Job advice for a May 2013 grad

Did that 25 years ago. Lots of fun. I figure if I was going to watch the game on my own time anyway, I might as well go. Got a lot of good clips that way. Years later, some wet blanket editor told us we couldn't do that; that everything we did had to be on the clock and she didn't want us using hours for that. Pretty much ended my desire to cover stuff.

 

I've already done that a few times in covering college hoops. I'm not a brownnoser, but I'm also not afraid to politely stick out my hand and start a conversation. The thing I've found is that the "older" guys are either really nice and helpful or complete pricks. That aside, i definitely will keep that in mind especially with Boston having teams in the five major leagues (Yes I count MLS).

 

Strangely enough, as most on here know my rants about unpaid overtime, I agree with this. Just make sure it's something that you want to do, as opposed to being made to do by management. And make sure that management knows you're doing this on your own, for your own benefit, and to not expect it on their whim.

At the same time, I can see the issue that Mark's wet blanket editor had, though. They don't want it to become a he-said, she-said issue with working unpaid overtime.

 

I'm guessing the "wet blanket" editor probably wasn't doing it to be a prick. Allowing employees to work unpaid hours violates various federal and state labor laws.

 

I've found that frequently, though not always, when someone tends to divide other people into those two groups, it's because they only see other people in terms of what those people can do for them.

There might be some meaning in there if you can parse through my horrible maze of ambiguous antecedents.

 

Yeah, if your paid job is to write stories for the paper, you can't write stories for the paper for free. That's a basic tenet of employment law: You can't work without pay, EVEN IF you agree to do it. Because if you do it and the other guy doesn't, you'll invariably come off looking better. And why should the other guy suffer because he wants to be paid for his labor?

Nor would I recommend gaining access to press facilities using your newspaper's name if you're not going to be writing something. Nice way to get yourself blacklisted.

 

What would you guys say to trying the freelance scene for a while? I have enough contacts in my area to sustain it for a while.

 

I see what you're saying. I really do.

The other side is that it's very hard -- particularly as a young reporter --- to get good assignments. If the bean counters are going to micromanage every hour you work, it's real common to have the "good stuff" eliminated first, because they figure it's cheaper to run the AP version or get a stringer for $75. Then you wind up spending 40 hours a week on stuff you don't care about and you ask yourself "Why am I doing this?"

A wise old editor a long time ago told me "80 percent of everything is crud. You just have to hope that the other 20 percent makes it worthwhile".

 

One of the first things an editor told me in an interview at my first job was "I get a lot of resumes from guys who want to just cover the big college and pro teams. That's fine and fun to do, but that's not the bread-and-butter in this business." So I accepted the premise that those events were the bonus on top of the grunt work of covering preps, little league, working the copy desk, etc.

I also heard over and over --- and accepted --- the fact that everyone starts small, pays their dues and works their way up the ladder. OK, fine. The disconnect came years later, when I was applying for pro and college beat jobs. I had a handful of pro/college clips, but the majority of my time was on other stuff. So you get labeled as not having major beat experience. Well, it's a catch-22. How the hell do you get major beat experience if all you're expected/allowed to do is small stuff?

 

Go to a college with a great journalism program.

 

Nothing at all wrong with doing freelancing. Best part is you can decide what assignments you want and don't want. You can do it as a supplement to other jobs, for as long or short as desired.

And a great way to make contacts. Go for it.

 

Freelancing and stringing is the best way to get big beat experience without having a big beat job.

Look at the schedules of all the teams in your region and see who's coming out that may be a lesser beat at a big paper. For example, I covered an American U game at Ohio State for the Washington Post when I was in college. Paid me $100 for five grafs. Ahh, the good ol days.

This works for pros and college.

Also, you can do features this way. Look for the hometown papers of guys having breakthrough seasons at college or the pros. Especially in the summer for baseball, papers would love to have a story on their hometown hero is doing with the Red Sox.

It doesn't work with more established guys who are featured all the time. (Don't sell the Sacramento Bee on Dustin Pedroia, for example.)

You won't make a ton of money but you'll get clips and experience in the clubhouse/press box to meet people.

Good luck.