August 27, 2009
As most of us know, the state of journalism is a little scary currently with people getting laid off and papers shutting down all over. But, never fear! Journalism majors and journalists have options.
This session focused on jobs for journalists that maybe we would not have thought of by ourselves. Michael Koretzky, from Florida Atlantic University helped lead us into this unknown territory because, as he said, traditional journalism jobs in un-traditional places.
From August 2008 to August 2009, during some of the worst moments of the recession, Koretzky saw 342 full-time jobs and 62 part-time jobs come across his desk. He runs a job listing site you can check out by clicking this link.
Koretzky said the best jobs are not on the career sites you might expect to look through when looking for a job because it costs too much for many places to post there. Instead look for listings at the source.
If you want to get a job in sports journalism, don’t look at newspapers! Look in the sports field. Realize early that you can’t specialize in one sport anymore. They want sports fanatics who can learn multimedia programs quickly.
Even though for years journalists have looked at public relations as the “dark side,” people who hire PR people want to hire people who can write. It looks like the “dark side” is becoming less dark.
Nonprofit organization are hiring journalists. Why? Because good writing brings in more donations into the organization.
Burger King , yacht magazines are hiring journalists who know nothing about the subject they are covering! They need people who can report and write.
If you want to work at a daily newspaper, learn how to be a backpack journalist. If you are unfamiliar with the term: a backpack journalists is a reporter who interviews, videos, writes for print and web, shoots pictures, etc. We must become a one-stop, be-all-end-all kind of reporter. Oh, and much to the dismay of a copy editing major, copy editor are always the first to get laid off, Koretzky said.
Just a few tips for getting a job from Koretzky:
- “Experience with” means you can open the program and alter existing documents. “Proficient with” means you can do it all – open the program, create a document, and fix anything that is wrong with it.
- You can stay employed if you can multitask well. Younger people are better at this than older people in a newsroom, but older people usually understand government and issues and tend to have a better “bullshit meter” for politicians.
- When writing a resume, do not list your education first. Start with experience.
- Learn to spell. Some employers will toss your resume and materials in the trash if they see a misspelled word.
- All the above information gets you to your initial interview. There you will be asked to share a “war story” about your time in the field. Think long and hard about this question BEFORE you enter the interview. Stupid answers or answers that take too long to think of make you look like an idiot.
Jessi Propst
President
