Job hunt questions for upcoming grads

Grad school is not a solution to the "there are no jobs" problem. Two or three years from now you'll be better educated, deeper in debt and there will still be no jobs.

If you really want to pursue grad school, get a degree that will increase your options, like an MBA.

 

How about Sports Management/Administration? I'm two years removed from college and need to reevalute my options...

 

Intern with a minor-league team. Save you some debt down the line and you'll get your foot in the door.

My advice, though, for grads now is to watch "The Paper" on MTV or catch "Tabloid Wars" where the intern covers a WNBA game. Take notes and then bombard local editors with your tips.

 

I guess this seems as good of a place as ever to make my first post. I won't lie, after reading the entire thread, I'm a little nervous about the my applications to editors because it seems like everybody who has posted has a ton of experience.

I just graduated a couple weeks ago and have started sending out applications just like everybody else, but since I was playing division 1 baseball for my first two years at school, I didn't have much time outside of the field. I didn't really start building any sort of resume until I started writing for the sports section of our school newspaper my junior year and took an internship with a 40k circulation paper my senior year. Even though I lack the resume that some have listed, I have built up some solid clips, especially at my internship, where they even let me chase down an NFL story. They seemed impressed with my writing and the editor told me to use him as a reference, but should I be severely concerned with my lack of experience. Most of the papers I have applied to are around the 20k circulation range, is that about right for me?

 

I'm a recent graduate as well, and jobless, so take this for what it's worth, but I think the ~20k circulation should be about right. With that said, you should also apply to a ton of places out of your league (~40k) and a ton of places that you think are below you (~10k and lower). Make sure they are daily papers, though. From what I've gathered, it's tough to go from a weekly to a daily writing sports.

Of course, I've gotten most of my career advice before coming to this board from my journalism school's internship/career development coordinator, who told me I should apply to 50k circulation dailies, and I haven't even been getting callbacks from 25k circulations posting their jobs. So what do I know.

 

Lefty, in any job interview you should play up your D1 playing experience. Sure, you weren't sitting courtside covering the game for the school rag, but you were getting valuable experience that could give you tremendous insight down the line. Don't look at it as lacking in experience, look at it as time spent gaining a different perspective on the industry.

 

Whats the appraoch to applying to jobs that might be a little out of a grads reach? Say I have worked my student newspaper but I want to apply to a 30k circulation job? Should I even bother?

 

nope.

 

Depends on why you think it's out of reach. Because it's too big? Because it's a job covering D1 football? Because you read the section and realize your writing doesn't stack up?

If it's 100% out of reach, move on. If there are only a few elements that make it seem out of reach, focus on the elements for which it's a good fit.

 

Question for the experienced guys: I've been at a 200K daily for several years now, first as a sportswriter and then as a copy editor (with sports layout mixed in). I'm interested in trying to take the next step up to an ASE or SE at a smaller paper, so my question is: What should I include for clips?
I've never really applied for an outside job (re: not at my current employer) before, so what's the norm with clips/examples? I figured I'd include a few of each (writing/editing/layout), but what's a reasonable number and what's the best way to go about demonstrating editing skills?
Thanks.

 

Been interviewing at a lot of places lately over the phone; but nothing has come of it. I'm in a much better position than last year when I graduated ( 3 interviews, 3k, 10k, 12k), but I'm still not happy the way things are going. I nail the phone interviews every time. They aren't a problem. Neither are the clips. I know my current supervisors are happy with them. Anyway, without fail, a week or two after the interviews, I always get that dreaded e-mail: You we're great but someone else was better. Any thoughts or suggestions on this? I sort of think if given an in-person interview I could seal up the job, but it never gets that far.

 

If you get the SE gig can you tell me in advance so I can take your old job?