7 posts tagged “reporter”

Here's stage two of the inaugural post.

ASSEMBLING A PORTFOLIO

After you've clearly defined your goals and networked a bit, it's time to assemble a portfolio that reflects those objectives (if you haven't done so already).  A standard portfolio consists of a cover letter, resume, references and clips--in that order. 

Supplies

• Black binders (I recommend the 1-inch Premium by Wilson Jones)
• Clear sheets (LOTS)
• Resume paper (Staples or Office Maxx has a wide selection)
• Multiple black print cartridges (you're going to be photocopying A LOT) or lots of change if you're using a copier at a library or an office store
• Computer paper (LOTS)

Cover Letter

Keep it to one page.  Use tight, clear sentences.  Since it's for a writing position, the cover letter is an indirect way to showcase your writing ability, so write well.

The format for a cover letter typically goes:

• First paragraph--State what position you're applying for and make a connection with the newspaper by showing you know their company.
• Second paragraph--Your journalism experience
• Third paragraph--Why you're a good candidate/skills
• Fourth paragraph--Close it out and encourage a follow-up. 

Resume

You can put the Objective and Summary first, if you'd like.  However, I've heard that it's not good, because you need to get Journalism Experience up there as soon as possible.  On mine, I cut those two categories altogether. 

Put Education and Awards BELOW Journalism Experience.  Remember that you're a professional now (not a student), and you want your experience emphasized instead of your education. 

Finally, put Computer Skills and Other Work Experience at the bottom, and the words "References Attached" (center-aligned) as the last line.

References

Make sure your three to five references are either college professors or editors/reporters and list their titles.  In addition to contact info, you might want to throw in Relationship and Years Known.  Also, don't enclose mailing addresses--they aren't necessary, and they take up unneeded space.

Clips

Selecting these will most likely be the hardest part of the portfolio.  You might want to customize them for each opening (i.e.-put in sports clips for a sports reporter position), so the clips are relevant to the beat.  Here's five factors to take into consideration when deciding if a clip is good to enclose:

• Quality-make sure it's good writing and reporting
• Recency-you probably don't want to put in something you did a long time ago
• Location-where the article appeared in the paper
• Content-enclose articles in which the content is compelling, not too fluffy
• Variety-make sure you enclose a wide range of clips to show your versatility

Sometimes an opening will request a certain number (or number range) to enclose.  If they just want to see your best work, it's upto you how many you enclose.  That can be anywhere from 5-12 usually.  Regardless of how many writing samples you put in, make sure your absolute best stuff is up front, as editors may not even read past the 5th one. 

Costs

Alright, I don't mean to intimidate you, but I want to be honest with you--the price of assembling a portfolio can be hefty.  Between the supplies, shipping and handling, you're looking at $30-$40 minimum per port.  Don't be surprised if you've spent a couple hundred dollars in your first month. 

In addition, it takes a lot longer than you would imagine to assemble each portfolio.  I would suggest always having at least four or five spare ones around, with writing samples, resume and references already in them.  That way, when you apply to another newspaper, all you have to do is customize and write your cover letter.

Also, a tip I received from the post office: If you're sending in-state, ship First Class.  If you're sending out-of-state, ship Priority Mail.

Following Up

Contact the editor or whoever you sent your port to (it might be the HR director) within one week of delivery.  Not one week from shipping out.  Give the person a bit of time to review.  When you follow up (either by phone or E-mail--I suggest doing both), make sure you verify that he or she received your package.  Don't ask for an interview, ask if they got it.

Final Words

Assembling a portfolio is by far the hardest, most time-consumptive and expensive part of the whole ordeal.  If you can master this stage, the job search becomes loads less burdensome.  Stay positive and plug through.  You can do it.

Let's go back for a minute to my very first post, where I mentioned goal-definition. When I graduated, I had the time and money to conduct a quality job search. Others may not be in the same position after receiving their degree and choose a quantity job search to increase the numerical probability of getting an offer.

On the quantity side, Joe Bonikowski (pictured), staff writer for the Palm Beach Post, encouraged me not to limit my options in any way. He said to send off as many as you can and see what kind of opportunities present themselves. When he graduated, Bonikowski sent off 50 applications and received 6 job offers.

We've heard it a million times in our journalism classes, yet we still manage to miss it when we write: Use active verbs.

Here's a trick I taught myself in college, in order to train my eye. Go into Microsoft Word and set it to pick up passive voice. So every time you use non-active verbs, it will insert a green squiggly line underneath it.

After awhile, you'll train yourself to eliminate passive voice naturally, or at least significantly reduce it.

Active verbs excite content, strengthen diction and save words.  They bring justice to good reporting.

So hey, give the Microsoft Word trick a shot and see if it works for you too.

"There Is No Me Without You: One Woman's Odyssey to Rescue Africa's Children"

"Somebody Told Me" By Rick Bragg.

"There Are No Children Here" By Alex Kotlowitz

"Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival" By Anderson Cooper

"Alcohol: Cradle to Grave" By Eric Newhouse

Book description at Amazon.com:

"With God on Our Side is shocking exposé of life inside the United States Air Force Academy and the systematic program of indoctrination sanctioned, coordinated, and carried out by fundamentalist Christians within the U.S. military....An important book at a critical time in our nation’s history, it is the story of one man’s courageous struggle to thwart a creeping evangelism permeating America’s military and to prevent a taxpayer-funded theocracy in which only the true believers have power." -from Amazon.com

"Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America"

By Barbara Ehrenreich

I would say three different people is standard.

Of course, it depends on a lot of variables such as availability, article length and nature of the story. For instance, in breaking news for a big metro, you may only be able to get two reliable voices in the alloted time.

And sometimes in a feature--although lengthier--two strong sources really can carry the entire piece, if the reporting is solid. For others, numerous voices (much more than three) are necessary, because the story emphasizes a need for diverse viewpoints (like a political issue).

If you can get a lot of voices--great. But at the same time, you don't want to your article to sound like a series of quotes or a long string of attribution. And just because you do 10 interviews, doesn't mean you have to quote every one of them.

The most recent article of mine that ran this week had seven voices, but that's because they all came from such different perspectives. And it was a 500-word story, which is really long in daily journalism.

It's really up to each reporter's discretion, but three is generally a good number to enclose.

-Kim Hartman

Ok, the obligatory first post.

I think the biggest challenge for recent journalism grads--well, any recent college grad really--is that no matter how good you are, you're going into the abyss with zero experience. Now I don't mean zero experience literally, but most editors want to see years (2-5 generally) of post-college newsroom experience to even consider you as a candidate. At least when you're talking about dailies with circulations over about 35,000.

This is odd to me--it's strange that hundreds of accumulated clips and newsroom internships seem to become "invalid." In addition, journalism thrives off (or should thrive off) of raw talent and fresh ideas to match the fast-paced and ever-changing field. Unfortunately, that's not how many editors view it.

In any case, there's ways to get around this. I did.

Stage one is goal-definition and networking.

Goal-definition

First, it's great to define your goals and figure out a gameplan that helps you achieve those goals. Do you want to start at a small paper but be the lead reporter? Or a big paper and work your way up from a small role? Do you want a flexible part-time position or a secure full-time one? Consider factors such as salary, market-size, work culture, location, opportunity for upward mobility, types of coverage, financial circumstance, etc.

Something that's really important in this process is to pick a method that's best for you. A lot of people will preach to you about what's best, but in the end, you're the one that's going to have to walk into work everyday. So be sure to make decisions that are best for you. If you're unsure of what you want, have a handful of intelligent, non-judgemental people that you really trust to be your support system. That can range from editors and reporters to college professors to best friends to family.

Networking

I'm known to excel in this area, although I hate the term itself. It implies politically-motivated communication. And honestly, I think the phrase "It's not what you know, it's who you know" is often said by people who aren't very good at what they do. Your education and what you know matters, especially within highly-skilled professions such as journalism.

It is, however, good to stay in touch with people in the field to get solid feedback. Asking editors and reporters to provide you with insight, input, approaches and opinions is a great practice that can benefit you tremendously. It might be handy for you to create a contact list of such people when a critical situation arises, and you need some quick-hit advice.

The Ripple Effect

When you're starting from ground zero in building a network base, don't be afraid to pursue a newspaper that you really like by going in cold. Even establishing one contact internally can be huge, because what often happens is that it ripples out to other people. Hence, more opportunities.

For example, say you connect with one editor (let's call him "Bob") at x-newspaper. Through Bob, you can reach others at that newspaper by letting them know that Bob referred you to them. The ripple effect takes place, and you soon find that you have 5-10 contacts at one publication. So have the confidence to take a chance by dropping that initial stone in an awesome lake.

-Kim Hartman

Stage two coming soon...