Beaten down

That's how I got my second job in the business. Just a recommendation to a paper I didn't know existed, and I was hired four days later.

 

I would call the papers that have rejected you and ask the SE for 10 to 15 minutes. Ask him/her to tell you why you didn't rate. Tell 'em to be honest and brutal. Find out what they were thinking, find out what you need to get better, find out if your clips were as good as you thought. It can't hurt and I think it would demonstrate that you're proactive and trying to move up.

 

Great advice. You just have to keep plugging.

 

Strangely similar to how I got my current gig.

Getting a job is often more about who you know than anything else.

 

Or e-mail him/her. You'd be amazed at how many people apply for jobs. I had a sportswriter position open up a few months ago and got close to 80 applicants. And I'm at a 15K daily in a small southern town. Never take not getting a job personally. I applied for about 100 jobs before I got my first one. Getting that first daily gig is the toughest to land, but once you do that, it's (somewhat) smooth sailing.

 

Sportschick is right. So what does that tell you?

Get to know more people.

If you have a chance to go to journalism conferences, seminars, etc., do it - sometimes it's worth it even if you have to pay for it out of your own pocket.

Do: focus on making a good impression with the people at the event with your contributions to discussions, questions, etc. Meet as many people as you can. Bring clips and business cards. Dress neatly, though not ostentatiously. Be able to give an elevator pitch if someone is interested: a succinct explanation of your career so far and future goals: "I've been ASE at the <i>Jackass Flats Intelligencer</i> for three years, but think I'm ready to move to the <i>Plain-Dealer</i> as a reporter, because, etc."

Don't: Try to prove you're smarter/better than anyone there. Talk shit about your current gig/management team. Outdrink everyone at night.

Another tip: Don't wait until jobs are advertised. If your dream job is being sports editor at a 75,000-100,000 circulation daily, do some homework about papers you'd like to work for and towns you think you'd like to live in.

Identify the top five candidates and contact the editors with a quick query note:

Hello, you don't know me, but my name is Heywood Jablome and I've been ASE at the <i>Jackass Flats Intelligencer</i> for three years, but think I'm ready to move to the <i>Plain-Dealer</i>, a place where I could more fully use my skills to make a great newspaper even better.

I know you probably don't have any openings now, but I'm going to be in town next week and was wondering if I could ask for 15 minutes of your time to introduce myself in case something opens up down the road. Are you free next Tuesday or would Thursday be better?

---------
If you can do this and make a good impression that will vault you ahead of the dozens of blind resumes sent in when a job does open.

And you never know when something might suddenly open up. It's then when the managers sit around and go, "Fuck, our best preps writer just quit and states are in two weeks. What are we going to do?"

The SE can then hop up and go, "I interviewed this Jablome kid six weeks ago and he seemed pretty sharp. We didn't have any openings then, but I think he just might work now."

It sounds corny, I know, but like everything else in life, the harder and smarter you work during your job search, the greater your chance of success.

And it was Einstein, IIRC, who said the definition of clinical insanity is trying exactly the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. And that's exactly what you're doing - trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.

Do it differently, do it better.

 

Some damn good advice there lono. Getting your name into the mix is the best thing when they want to make that cake.

 

Pretty much exactly what Iono just said. Especially the part about sending stuff to places you want to work, whether they're advertising or not, and then getting a foot in the door.
If you can do that, you're already on second base when they do have an opening, instead of just waiting for a good pitch to hit with all the other jjobs.com-watchers.

 

Iono's advice is excellent. Become a networker and a schmoozer.

If there are bigger papers in your area or bigger papers you are interested in moving to, read their stuff on line or try and view the actual papers at the library. If that section has a good series or scoop or special section, drop the SE an "attaboy" noting that you admired the work done. Same thing if you happen to run into writers from bigger papers (hopefully, you can honestly say you like their work.)

With 100 people applying for the same job, you gotta go Eastwood and ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Or do I know a way to make myself noticed or known out of those 100 applicants?

You will probably find you'll work harder to find your next job than you are at any other job you get.

 

And here's another suggestion: Try to find a mentor. If you go to the conventions/meetings as Iono suggests, do your homework on who's there. If there are some SEs or ASEs there who have good reps, buy 'em a beer (or beers) and ask if they'll coach you. Ask them to assess a few samples of your work every couple of months. And ask them to keep their ears open for you.

It's as much who you know as what you know.

Hang in and good luck.

 

Not entirely true. It's who knows you're good, not just who you know.

 

The idea of contacting the SE at a paper you didn't get a job at is a great idea. I applied for an unadvertised position at the KC Star awhile back through some family connections. I talked to the asst. preps editor and he told me he had several more qualified people for the position. So I asked him what he thought of my work, and he simply said that it wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. I eventually took that as a compliment after being depressed about his assesment of my work. It is a fairly good section afterall. But he told me I had to produce more than features. They were looking for someone who writes outside of the norm, who brings insight that most wouldn't. Had a similar conversation with Tribune SE Dan McGrath at the Billy Goat (uncle works news side there). He said that the people he has hired have had great ideas and didn't settle for run of the mill stories. That you have to be able to cultivate clips that standout. I think you also need to make friends with other writers at every turn. Go to those APSE conventions, enter your stuff in contests.

But I'm going back to school and getting out of the biz, so what do I know.