When to start applying for jobs?

[SuperflySnuka]

Hello everyone, hope you're doing well...

I graduate NEXT MAY and I'm in the job-hunting process. Any rec's on when I should start mailing out my clips? Should I just wikipedia all the newspapers in the country and send them stuff? any suggestions might help....

Thanks guys

 

[Mystery_Meat]

And I suggest you read more carefully before writing a deck response...

'I GRADUATE in May,' as in several months from now...

Some advice:

1. Don't snap at people who misread your post. I saw "May" and thought the same thing until I read it a second time. Had you said "next May" or "this coming May" or "May 2007", then it would be more univerally understood.

2. It never hurts to carpet bomb your A-list of newspapers with resumes. Sure, they may all get thrown in the circular file, but every so often through some sort of revelation, some HR or EE type sees an empty desk and your resume in the same 10 minutes and the rest is history.

3. As to when: I'd start in March, because unless it's an immediate need job (like the MLB beat, which you probably wouldn't get fresh off the college boat anyway), they're not likely to make the hire or have you start until after you've graduated. Usually there's a spike in jobs during the summer, but with it comes a spike in resumes too.

4. Take risks with your approach and your choice of newspapers -- after all, most people know your namesake flew off the top of the cage at Madison Square Garden. Far fewer remember that he missed and that's why he lost the match.

 

[SuperflySnuka]

Meat - You're right, I deleted post.

Great #4 - that's hilarious...

With all the huge cuts going on, should I even target the bigger papers (little fish in a big pool) or stick to the smaller dailies, which is my goal. Ideally, I want to start on a prep beat somewhere (*crossing fingers* Texas), but I'm really hoping for a daily.

What do you think?

 

[Ace]

And I suggest you read more carefully before writing a deck response...

'I GRADUATE in May,' as in several months from now...

Well, that's different then, isn't it?

It's early then, to be whetting the appetites of eager sports editors. I would suggest picking out a few of the choice papers and asking about internship opportunities in the coming year. Keeps you in mind without asking for a job you can't take for half a year.

I wouldn't carpet bomb the country in March. I would just check in with a few to let them know you are almost done and are starting to look.

As always, for college students, the best way to land a good job out of college is to work the internships hard.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Meat - You're right, I deleted post.

Great #4 - that's hilarious...

With all the huge cuts going on, should I even target the bigger papers (little fish in a big pool) or stick to the smaller dailies, which is my goal. Ideally, I want to start on a prep beat somewhere (*crossing fingers* Texas), but I'm really hoping for a daily.

What do you think?

I guess it depends on your internships (if applicable) and your newspaper experience (college, stringing). A few years ago, I'd thought it unlikely that anyone outside a superstud would get to a major newspaper out of college, but if the big chain papers are looking to cut payroll, who knows? You might be able to undercut the competition by a few thousand dollars and slide in at the Big City Gazette. Otherwise, you're likely better off starting at the smaller papers. There's plenty of those types of papers in Texas, so I'd think that you'd at least have a chance.

 

[SuperflySnuka]

Internship-wise is decent; major daily in-semester unpaid (but turned into solid stringing op), college gig is good; writer, senior writer, ASE, SE, ME, Editorial Adviser); stringing is very good (several major dailies, SIOC, websites, etc.)...

I'm going to spread my resumes out like butter throughout Texas and just hope for a hanger...

 

[EStreetJoe]

Internship-wise is decent; major daily in-semester unpaid (but turned into solid stringing op), college gig is good; writer, senior writer, ASE, SE, ME, Editorial Adviser); stringing is very good (several major dailies, SIOC, websites, etc.)...

I'm going to spread my resumes out like butter throughout Texas and just hope for a hanger...

Unpaid internship? Goes against the advice my journalism professor gave us 18 years ago and he's probably given students every year he was teaching before that and after that up until his retirement this past spring. That advice - "Never take an unpaid internship. Lincoln freed the slaves. If you're going to work as an intern make sure you get paid for it"

 

[SuperflySnuka]

That's advice that I'd never give anyone. That six-month slave work gave me more opportunities than I could've ever imagined. Now I get overpaid for essentially doing the same work, have been promoted to a D1-AA college football stringing beat and have written for several papers.

I think that's horrible advice...

 

[Ace]

I don't blame you for taking an unpaid internship, but the paper should be ashamed for being so cheap.

If you think you are overpaid now, Superfly (did I read that right?), then you definitely have a bright future in the biz.

 

[SuperflySnuka]

LOL Ace - I wouldn't mind more, of course, but to get paid $60 for literally 2.5 hrs of work at 22 is phenomenal. I wouldn't say the paper is cheap, but I was the first sports intern in almost eight years, so they had no basis for anything...

 

[Thanks for comin' out]

There's a reason unpaid internships are ... unpaid. And it's not because they value their interns so much that the decide NOT to pay them... I'm not discounting them as far as a resume goes, but my opinion is that a paid internship looks better than an unpaid. At least if you are paid, potential employers know you did something besides run coffee.

 

[Riddick]

Did a couple of papers just post internship opportunities on the jobs board? That would be an excellent start. Also, take a look at where some of the other hotshot young writers may have interned and maybe try applying there.