If you graduate from a top-notch school, is it easy to get a feature job?

BTW, what does a "feature job" mean?

I won't even get into someone asking if getting any job is "easy." Unless it's in the fast-food business.

 

You are a special snowflake. I wouldn't even worry about it.

 

This sounds like the best education plan I've heard in a long time.

 

If you graduated from the Missouri or Northwestern journalism schools and applied at several of the newspapers I worked at early in my career, you were almost guaranteed an interview. But otherwise it didn't make much difference.

 

Looks like mom and dad paid for an upgrade from San Jose State. Don't disappoint them by majoring in journalism.

Majoring in Journalism and Mass Communications at SJSU | SportsJournalists.com

 

Resting on a school's laurels is a terrible way to go about job seeking in any industry. You had it right in the first part of your question: work hard and network like hell. Those are what matters.

 

Just transfer to Missouri and you'll be set.

 

No one should start out writing features. It's a recipe for bad features. Aspire to something. Learn how to talk to people. Learn where to find them. Learn how to hold someone's attention over 400 words, then 600, then 1000. Then write a 2000-word piece knowing it's likely not going to be very good. Have someone edit it harshly. Don't whine. Write a few more 1500-word pieces that are really good. Do more reporting. Read more. Recognize that an endless loop of positive feedback will have negative consequences. Write more. Hire a dog-walker, but don't gripe about it. Resist the desire to hashtag your #process. Write more. Volunteer to cover night cops. Learn how to cover a trial. Write more.

 

I heard there's a feature job open at the L.A. Times.

 

Especially considering journalism is not a major at UCSD, as SnarkShark pointed out. Is the OP a sock puppet or just a tool?

 

Ha! And he upgraded to a school that doesn't have a journalism program, despite his claims.

 

I believe KVV33 participated in this thread, possibly the best ever in the history of SJ.com:

Writing for mags like The New Yorker, GQ, Esquire, etc. | SportsJournalists.com

Great advice from people who know their craft.