I have a young friend whom I’ve known since she was born. I don’t think she’d want me to use her real name, so I’ll call her Jane. She worked hard in school, got a lot of A’s, and earned her way into a prestigious journalism school.
Jane’s college experience was well planned. She obtained a couple of summer internships on her own, one with a bank, one with a large manufacturing company, both in our home town. The College of Journalism experience included three internships, including one at the Washington Post, one in Thailand, and one in Naples, Florida, all three allowing Jane to use her knowledge of the Internet as an intern beat reporter. She started her career at the Las Vegas Sun last June as a beat reporter, responsible for a community-linked blog in a small town outside of Las Vegas.
In early November, Jane experienced first-hand the massive change going on in the newspaper business; her first career upheaval! She found herself looking for a job.
In early December, we talked about what she needed to do to take her next step in her career. She told me she planned to look at Denver, Las Angeles, and Washington D.C. Would she return to the world of journalism? Wasn’t sure yet. She was working on her resume.
During the holidays, in fact December 27th, I saw Jane again. She has a trip planned to D.C. in mid-January; she has two jobs she is planning to apply for in Washington. She presently has no interviews scheduled, no informational meetings planned, and a contact list of two people. She wanted me to look carefully at her resume to perhaps tweak it a bit, so that she could apply for these two jobs. If you were advising Jane, what would you tell her? What should she do to get ready for her D.C. trip? What components of the job search process should she be most concerned about addressing right now?
I would tell Jane to come up with a compelling reason for considering a move, and to speak with current employees at the two companies she applied to. Get some inside tips about the culture, what is valued by each company, and perhaps earn an employee referral (very valuable) if she makes a favorable impression. To get ready for her actual trip, she should plan to arrive early (for logistical reasons- never leave punctuality to chance- and to get together with others in the area) and set up meetings with others in the area. It makes a big difference, when visiting an unfamiliar city, to get into a routine and be able to name drop a little (“Oh! I just ate at this great cafe a couple of blocks from your office- should we meet there?”, or “Do you know Jim Smith? Yeah- he’s the editor of Washington Business Daily. We were having dinner the other night and she was telling me all about the big scandal in the State House that everyone’s talking about”). The most important aspects of her job search now and anytime has to be networking. Even if the interviews go well, DON’T STOP. You never know what can happen and it’s a great idea to have an influential group of contacts inside and outside of your industry.
I would recommend to Jane: (1) Learn the D.C. market and understand the area. (2) Prepare questions in advance with the employers. One specifically, “Do you anticipate an upswing or downswing of the business in the next 12 to 18 months?”
(3) Understand the trends in Journalism – moving from paper to electronic and the way the news is being delivered. Technology has changed this field and has found fellow journalists out of work. Why? Because circulation is down and people are turning to the Internet (or even TV) for their news.