Comments on: Journalism Jobs Hard to Come By for Recent Grads

By: Nick Guillory

Nick Guillory — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 03:47:25 +0000

I just graduated from Mizzou’s ‘School of Journalism’. While everyone says its the best journalism school and most Mizzou grads always get jobs. I can tell you at least 10 right now that don’t have jobs and there are plenty more. I am one of the lucky one’s that didn’t have to wait long and struggle, but I wasted a lot of money in the process. Here’s my two cents of advice:

1) Make everything as simple as possible, get a tape, make copies, send it out
2) FIND ANYONE YOU KNOW AT A STATION THAT HAS AN OPENING AND BEG THEM TO GET YOU A JOB.
3) Persistence pays off, I got my job by checking in with my news director and making plans to come and visit. Times are tough for companies and stations, they can’t always accommodate you.

By: Sam Gronner

Sam Gronner — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:59:12 +0000

No doubt the business of journalism is undergoing fundamental change, but there’s a unique institution in NY that is addressing the challenge. The City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism is reporting steady growth in enrollment with paid internships. It will be holding its August Academy for Class of 2011 Applicants: see http://tinyurl.com/n59c57 .

By: Jeremy Porter

Jeremy Porter — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:08:45 +0000

Thanks for sharing your story Ashley. You reminded me of another piece of advice to offer…

If students have time to intern at a local paper (or any media for that matter) during school, they should do so. Paid or unpaid. Also take advantage of any on-campus jobs (i.e. writing for the alumni publications, school paper, campus radio station, etc.). The more “real world” experience you can get before you hit the pavement looking for a job, the better.

Of the people I’ve known who have found journalism jobs right out of school, most worked or free at the outlet during school and were hired full-time after.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:41:15 +0000

I graduated in May 2008 with a B.S. in Communication from the University of Miami (Fla.). My majors were print journalism and studio art (with an added useless minor in art history). I had been applying for summer internships with the big newspapers since fall 2007 and couldn’t find anything. I ended up landing a full-time (paid!) internship with a company in their corporate communications department. I interned for 14 grueling months before I was hired full-time. The pay as an intern was more than what I would have gotten as an entry-level journalist, but being without health benefits was painful (I managed to get bronchitis in January and was slammed with a $1,000 bill for a 45-minute walk-in appointment). Now my responsibilities are split between internal and external communications with the company. It’s not a newspaper or magazine, but I’m loving it. Maybe down the road, when the industry picks itself up again, I’ll try my luck again.

My advice:
(1) If journalism students have the option and time to double major, do it. But pick a logical second major. I had no intentions of pursuing a career as a starving artist.
(2) Explore areas related to journalism, even if it’s not exactly that path you had intended. Unfortunately, my college professors never suggested these options, but I was willing to take a leap and it worked.

By: Jamie Favreau

Jamie Favreau — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:41:22 +0000

I am not a journalism major but I am a Communications Technology major before it was all Social Media and stuff. I still haven’t found a full time job but I am networking like a mad woman and hoping to change my career path to something stable and full time.