Some realities of getting the first job.

[interloper]

Over the years we read many posts from people looking for work. Like all of us, getting the first job is probably the hardest.

As the saying goes, it's easy, make that "easier", to get a television news job if you are already employed somewhere in television news.

It got me thinking that many, especially new grads, have little understanding of all the different things which come into play which either mean they get hired or they don't.

Here's a list of the things which make or break your job search.

1. Ability is not the only reason a person gets the job before you do.

2. Location. If you live far away from where they job is, you are at a disadvantage no matter how talented you are. In leaner economic times, many places do not have the time or the money to fly people in for interviews. Whoever lives closer, has a big advantage.

3. If you are going for an on-camera job there are many factors which are out of your control that will either help or deter you getting the job. They may be looking for a woman to compliment an existing male anchor or vice versa. They may be wanting to appeal to a certain age group in their perceived audience. Maybe they are looking for someone more mature. Maybe they are looking for someone who skews younger for commercial reasons. Especially with on-camera jobs, what will include you in the list for job consideration could well be determined at your birth.

4. While many believe having a higher education automatically bumps them to the head of the line, like having a Masters in journalism, it does not. Actual field work always counts more than classroom work. A person looking to be a medical reporter may find an advantage if they are already an MD. Or a consumer reporter may be at an advantage for an investigative or consumer reporter job because of their studies but a journalism degree, either BA or Masters only puts you solidly in the middle of thousands of other graduates all looking for exactly the same thing you are.

5. Sitting at home mailing out hundreds of resumes and tapes after graduation, then waiting by the phone also puts you behind the employment curve timeline. You need to be much more proactive in your job search. The sit-at-home method is practiced, again, by thousands of new grads every year. For a very few it works after months of waiting. For the majority, it does not. Go where you want to work. Give it your best shot. Holding back waiting only wastes time and life.

6. There are no guarantees. You will get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people but the bottom line is just because you want to be employed does not mean somehow, some day, you will be employed in television news. Universities have been cranking out graduates every year and the large majority don't ever find work in television news. Of course they don't stress this basic fact enough during class-time but it is true. And every year, thousands more are added to the competition. Knowing this, should encourage you to do more than sit at home waiting for something which probably will never happen. Until it "might" happen, you still have to pay bills which means getting a job somewhere else. A job, you hope, will allow you to go and interview should the chance to be considered for employment arise and, said job, still be available when they decide to hire someone else.

7. There is more to television news than being in front of the camera. Lots of good, important, exciting jobs are in newsrooms. Not just the ones where people see your face. Don't limit yourself.

8. When you get the chance to interview, dress like an adult. Dress like a professional and not some rap star or college kid on Spring Break. For women, don't dress like a $lut. It amazes me to see young people come through the door in crazy outfits thinking they will get hired dressed the way they do. The minority know how to dress for a job interview, the majority do not.

9. Have a tape or DVD. No matter what job, without a tape or DVD showing YOUR work, you will not get hired. It doesn't matter how old it is. Newer is better. But no tape/DVD means no consideration.

10. The first job after school is like a masters degree. You won't be there for ever. You are going to be paid a very small salary which will be hard to live on but you should get paid. Stay for a year or two and then move on to something bigger and better. If, after a couple of years, you find yourself unable to move on, change careers.

I do not mean to be harsh with these thoughts. My goal is to save some people time and energy in their lives and, with luck, help them to get a job they want a little quicker than they might have.

Others will have good suggestions as well which can add to this list.

[ August 22, 2007, 02:16 PM: Message edited by: interloper ]

[Pro]

Only thing I can add is this....get a job in the business. I don't care if its logging tapes or editing feeds. Find ANY job you can - in the business - while you are looking. I'm not saying it you'll necessarily be promoted to the job you want, but it shows iniative to a prospective entry-level employer.

When I interview entry-level candidates now, first question I ask (or the first thing I look for on a resume) is "What are you doing now?" If I see or hear "full time student" or someone working at some non-related job, I have to question if they are serious enough.

At least with a part-time television person, we won't have to conduct "TV News 101" (most colleges don't teach that, despite what they claim). These people know the general "rules". They have knowledge just for being AT a station for 20-25 hours per week, even if it is menial work.

[Charlie Brown]

Also, to all aspiring reporters currently in j-school, do yourself a favor and take an internship in a small market rather than flocking to the newsroom of the nearest big city. You'll get a first hand look at what you will actually be doing in your first job. Depending on the station, you could even actually get on the air if you prove yourself.

[Spike]

Originally posted by interloper:
Like all of us, getting the first job is probably the hardest.Speak for yourself. My first job in television was the easiest to get.

I saw a listing in the local Sunday newspaper for a studio grunt. I mailed my resume on Monday. I got a call Tuesday. I went in for an interview Wednesday. I got a call offering me the job on Thursday. I started the following Monday. Three months later I was promoted out of the studio and into the field as a photog. Two years after that I was on my way to my next market.

This was market 114 at the time. At that same station, I can think of three people off the top of my head who started there as APs with no news experience and ended up reporting. That's why I wholeheartedly agree with this:

Originally posted by Pro:
Only thing I can add is this....get a job in the business. I don't care if its logging tapes or editing feeds. Find ANY job you can - in the business - while you are looking. Absolutely. You're not doing yourself any favors sitting at home or working at Starbucks for a year waiting for your big break. I wonder how many people wait and wait and wait and finally give up to go work in another field.

[vuphinder]

My path was the same as Spikes...but remember he answered the add in market 114...mine was 100. Don't expect to apply to a station in market 50 or higher without any real world experience. Start small, aim high.

[adam & doctor drew]

Originally posted by vuphinder:
Don't expect to apply to a station in market 50 or higher without any real world experience. Start small, aim high.you say that, and that's the way it SHOULD be, but we've all seen interns and entry-level people hired above market 50 in the last few years (usually because of how they looked or who they knew).

it's sad, but true.

[Randy Steinman]

Originally posted by interloper:

2. Location. If you live far away from where they job is, you are at a disadvantage no matter how talented you are. In leaner economic times, many places do not have the time or the money to fly people in for interviews. Whoever lives closer, has a big advantage.
2.(a) And if you don't live close to the job - and you are serious about it - write three big words on the top of your resume: WILLING TO RE-LOCATE!

While looking for my third job, I sent out 104 blind T&R's coast-to-coast. I told each ND that I was perfectly willing to re-locate, and promised myself that I would take the first offer.

That offer came three months later, and within one year I was covering the 1984 World Series for a national newsradio network.

Or, I could have continued spinning my wheels by staying where I was.

Letting it be known that you are willing to move, opens up a lot of potential doors. At some point early in their career, I think everybody should make that decision at least once.

[Sir Dropham Pants]

Don't get into tv news because you want to be famous. You will be sorely disappointed.

[Omega Man]

Great points but I do agree that getting my first job was by far the easiest. I was willing to relocate, drove 12 hours on my dime, and worked for peanuts for 1 year before getting my 2nd job (which was pretty easy too).
Breaking into the top 20 has proven to be not so easy. graemlins/eusa_doh.gif

[Pinkie]

Originally posted by Omega Man:
Great points but I do agree that getting my first job was by far the easiest. I was willing to relocate, drove 12 hours on my dime, and worked for peanuts for 1 year before getting my 2nd job (which was pretty easy too).
Breaking into the top 20 has proven to be not so easy. graemlins/eusa_doh.gif Yeah, how about that second job? Anyone got some "realities" of finding the second one?

[Sir Dropham Pants]

It's not entirely different as far as the process goes. What's different is your experience. You have some. You have a variety of things to include on a tape. You have the ability to send an interested news director a follow up tape with more up to date material. And most importantly, you have some understanding of how the business works (or you should). You can use that knowledge and experience to plan your next move. To paraphrase someone else's advice (can't remember who, sorry) 'play chess not checkers.' This is especially important with the second job. The first on is about getting in any which way you can. Now it's about plotting a path.

[overthehill]

--Don't count your college newscast "experience" as professional experience for resume purposes

--To build on interloper's thought that "ability isn't the only thing that gets someone a job," show enthusiasm, energy, willingness to learn. Don't be a cocky know-it-all in the job interview. You certainly aren't

--Know "news" not just the process of writing, editing, shooting, presenting a story on TV. Understand (and appreciate) what's going on in the world around you--from Washington to your state capital, to city government to international news. It helps you be a better, more credible storyteller. Open your eyes

--Read. Everything you can, especially current events related items--newspapers, websites, news magazines, journalism trade magazines, broadcast industry trade journals. Being well read, can make you a better writer.

--You will learn more in the first six months of your new job than you learned in four (or more) years of college. Open your eyes, be a sponge.

[ August 20, 2007, 07:36 AM: Message edited by: overthehill ]

[neodeity]

I've never worked as a reporter or anchor, I've always been in production (as far as working in TV, in radio I was talent); but the advice to "take any job you can get" is sound. My first gig was as a Master Control switcher in a 150's market, within six months the news director was pressuring me to do sports for a few weeks until a new hire could arrive (I do have a natural "radio voice" and could pass for cute in my youth). He simply couldn't understand someone who didn't want to be "on air." He cornered me in the break room once when I was getting a soda and tried to reject every objection I gave. The point being, in a smaller market you may get opportunities to do the things you really want to do sooner than in a larger one. I always wanted to be a director; after a year of switching (and then a year or so as a Deejay) I began directing newscasts. That was about 24 years ago; and, god help me, it's still all I want to do (and maybe all I'm good for).

[PKGable]

As I've recently written in other posts, I feel like getting the second job in fact is harder then getting the first. But to reiterate what some others have said for first timers:

1. DO INTERNSHIPS early and often. I did three in college, and had a part time job as a production assistant, and that is what got me my first job, not the fact that I anchored a college newscast or got good grades at j-school. My tape got me in the final group; my connections got me the job.

2. Be a good intern. Don't just sit around...ask questions, get involved, learn how to edit/write/shoot/produce...it doesn't matter what you want to do for a career (reporter, photog, etc.), learn it all! When you get into the business others will appreciate that you know what is involved in their job too. The harder you work in your internship, the better recommendations you will get when you apply for jobs.

3. Be willing to go anywhere and any market. Your first job will most likely be in a city you have never visited and definitely a city you never wanted to live in. I feel I am not just a better person but a better reporter for living in a small town and meeting/working with people that you just don't have around in a bigger city. You learn a lot about America (for better or worse), by living in a small town.

4. Listen to what everyone else has said in this post so far. It is all true.

[TVMattNYC]

Originally posted by vuphinder:
My path was the same as Spikes...but remember he answered the add in market 114...mine was 100. Don't expect to apply to a station in market 50 or higher without any real world experience. Start small, aim high.These are not hard-and-fast rules.

I started in market 19 as a radio news reporter/anchor (actually, I *started* while still in college as a radio DJ). My next jump was network radio ... then onto network television as a writer and producer.

Yes, you'll have a better chance of advancing if you start in the triple digits. But has anyone been watching network television lately? My own network has hired a couple new "correspondents" who are only in their late 20s! One came from Boston. Do the math. He had to have already BEEN in Boston for at least 4 years or so ... so we're talking 25 years old and already reporting in market SIX.

Another good friend of mine is anchoring on CNN. She STARTED at the network level ... getting her start on MTV-U.

What's my advice? Find your strength. Do your best. Shoot for what you really want. Just be aware that the competition is very, VERY tough at the top, and unfortuntely it's not always how much experience you have, or how good you are, it's all about WHO YOU KNOW. Trust me, I've worked with my share of sub-par network "talent" to understand they didn't get there on their "talent" or looks, or even experience.

Good luck to you.

[ August 20, 2007, 08:15 PM: Message edited by: TVMattNYC ]

[upandown]

Sell your professional soul to the business.

Meet people.
Make friends.

Be polite, energetic, positive, get into the door of a newsroom and become a part of it. Be a solution, not a problem.

'Getting your foot in the door' is a cliche, but it's also true. If you're not in, you're out. And if you've been in once, at least you may still have the key.

[ August 21, 2007, 06:11 AM: Message edited by: upandown ]

[kray]

This advice is all great... most I have heard before, but still very helpful. I will graduate in May and I was wondering how early is too early to start sending out tapes? Also, what should you brag up on your resume?? My internships, my college experience, specific things I've reported on? Any advice on markets that are great to start in would be helpful, too!!

[Charlie Brown]

Don't "brag up" anything on your resume because a news director will see right through that. Do not claim to have more experience than you actually have. Do not come out and directly say that you are overqualified for any job in any market. Do not describe yourself as a local news "personality". Ever. Check your ego at the door to your apartment.

Do focus on putting together a tape that features your best story telling and standups. Get it critiqued by someone in the business before you start sending it out to prospective news directors. Learn how to shoot and learn how to shoot well...that alone will set you far apart from 99% of the other applicants out there. As far as how early you should be sending out tapes, it really depends on the newsroom. Some jobs that are posted aren't meant to be filled for awhile...others need someone there right away. Feel free to PM me as well.

[adam & doctor drew]

Originally posted by kray:
I will graduate in May and I was wondering how early is too early to start sending out tapes? it's never too early to send tapes.

[Ralphie the buffalo]

This thread is pure gold. I have sent a link to someone I love. She is thinking about taking this path. Thanx to the best professors on this board for the sound advice.

I would add that a Masters degree in journalism is a waste of time and money. The real world is your best teacher and the first job will give you the education you need to move on.

[Charlie Brown]

Originally posted by Ralphie the buffalo:

I would add that a Masters degree in journalism is a waste of time and money.Not quite. If your degree is in something completely different - say philosophy - and you didn't decide until late in your college career that you want to pursue this path, it's not the worst idea in the world. If you're going to travel down this road though, make sure you're getting it from a school with a proven track record of placement in the business.

[TVMattNYC]

Originally posted by Charlie Brown:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Ralphie the buffalo:

I would add that a Masters degree in journalism is a waste of time and money.Not quite. If your degree is in something completely different - say philosophy - and you didn't decide until late in your college career that you want to pursue this path, it's not the worst idea in the world. If you're going to travel down this road though, make sure you're getting it from a school with a proven track record of placement in the business.</font>[/QUOTE]I don't know of any media organization where a master's in journalism is what gets someone "placed" there.

[Charlie Brown]

I should have phrased that better...find out how many alums from that program went on to actually pursue careers in television and if so where they went.

[Ralphie the buffalo]

Charlie please note that I specifically said that a MA in journalism is worthless. And I really believe that from my personal experience. The people I have worked with that had that degree were weak journalists. College ruined them. Or they were just in love with school and not with working in the real world. One or the other.

I would also say that those people who have advanced degrees in other disciplines (MBA, JD for instance) are some of the most well-rounded journalists I have met.