U of Florida beat writer, Tampa Tribune

It was hardly a secret that Staples was going to SI.com. It sounds like the Trib either didn't like any internal candidates or wanted to broaden its search. I am surprised it took so long to be posted.

 

Gotcha.

 

Trib beat guy has always lived in Gainesville.

 

So do you just email her and she tells you the address to send your stuff to? Or are physical, snail-mailed application packets a thing of the past now?

 

I'm guessing that if you can't do enough reporting to figure out what the Tampa Tribune address is, you might not have a lot of success on the UF beat.

Not trying to be a dick, but it does take initiative to land a gig. And my guess is that if you sat around and waited for an ad, you're not going to get a job.

Looking for a job is hard work. It requires networking. It requires some cold calling when you hear of possible openings. It requires selling yourself. And, most importantly, it requires a helluva lot more than simply waiting for an ad to be posted.

 

I was just kind of thinking out loud. Sorry to offend you. But I am glad that you've already determined my entire psychological profile. Impressive.

 

You didn't offend me in the least. I just think it's curious when people on here bitch about their lot in life when all they do is wait for jobs to be posted.

Getting a new job is difficult. It's even more difficult today than it was even two years ago. It takes a lot of work to get a good job and I don't think that everyone realizes that.

This isn't directed to you PW, but to everyone who wants a new job. Here are a couple of questions for you to answer yourselves:

- Do you have a short list of papers that are potential good fits for your next job? Places where you might like to live?
- Do the sports editors at those papers have your clips?
- Do you know any writers at those papers well enough to call/e-mail?
- Have you had any dialogue with those sports editors?
- Do you do something at least every other day that is job-search related (and I'm talking more than simply looking at job boards)?

The answer should be yes to most, if not all, of those questions.

 

More than anything else, I was wondering if the trend now was to just send everything electronically. Seems more and more jobs are posted with only an email address. This goes for cold clip sending, as well.

 

I don't agree acc. Certainly these are well-thought tips that will sometimes pay benefit, but when you talk of other editors "having your clips" or having a "dialogue" or e-mail and calling writers, it sounds to me as if you're encouraging others to "stalk" a job.

Having been in a position to examine and hire candidates, I can tell you those that badger frequently are quickly eliminated. If an individual can be bothersome before being hired, how much of a hardship will he/she be once on staff?

To that degree, I think following your advice can do as much harm as good. There's a reason papers post jobs in these types of forums. It's because they hope to hear back from qualified candidates.

 

Agreed. I've seen people "network" their way right out of contention, because it's so transparent. It's a fine line.

 

To each their own.

FWIW, none of my last three jobs were ever advertised. I got all of them because of who I knew and that they already knew about me when they had an opening.

Paper 1: Had been in the mix for a job a year prior. When I didn't get the job, I occassionally called the sports editor and occassionally sent him clips. When he had his next opening, I was pretty much immediately called.

Paper 2: It was a logical next-step paper in terms of size and one I was interested in. I sent the SE some clips at one point and had a small bit of contact with him via e-mail. Again, when he had an opening a few months later, I was one of two people interviewed and got the job. Never advertised.

Paper 3: Pretty much the paper I had wanted to work at since I was a kid. Had gotten to know some people there, including the sports editor. Was in the mix for a job there one summer and didn't get it. The next spring, I was basically hired without an interview and without the job being posted.

If I had waited for jobs to be "posted," there's a good chance I would have never gotten any of them. I'm not saying you need to stalk jobs, but there's nothing wrong with giving someone an occassional phone call or dropping a clip in the mail to remind the SE that you're still out there. My point is that many of the best jobs are never posted or they have been all but filled before they are ever posted.

Expanding ones network is crucial. A friend of mine outside the biz just landed a really good job in large part because of the site Linkedin.

There are a ton of different ways to get a job and look for a job, but I am a true believer that the best jobs are never advertised for (two I can think of recently include the DePaul beat at the Chicago Trib and the Nuggets beat at the Denver Post). Because of that, I think you need to find a way to get your name out there.