International Jobs

Does anyone have any tips on finding a job with a publication overseas? Preferably the United Kingdom.

 

Bloomberg in London always seems to be hiring for this or that. Go to the Bloomberg site and look under careers. Right now, they're looking for a GA sports reporter, a "sports team leader" (ie editor) and a cricket reporter. I've never talked to anyone from there on the sports side but oddly, everyone whom I've met from news is American or Canadian.

Generally, if you're just starting out, your best bet is to go abroad, get a job teaching English and start freelancing in your free time. If you're lucky, you can work for whatever local English language paper there is around.

 

I've also heard freelancing is one of the better ways to get an in. I'm pretty sure that on AP's job site you can specify you want to work abroad and list specific areas. You could post your resume there and see if any bureaus are interested i you or if there are any opens in places you'd be interested in working abroad.

 

Thanks guys. I appreciate it.

 

Another suggestion: You might want to search Joe Grimm's recruiting Q&A on Poynter. If I recall correctly, there have been a few questions about finding jobs abroad in the past few months.

 

Check out the bellow websites for more info on getting a job overseas.

http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/ APSE of the UK
http://www.aipsmedia.com/

 

I spent the past year in England and it was the most frustrating time of my life.

The papers over there have no problem at all paying you to freelance, but when it comes time to hiring staff, you can absolutely forget about receiving much consideration.

I had no trouble at all selling features to the nationals over there, yet was not able to land a staff job at even the tiniest weekly.

The entire labor market in the UK is based upon everyone - and I do mean everyone - having some sort of "qualification" that allows them to work in a particular field. For "journos" that means you need to have a formal training program that qualifies you to sit for the NCTJ preliminary exams.

Once you've passed the prelims, you are qualified to work as a trainee reporter. After some time as a trainee reporter you can drop the trainee part of the title. After some more time you can become a senior reporter. All the while, there will be more training and exams to complete. Needless to say, everything is extremely structured.

If you'd simply like to get a few foreign credits then you should sell them features. The easiest way to do that is find a local -- as in UK local -- angle to something going on here in the States.

Is there an English kid playing on the local college soccer team? If so, contact the editor of his hometown paper with your angle. I have used this method quite a bit and it has never, ever failed. The British and Irish are obsessed with the idea of "making it" in America. If one of their own is over here making a name for themself, it's newsworthy back in the old country.

Fell free to send me any questions you might have on the subject...

 

Good idea, especially with the exchange rate. That £150 you'll get for a freelance story from the UK becomes a cool three bills.

No Brits here, but the local juco has a couple of Aussies.