’s story. After college, his dream job was to be on TV, but he never got the chance to get that job. Now he has a family and is happy to be settled down in one place. Our dream jobs are going to change. Dream jobs are great for giving us motivation to get through an undesirable job in an undesirable location, but they will change as we grow and our dreams change. Getting any job will let us figure out what those dreams are, so no job should be dismissed.
It was also interesting to hear the emphasis that Michael put on someone being flexible and versatile. It’s funny to look back at the articles on Blackboard about “the future of sports journalism” and see how far it’s come in just the past five years. In one article, the author lists all the things he can do on their Motorola Q phone, which seem so simple compared to all we can do now. There are so many ways we can get our names out there, and so many skills that we can develop, it would be a shame not to. Especially since that is what potential employers are looking for. Michael made it clear that being able to do the basic skills is not enough anymore; you need to have other skills that will set you apart.
Overall, the message of this past seminar was somewhat repetitive to what we have been hearing. But getting a fresh voice telling you about the job hunting process does give us the reminder of what we have ahead of us.
Greg Picker posted on December 4, 2012 at 3:16 pm
This week’s seminar help remind us just how important internships are. It made me feel a little better just how surprised Morry was when he asked if any of us had done any internships and just about the entire class raised their hands. To me that meant that a lot of young, fresh out of college, applicants for jobs that Morry has come across have not had any internship experience so far.
Sure, some internships you might just be getting coffee for the people you work for instead of actually writing or getting on the air, but there is so much to get out of every internship available. At an internship you’re guaranteed to network with those you are working for. Even if this doesn’t turn into a job with that company in the future, hopefully you can make a strong enough impression that they can help you out if they hear of some availabilities at a different company.
Although it’s unlikely to get the exact job you want in a big city immediately after graduation, interning in a big city such as New York or Boston can really help expedite that process. Getting to know the right people in those cities through internships will absolutely help get your resume reel looked at when applying.
All of us in journalism though have to prepare as if we’re going to start out our careers in the middle of nowhere. This isn’t like accounting where you can get lucky and get a job with one company in a major city right out of college and work your way up in that one company your entire career. For us, the job search is only beginning now and it may not end for a very long time.
We’ve heard though from countless people this semester that if you get stuck in the middle of South Dakota just after graduation, not to get discourage as it’s only the start. In this class we’re all in our 20’s. There is still plenty of time to move up in the journalism world.
Jonathan Lemons posted on December 4, 2012 at 3:34 pm
The discussion reminded me of Dale Carnegie’s famous book, How to Win Friends And Influence People. There is nothing in the book that isn’t fairly obvious, and that you don’t already know, but there is still tremendous value in hearing the lessons again, and in particular, hearing them told through people’s experiences.
Not a single person came into class last week without understanding that networking was an invaluable tool when job hunting, but McDermott tied that notion to anecdotes about his career path and, perhaps most effectively, to how he conducts job searches. For a recent opening, McDermott never even posted the job; he simply reached out to people in his network and asked for candidate suggestions.
Similarly, we all know a face to face meeting is more effective than over the phone, and that polite persistence is the name of the game. However, Levine’s anecdote about travelling up and down the Northeast cold calling producers and asking for an opportunity to introduce himself makes the theoretical knowledge we have much more tangible and, perhaps just as importantly, memorable. After all, what good is knowing these best practices if you forget to use them!
Jason Lind posted on December 4, 2012 at 8:03 pm
Like others who posted before me, I can’t say I learned anything in this seminar that absolutely flipped my conception of how to land my first job as a sports journalist. Particularly, I’ve been hearing “It’s who you know” since my freshman year as a pre-journalism major at the University of Georgia. I’ve even seen the adage in practice through friends: One is now a college correspondent for USA Today and the other writes for an Atlanta-based music magazine because they made connections at those publications.
However, every time I hear about that still-unfilled job in International Falls, Minnesota, it makes me nervous. I want to start in a big media market. Actually, the biggest media market: New York City. I don’t expect to start as the New York Knicks beat writer for the Times, but I would like to find some small outlet to work for (that will also pay me. I’ve interned at enough places where the only currency is free breakfast). I recognize that this may not happen, but I have made a couple connections in the city that might give me a chance. I hope those, coupled with the general advice from Morry Levine and Michael McDermott, will help me find my ideal first job. If not, I’ll keep moving outward: to Staten Island, to Hoboken, to Newark or to New Rochelle. Maybe one of those places is my International Falls.
Morry’s advice to cold call echoed what I heard from Professor Klarfeld a few weeks ago when I asked about summer internships in New York. I think that “old-school” approach is a great way to get your foot in the door. Too often we rely on more impersonal forms of communication. I don’t know if Morry was explicitly advocating the use of a telephone, but I like that idea. Call and ask if the organization is hiring, or ask if you can stop by and drop off some clips and talk. It’s worth a shot to try to develop a relationship more personal than email correspondence, even if there is no job available. One could always open up.
I remember looking at this piece in The Guardian this past spring. It’s a British national daily newspaper, but (not surprisingly) a lot of the advice these journalists give about their paths to prominence is similar to what we’ve all heard from Professor Shorr, Mike and Morry.
http://careers.guardian.co.uk/advice-for-aspiring-journalists
Nick Hansen posted on December 4, 2012 at 11:34 pm
I’ve been to Bemidji, Minnesota. It’s a nice place.
It was nice hearing some info from “the inside,” but it wasn’t anything too earth shattering. I work in Career Services and every piece of advice I’ve heard is about low pay, long hours, and a lot of learning experiences.
One thing I think more job seekers, including myself, could use is some thick skin. Don’t be afraid to cold call or go up and shake someones hand. You never know where the connection could lead you. If you get rejected or don’t get an answer, brush that dirt off your shoulder and talk to someone else.
Job seeking is tough and I’m not expecting anything big fresh out of BU. Be humble, be dogged, and don’t think you deserve anything when your at the bottom. You got to prove it.
I don’t have anything too much different to say than what already has been said, but this quote from Teddy Roosevelt helps me out on my down days. It applies to job seekers as well:
“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in that grey twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
Davis VanOpdorp posted on December 5, 2012 at 12:59 am
What I have learned from all of our guests, even beyond Morry and Michael, is that the key the to getting a job is being assertive. Morry’s story about driving down the east coast and cold calling news stations is being really really assertive, but even taking the time to meet people in person and keeping up with contacts can be just as assertive.
Moving up in ones career also really comes down to one thing. Just work as hard as possible, and the opportunities will be there. Going into the job market, that is definitely my mindset. But it goes deeper than that. JP Smollins made the point a few weeks ago that Morry reiterated; you have to be willing to do anything. My mindset has always been to make sure the show goes smoothly, rather than my stuff goes on air.
One last thing; Connie Schneider from CNN came in last year and gave me some great advice. Don’t be afraid to go to the UP of Michigan or the cornfields of Nebraska. It’s a place where you can mess up and get real experience, and in those small markets, a lot of people are in the same boat. I personally have not ruled it out, and who knows, I might make the right connections.
Matt DeFonzo posted on December 5, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Internships. Networking. Writing skills. These are but a few of the elements that should be on our resumes as we embark on our journeys into the working world. All three are absolutely essential for people currently aspiring to be journalists. But at the same time as it’s necessary for us to learn the craft of journalism and get to know the people who will help us succeed, we’d be amiss not to mention another, still-important element in the search for gainful employment in our field: luck.
It doesn’t matter if you’re applying for a job in Mankato, Minnesota (market no.198 on tvjobs.com) or Los Angeles, California (market no. 2), there’s always going to be at least some luck involved in finding a job. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are or how many people you know, chance and fate always seem to play a role in what you end up doing.
Take my own experiences as an example. Last summer I had a great internship at MLB Network, where I made connections and learned a lot about television production and the sport of baseball. One of the things that contributed to my getting that internship was this: I knew a guy (my father) who knew a guy (a co-worker in a field completely unrelated to journalism) who just happens to be the brother-in-law of a producer at MLB.
Luck.
But at the same time as we can’t control luck, we can make it work in our favor by following the advice of Professor Shorr and the guests of last week’s seminar, Mike McDermott and Morrey Levine. Things like making connections at jobs and internships and carefully proofreading resumes are extremely important in the job search. Luck favors the prepared, and the more diligent you are in readying yourself for the real world, the more likely it is you’ll be able to capitalize on the job opportunities when they do present themselves.
Finally, it’s not only preparedness that helps make luck work in one’s favor, but also continually pursuing jobs no matter the outcome. You’re going to hear the word “No” from some news outlets. Even worse, you might not get any answer at all. But if you keep applying for jobs you want, or the jobs that will get you where you want, you’ll eventually have an occupation. Luck eventually and undeniably swings back in your favor, so heed the advice of Levine and don’t give up. You will ultimately find yourself back on luck’s side and in turn find success.
Nate Boroyan posted on December 5, 2012 at 1:39 pm
After listening to both Morry Levine of Comcast and Michael McDermott of the Providence Journal, I was reminded just how inexact the job hunting process is.
It is not just, as Morry and Michael discussed, about our undergrad and/or graduate areas of study and level of success; its not merely about presenting yourself well on paper; its about developing a network of contacts that may some day provide you with an “in.”
Take the example of “cold calling,” reflected upon by Morry, in particular. “There are people who will listen,” he said, “I’m one of them.”
Since my graduation from undergrad in 2011, I have been almost exclusively focused on a career in journalism, so what I am about to say may not reflect the larger job market. Overall however, I think a journalism career is one the few that provide hopeful applicants the chance to impress an employer without adhering to the traditional requirements the position demands.
As reporters and journalists, our most valuable tool is our ability to communicate and understand the person(s) that we are speaking with. That is why the “cold calling” strategy has the ability to work in this field.
A five minute, informative interview, has the potential to serve as our first assignment for a contact with the potential of hiring us. Any editor that gives you that five minutes that all of us covet so much, will get a first hand look at your communication skills. It is also a tool that can be used for editors to determine if we are an engaging figure or not.
While these face-to-face meetings may ultimately be just that, at the very least you leave with a contact, someone to push you in the right direction, or useful tips.
Despite the ultra-competitive nature of the sports journalism world, it is certainly not an impossible industry to break into. How far you get in the career in terms of a market can never be determined, but the opportunity to enter the field will always exist.
Our generation has been fortunate in that we have had the luxury of growing up with the internet, social networking, blogging, etc. What we have come to view as downtime activities are actually tools that older generations have little to no familiarity with, or have neglected. These tools have been integrated into our formal education.
Regardless of our professional level of experience, we do possess tools that employers find desirable. This is both a blessing and a curse in that we are multi-platform journalists but also given an increased amount of responsibility that most first year employees in other industries would not have. In short, more is expected of our generations crop of journalist.
Michael pointed this out when he discussed the workload of town paper reporters. I could not have agreed more with his assessment that some small town reporters are presented with an almost impossible amount of work. I was one of them last year.
It’s lousy pay, strange weekday hours and weekend obligations and pressure packed. Writing 5-7, 500 word minimum, stories per week sounds manageable, but as the job progresses, even the most passionate of reporters can suffer from being burnt out.
Still, I would not sacrifice that opportunity an experience for a typical 9-5 job.
It provided me with future contacts and an extensive package of clips and most importantly, the confidence to know I can perform in a pressure situation. When starting out as a freelancer for the paper, I was competing with another candidate. Often times, both of us would have stories in the same issue of the paper.
Oddly enough, when I was hired over my competitor I was informed it was because of my picture taking ability. Before being forced to shoot my own game coverage, I had literally zero photography experience…
Ultimately, this industry is a crapshoot and there is no exact science. Whether its a contact you established or the luxury of owning a camera, there is always a way in. Whether we choose to accept an opportunity, is complete up to us. They are out there.
Andrew posted on December 5, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Don’t ever think short term…were the most important words that Morry Levine uttered last Thursday night. We have talked a lot about sports how sports should be covered, how much time will need to be devoted to your craft, what play-by-play calls work and which don’t, but we finally heard how to get there. And the message: “it’s okay to be selfish…in the beginning”.
It was comforting to here that it will happen even if it isn’t right away. Levine stated it could take up to a year to land that first job in journalism. Along those same lines of “it’s okay to be selfish”, both Levine and Michael McDermott agreed, that if you want to be “on-air” in TV or a newspaper writer; no matter what you should go for it.
That’s what has always attracted me to journalism. Most of the successful journalists have this “go for it” attitude that translates to their work. It is this sort of mentality that makes a great journalist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO4tIrjBDkk
Now the reason I chose this link is because I think it’s the attitude that journalists especially young journalists need to have. Now I don’t want people going physically crazy for that “inch”. But in order to succeed in any career path, especially journalism, you have to go get it and the people that fight for it will be successful.
For me this seminar was a nice culmination of all of them . Michael and Morry communicated a more positive outlook on getting the first job, step 1 “don’t ever think short term”.
Caitlin Donohue posted on December 5, 2012 at 9:42 pm
As an undergraduate student, I have to be honest: I don’t know much about what it takes to get a job yet, especially one in the news industry. Thinking about what I’ll do after graduation is terrifying because so much is out of my control; however, this seminar reminded me that several important aspects of acquiring a job ARE in my control, such as how aggressive I am and how I present myself to potential employers.
Despite my ignorance and lack of work experience, the most valuable piece of information I have taken away from this seminar is similar to that of my classmates: no matter what job you’re looking for, networking is essential. So many of our guests have spoken about the importance of their work relationships, even if their connections were made at a starting-level job in the middle of nowhere.
I think journalism students (including myself) often forget that although the competition for work is now greater than ever before, so are our resources. Professor Shorr spoke a few weeks ago about how vital it is to get involved with BUTV and local radio stations or papers because the more experience you have before entering the field, the better. We have the advantage of going to a school and living in a city where these resources are available, so we shouldn’t take them for granted.
These guests also helped me realize the significance of my Internet presence while searching for a job. Technology can be so helpful, and our generation’s technological adeptness can aid the job process even more. Medialine and TVJobs.com are definitely advantages for young job-seekers like us, because employers are targeting our age bracket by posting job openings on these sites.
It is comforting to know that there is not a true shortage of available jobs for journalists. As the article below shows, the job market seems to be gradually improving. Phillip’s experience, much like the experience of several of our past guests, shows that the career of a journalist is oftentimes unpredictable and frustrating, but if you want success badly enough, you will eventually get it. I am relieved that as long as I am not too picky about the whereabouts and starting salary, a job will be waiting for me when I graduate.
http://jimromenesko.com/2012/08/09/job-market-for-journalism-grads-shows-improvement/
Tim Larew posted on December 5, 2012 at 11:16 pm
I’ve never really been too concerned with the prospect of getting a job after college. I mean, I understand that it’s no easy task, but my philosophy has always been put in the hard work before you start applying for jobs and let your resume speak for itself. If you do it right, a resume isn’t just a piece of paper. I can tell stories for days about every bullet point on my résumé, and if you were too Google or YouTube search my name, you’d find it on the front page associated with what’s listed in those same bullet points.
Morry and Michael brought valuable information to the table last week. They spoke on many aspects of their careers and what it takes to acquire a job in the sports industry out of college, but the bottom line was that if you REALLY want a job, you’ll be able to find one. As with everything worth achieving in life, you just have to be steadfast and persistent. There ARE jobs out there. Not an infinite number, and certainly not many glamorous positions – at least not right out of the gate – but it’s all about starting at point A and growing organically.
As a recent graduate of college, you’re not going to get a job in a major market, but you can definitely acquire an ideal stepping stone type position in a smaller city in a random state in the Midwest. And that might not sound overly appealing, but it’s important to never forget where you’re headed… Which can mean more than where you are.
I’m excited for the challenge that lies ahead of me. Getting a job is not going to be easy. I’m certainly aware that getting a dream job at 22 years old is out of the question. But I know for a fact I’m going to be happy and so eager to move up the ladder no matter where I start. I’m willing to put in that work so that my worth will be valued, and I feel like I’ve built up enough good relationships and contacts that I can find what I’m looking for – even if not right off the bat, then shortly after. It’s all about sacrifice, and if it’s something you love, it may not even be considered sacrifice at all.
Stephanie Jarvis posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:03 pm
To be completely honest, I’m not exactly sure what my dream job actually looks like. I had this idea of what I wanted to do when I started grad school here at BU, and I think over the course of my time here I’ve kind of broadened that idea to include other areas of sports journalism. Everyone kind of rolls their eyes at the thought of working in the middle of nowhere with a miserable excuse for a paycheck, but I think we kind of need that to shape and mold our idea of the “dream job”. Everything we’ve learned in this seminar and past seminars, as well as in some of our other sports journalism classes have reiterated a few core concepts relating to the job search. I think Morry kind of helped to light that fire in some of us to really do whatever it takes to make contacts. I can attest to how important this is, as I wouldn’t be working my current job if it were not for Professor Shorr’s recommendation.
I think we’ve kind of been told over and over again about the grunt work we’ll be doing in that first job, and it actually is just kind of exciting for me. I know my first on air job will most likely require me to act as the camera person, the editor and the reporter. In fact, when looking at some of the jobs listed on tvjobs.com, I noticed a few that listed this in the job description. It seems like the most important thing to remember is to be open to this and utilize all of the skills we’ve learned throughout our time here at BU. I think our first job is the place where we will probably learn the most about ourselves and about the importance of being well-rounded in this field.
I’ve always thought that to be in this field, you really have to love it. It’s not really a job where we’ll be making great money right away, and it requires years of time and effort to move up in the industry. As I graduate and begin the job search here in the next few weeks, I really hope I remember to keep the passion I started with. Having that feeling and remembering what it feels like when you catch a great shot or do a great interview is the reason we’re all here, and it’s important to keep this in mind as we take our baby steps into the journalism world.