Experience points earned?

[Panhandle PK]

I will be graduating in August and if my internship doesn't want to keep me on *crosses fingers* in a few months - I'll be looking for a job like so many others.

My question as a noob is about experience.
I was sports editor for my college paper (both JuCo and University level).
I did an internship with a 80k paper.

Do any of these count as "experience" ?

 

[Write-brained]

Yes.

Do you have a lot of clips?

 

[Panhandle PK]

Tons! I have kept all my work. (100% are in hard copy... maybe 75% are in electrical format.)
From front page features to covering games to pre-season outlooks.

 

[Jay Sherman]

Tons! I have kept all my work. (100% are in hard copy... maybe 75% are in electrical format.)
From front page features to covering games to pre-season outlooks.

Pick your favorite two stories of each. Photocopy them and put them in a file for future reference. Maybe scan them into your computer if you want to ever e-mail out your packet. Then write a kickass cover letter, including a gripping opening anecdote, and you're in.

 

[BrianGriffin]

I will be graduating in August and if my internship doesn't want to keep me on *crosses fingers* in a few months - I'll be looking for a job like so many others.

My question as a noob is about experience.
I was sports editor for my college paper (both JuCo and University level).
I did an internship with a 80k paper.

Do any of these count as "experience" ?

The truth? The internship and the college paper experience probably outweigh the degree itself. Especially if those jobs exposed you to practical deadlines, maybe some Quark or In-Design (in a practical, not classroom setting), etc.

Was your college paper a daily?

 

[Panhandle PK]

Sadly, it was a weekly. But as Sports Editor - we did everything. Assigned the stories. (I wrote my editorial), gathered up pictures, and did the lay-out with In-Design. Never touched Quark before...

Two semesters of that - and I found my self checking for gray hair at the age of 22.

 

[zebracoy]

You wrote your own editorials? Eek.

 

[JakeandElwood]

This isn't a videogame.

Just kidding. It sounds like you've done well for yourself. But (from personal experience) the job hunt is tough right now. Best of luck to you with your current shop and if that doesn't work, in the job market.

 

[forever_town]

Yeah, if I were hiring, I'd look for clips over education.

Got a B.A.? Fine. Got a 4.0 at Missouri's J-school? Cool.

Got three clips that immediately grab my attention and don't let go? When do you want to schedule your interview?

 

[Panhandle PK]

I take that back... my column... I had a side-bar column. I just voiced my predictions on the NFL playoffs, the huge NBA trades (Gasol, Kidd, Shaq, etc...).

 

[BrianGriffin]

You wrote your own editorials? Eek.

Hey, don't laugh. I remember writing columns at my college weekly on the Quark page (or whatever layout program we were using back in 1989 or so), literally writing to fill a hole. No more and no less. I'd often wait for all the other copy to be in and those pages pretty much done, then write a column to fill whatever was left — so long as it was roughly column length. I mean I never resorted to a four-inch filler column and I never had to write a 42-inch book to fill space. I'd write it, print it and the editor (or if some other sports writer happened to be there) would proof it on the document.

But funny story, I knew somebody who did write the novel-to-fill-space column on the editorial page. One columnist quit (this is a college paper now, these things happen), something else fell through, he wanted local copy and not something ripped off the U. wire, so he went off — about a 50-inch manifesto covering everything from idiot kids who hang out at the McDonald's in front of the school's main gate (they'd cruise, hang out at Mickey's in front of the college, go cruise again, come back, over and over...), to accreditation problems with the business department, to the fact that you couldn't walk on the grass in the quad and the sidewalks were under construction (Are we supposed to levitate?).
And suddenly, when he got to the bottom of the news hole, he ran out of opinions. Amazing how it worked.

 

[Googlaw]

I take that back... my column... I had a side-bar column. I just voiced my predictions on the NFL playoffs, the huge NBA trades (Gasol, Kidd, Shaq, etc...).

DON'T SUBMIT THOSE! That was always my pet peeve with college kids applying for jobs. I don't care what you think about those "big trades". I'm only interested in "local" columns with which you might be able to provide some insight. What are you possibly going to tell me about the Shaq to Miami trade that an established NBA beat writer hasn't already?

Stick with your best features and enterprise work and you'll be better off in my opinion.

 

[BrianGriffin]

Sadly, it was a weekly. But as Sports Editor - we did everything. Assigned the stories. (I wrote my editorial), gathered up pictures, and did the lay-out with In-Design. Never touched Quark before...

Two semesters of that - and I found my self checking for gray hair at the age of 22.

That's ok with the weekly thing because I'm sure the internship was not at an 80k weekly...

But the versatility that is often needed at entry level positions, especially small-to-medium sized papers, is huge. You can tell people you've done layout. You can tell people you've done gamers, columns, etc. as a writer. You can them you've dealt with deadline.

At a small-to-mid size paper, which is where most people start out, they NEED that versatility from their entry level people and you got it.

You're hired...wait, but there's nobody hiring. Sorry... Just kidding (or am I?).

 

[Panhandle PK]

Where can I send you my clips.

Does my previous work history go into play when they look at resumes? Same job for 7-8 years while still going to college? Loyal?

 

[sirvaliantbrown]

To echo: do not do not include opinion pieces in your clips package. Or...maybe one, in which you opine on something local, out of 10. You're not going to be opining as a junior sports reporter or as a junior general assignment reporter. Demonstrate your ability to write breaking news, short profile features, longer topical features, and so on.

 

[buckweaver]

Where can I send you my clips.

Does my previous work history go into play when they look at resumes? Same job for 7-8 years while still going to college? Loyal?

I would only put a 7-year grocery store job if you didn't have ANY other relevant (i.e. media-related) work experience to put on your resume besides that internship. You don't want a blank resume -- but, no, the grocery job won't really help you.

That said, you're young -- so you gotta list what you got. Nobody's going to count it against you.

 

[Birdscribe]

To echo: do not do not include opinion pieces in your clips package. Or...maybe one, in which you opine on something local, out of 10. You're not going to be opining as a junior sports reporter or as a junior general assignment reporter. Demonstrate your ability to write breaking news, short profile features, longer topical features, and so on.

And ANY enterprise you may have tackled. Make sure you include that.

Editors like to see you take an issue, break it down in explanatory fashion, then build it back up for the reader. That displays every element in the writer's arsenal: reporting on a complex or semi-complex subject and telling the story in a readable, interesting fashion.

 

[forever_town]

To echo: do not do not include opinion pieces in your clips package. Or...maybe one, in which you opine on something local, out of 10. You're not going to be opining as a junior sports reporter or as a junior general assignment reporter. Demonstrate your ability to write breaking news, short profile features, longer topical features, and so on.

As an editor who occasionally has looked for reporters, when I'm looking at resumes for an entry level position, I don't care if you can write opinion. Chances are, you aren't going to be writing any for me.

However, if you demonstrate that you know how to edit opinion, I'll keep that in the back of my mind.

What I look for is ability to handle a versatile range of stories. Since I'm the ME of a weekly paper, I want someone who can write about a murder trial one day and the high school baseball game of the week the next.

 

[Panhandle PK]

My internship is with an 80k daily, not weekly.

Aside from putting down my internship as well as my SE position at the Uni paper, how many clips should I attach to my resume?

I was thinking about 6-7? 2 of features, enterprise, and game coverage?

 

[joe_schmoe]

A lot of times the job description will tell you how many clips to send. If they ask for three and you send five you have a strike against in you with many editors in that you can't follow instructions.
If it's not clear go with at least three, but no more than five is. Beyond that is overkill. Less than that shows you lack any good stuff. Most good editors are going to know if you can write by the time they get to that second clip. If they have seven to look at you've bored them and they've forgotten your name by then. Remember, even in summer when sports journalists are trying to avoid death from boredom, sports editors are still relatively busy people, so keep things simple yet effective.

Also, keep your resume and clips ready to go at all times, mail or email. As soon as you see a job pop open, have your stuff ready to be on that sports editors desk in a moment's notice. Trust me, someone else will have his ready. And while it's no given that that makes you any better off a lot of times that same busy sports editor may just take the resumes in order he gets them, if he likes the clips call you (make it easy for him to set up an interview time also...when job hunting keep your schedule as free as possible) and the job can be your before half the resumes even get in. (That's how our SE works when we have a rare opening).

Good luck