It’s an anxious time for “about to be grads”, who very soon will leave the cocoon of school and venture out into the working world…You’ve spent four years, in some cases, and the prospects of having to get that first job is daunting…..But with a little research and some good advice it can be the start of a rewarding career …<\/p>\n
That advice was left to Jim Tortora<\/a> of WGGB TV in Springfield and Craig Larso<\/a>n, the community sports editor of The Boston Globe<\/em> during a recent visit to the Boston University Sports Journalism Series….During that visit, what became strikingly clear is that these students have very valuable skills needed by the new generation of journalism outlets they will apply to…the ability to shoot their own video, edit that video and turn out into a clear and concise video story, for example…The familiarity with social media technology, for another…But perhaps most shocking in all this, is the unwillingness of those (veterans) they are joining to “keep up”…they are, \u00a0frankly, jealous and scared of you…<\/p>\n Even news directors have had to adjust to the new day and age of judging talent…gone are the countless hours of inserting, viewing and ejecting tapes of all sizes and shapes …Most want links to the candidates material but while some will debate what should be in that link, the philosophy is still the same…Says Tortora, “Keep me engaged for those first thirty seconds. \u00a0I think it’s best early on to have, at least, a compilation on one link. \u00a0It’s easier to get feedback (also)…<\/p>\n Larson, like Tortora, sees hundreds of resumes and reads almost as many clips when a job opens…He doesn’t have time to read ten articles you’ve written but just as Tortora might shuttle through a video resume, Larson needs to be wowed right off the bat. “That first impression is so important. \u00a0Some first impressions you look at and their resume or their clips and you know. \u00a0 That’s it! \u00a0You’re done! \u00a0Be prepared and be persistent.”…<\/p>\n Finally, it’s one thing to shoot for the stars (see our Newcomers seminar) but both Larson and Tortora offered students advice that has nothing to do with their skills but rather more with their attitude(s)…No less important…”Make sure you have a real understanding of what the opportunities are, an understanding of what you’re abilities are and show that you are aggressive, said Tortora \u00a0(Show that) going into the business you have a passion, a desire for it”…Added Larson, “Know what you’re taking on. \u00a0If you don’t want to work weekends, you don’t want to work Thanksgiving, Christmas, you’re out of luck.”<\/p>\n Those are skills they don’t teach in school…Hopefully, I(we) have hit those home with sessions like this one…..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s an anxious time for “about to be grads”, who very soon will leave the cocoon of school and venture out into the working world…You’ve spent four years, in some cases, and the prospects of having to get that first job is daunting…..But with a little research and some good advice it can be the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":901,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}