Taking Your Job Hunt to the Next Level

In my day job, I cover the business aviation/private jet industry. Even people with no interest in the topic have seen the beating the industry has taken in the media. That, coupled with the global economic meltdown, tight credit markets and companies scared to buy jets, has caused a large amount of people being laid off in the business aviation industry.

I became "friends" with Clint White, an unemployed corporate aviation pilot who took his job hunt to Twitter (@tdwnds1) and via his blog, Aviators' Thoughts. I would offer links to his blog via one of my company's blog. I also had the chance to meet him at a major industry trade show this fall, where he wore his uniform and networked like crazy, telling me "you never know who you might meet."

After more that a year of relentless optimism and searching, White finally got not one, but two offers during the traditionally slow Christmas holidays. And he credits hard-core networking and a social media campaign for getting him those two offers, one of which he ended up accepting.

I have recently been critiquing resumes for young people either trying to get into the market or looking to move up to the next level. Yes, the market is especially tough, but there's no reason why you can't craft your own job search campaign. And I'm happy to say that the advice I've given young people on their resumes matches well with the Web sites I'll be leading you to that offer tips on how to do this.

First, the list is long, but the Interview Angel offers up 101 Ways To Find A Job. Angel offers an exhaustive, but informative list of tips that can ramp up your job search. My favorite tips include:

• Proofread your resume - during my critiques, I was amazed how many journalists had typos, grammar errors and sloppy editing.
• Customize your resume - don't use one resume for 12 different jobs. Craft it for the job you want.
• Use your blog as a platform - Clint White can attest to the power of this one.
• Create an elevator pitch - My blog post on this tip is here.

I'm a big fan of the Mashable blog, my sherpa for all things social media. Last month, writer David Spinks did a great post: HOW TO: Boost Your Resume Over the Winter Break. Among his best tips are find a mentor, take your blog to the next level and volunteer.

Yahoo! News has a great article: Smart Networking For Job Searchers. I am not only a true believer in the power of networking, I can attest to its power when looking for a job. How? The last time I actually applied for a job was in 1992, when I was hired for my first job in aviation. Ever since then, I have either had jobs created for me or been recommended for jobs after making inquiries. You can also get some great networking tips from this Mashable post: 4 Steps for Effective Online Networking.

The SquawkFox blog tells you 6 Words That Make Your Resume Suck. When reviewing resumes, I am no longer amazed when I see writers using these six words -- and plenty of them do. I advise using strong action verbs with descriptions and the numbers (if relevant) to back it up.

I always recommend that job seekers include their social media activity -- but only if it is professional. I have managed to create a personal and professional profile on Facebook and my personal Twitter account is locked. The Digital Inspiration blog posts on Why Job Seekers Should Worry About Their Online Reputation.

If you have any other tips or tricks, I'd love to hear about them.

Life Without Print Newspapers?

I spent the holidays on the West Coast with my family. As I've written in the past, I enjoy debating my father -- an avid newspaper reader -- over the delivery of news. When I'm visiting family, I will pick up the newspaper, because it's there.

So I read this post from the Comms Corner blog with interest. The deal is that blogger Adam Vincenzini is swearing off reading a print newspaper for the next year. He notes the importance of doing this, since he's a PR professional that needs to feed his news habit. Under this experiment, he will:

• rely even more heavily on digital channels.
• spend more time on the websites of the papers I'd normally read.
• experiment with more apps, gadgets and widgets to deliver content from those outlets to me.
• My Factiva alerts and the like take on greater significance.
• probably read e-editions where possible (like the version of The Metro delivered to my inbox each day at 6am).

I stopped my delivery of the Baltimore Sun more than a year ago, so I have been there, done that as far as Vincenzini's experiment is concerned. The news, for me, now comes via NPR and the News Feed Elite app on my iPod Touch. For a mere $1.99, I have access to almost 200 media publications and blogs, including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and my Sun.

It will be interesting to follow Vicenzeni this year, and it will be even more interesting to see if he goes back to reading print publications in 2011. Watch this space!

Including Those of Color in Future Journalism Efforts

The National Association of Black Journalists has a very active listserve on Yahoo Groups. Some of the bigger discussion topics are about including journalists of color on all the new media sites -- ones like Mediaite, Gawker, local ESPN networks like ESPN Boston and Huffington Post -- and of giving us access to the resources needed to become entrepreneurs and create our own new media models. You can read a post about that on the NABJ Digital blog here.

So it was with great interest that I read a post on the PaidContent.org blog about NPR beginning to staff up its new local news effort, dubbed Project Argo. Project Argo won $3 million in foundation support from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Knight Foundation to tap a dozen unnamed local stations in the NPR network and setting them loose to offer “in-depth topical coverage of issues with broad national relevance and a strong local focus,” according to the site.

The funding is still being finalized but NPR is putting the pieces in place for a summer launch of its ambitious local news effort, known internally as Project Argo. Named by digital head Kinsey Wilson with Jason and the Argonauts in mind, this project is in search of a different kind of golden fleece—armed with $3 million in foundation support and a dozen stations committed to Wilson’s explains what NPR hopes to accomplish: “We want to demonstrate that we can build both authority and audience around the coverage of particular beats in these communities.”

When this project was first announced, I remember seeing a flurry of postings on the effort and how NABJ members could become involved. NPR has been up and down with hiring journalists of color, laying off what was seen as a disproportionate number in 2009, including several right after NABJ held a fundraising event at the station’s headquarters in October. NABJ President Kathy Times and VP-Broadcast Bob Butler sent a letter Oct. 27 to NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller taking her to task over the layoffs.

In her Oct. 29 response to Times and Butler, Schiller offered a more focused breakdown of people of color on NPR’s staff. She defended her organization’s effort to maintain diversity and admitted that NPR could do better, saying she was working to boost the numbers.

To that end, NPR announced Dec. 15 that it had hired Keith Woods, currently the dean of faculty at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, as its vice president of diversity in news and operations, effective Feb. 1. This is positive step, and we can only hope that Woods is able to back up Schiller’s commitment. Getting some journalists of color involved with the Argo project would be a great start.

Friday New Media News Roundup

• Three industry forecasts predict that online will take in more advertising dollars than print by 2015, reports PaidContent.org. The blog post includes several charts that illustrate the point.
• A week after the Federal Trade Commission's 2-day workshop on the state of journalism, the Online Journalism Review blog asks what should the government do help journalism.
• Former Time.com managing editor and new BusinessWeek Editor Josh Tyrangiel has a YouTube video on storytelling across different platform.
• CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves offers his optimism on the local media business an in interview with Variety.
• Now that the Comcast-NBC Universal deal has been officially announced, NBC CEO Jeffrey Zuker has only nine months to prove himself to his new bosses, reports Bloomberg.
• Finally, the 24/7Wall Street blog posts about 1o brands it predicts will disappear in 2010. At the top of its list: Newsweek magazine.
  

Is It a Good Time to Go into Journalism? Are You Thankful to be a Journalist?

I have a confession to make. Despite the love I have for my career as a journalist, I think it's pretty natural to sometimes be depressed about the prospects for my industry as we continue to read about layoffs and publications folding.

So when I saw this post on the Flip The Media blog -- Why It’s a Good Time to Go Into Journalism -- my first reaction was "what is he smoking?" But the title was intriguing enough for me to read the post, and writer Mark Briggs, CEO of Serra Media and publisher of Journalism 2.0 (free!), makes an effective case. In his post, he offers three premises:

1. Journalism has a bright future. "Experimental news operations are popping up all over the Web as this decade draws to a close. Some have become sustainable businesses in a very short time. Others are still searching for viability while finding new ways to cover issues and communities," writes Briggs. I have written about these organizations both here and over at the National Association of Black Journalists Digital Journalism Task Force blog. Some of the ones of interest are MarylandReporter, Baltimore Brew, Voice of San Diego, and Texas TribuneDNAInfo, to name a few.
2. That future is in your hands. "Journalism needs you. It needs someone who can bring a fresh approach without the baggage that burdened earlier generations," he writes. I see myself straddling between old school and new school journalism, and this old dog is working hard to learn new tricks to stay relevant in the future.
   
3. Journalism will be better than it was before. "Transformation and evolution are messy, emotional processes. When they produce advancement for society and business, they are seen as healthy and worthwhile, but not necessarily to those on the front lines," writes Briggs. I have seen first hand my old school brethren continuing to resist making the changes needed to be relevant. They want to stick to the old ways, convinced that the old ways are still the best ways. I firmly believe that you can stick with the basic tenants of journalism while taking advantage of all the tools and technology out there that enhance your journalistic efforts.

And this gives me the perfect transition, to a post I saw on the Knight Digital Media Center's Online Journalism Review blog: How thankful are you for your role in journalism today?

The poll, done by Robert Niles, is completely unscientific and only had 58 respondents. But I still think the numbers are worthwhile as media companies continue to adapt -- sometimes painfully -- to the new journalistic world order. Thirty percent say they have a job in journalism, working for someone else, and are thankful for it. Fifteen percent say I have a job in journalism, working for myself, and am thankful for it.

I encourage you to take a look at the poll and take your own temperature on the issue. Despite everything, I still love journalism in general and my job in particular. I don't know a whole lot of people who are paid for their lifelong hobby, like me!

Friday New Media News Roundup

• For those of you keeping track of layoffs, here's the latest: Thomson Reuters has cut 240 staffers at its legal publishing division, reports PaidContent.org; Washington Times has cut 40% of its 370 employees as it moves toward an online format, reports the New York Times; the Miami Herald cuts 24 jobs, reports the New Times; and Gannett lays off 37 and brings back furloughs, reports PaidContent.org.
• YouTube has launched a channel dedicated to citizen journalists, reports the Telegraph. The new channel lets media organizations "request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users.”
• Bloggers can now get free legal help from the Citizen Media Law Project, reports Online Media Daily. The project targets independent journalists who write about matters of public interest, with those adhering to standards of "truth, fairness and transparency" receiving first priority, according to the program's FAQ.
  
• The Telegraph has a profile of Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington. And you can read her thoughts on the new path for journalism, written for this week's FTC 2-day workshop here. You can also see my NABJDigital blog post on that topic here.
  
• And former National Association of Black Journalists president Bryan Monroe's guest post on Huffington Post -- Why New Media Looks A Whole Lot Like Old Media -- is a must read.
  
• Do journalists actually look like this? asks the 10000 Words blog. None that I've ever worked with!!

Hey! People Are Still Reading Newspapers!

I just spent the Thanksgiving week home in San Antonio with my family. My Dad loves to walk out to the driveway and pick up his San Antonio Express newspaper and spend time in the morning with a cup of coffee reading it from cover to cover.

I tease him about being a dinosaur, but I admit I do enjoy doing the same once he's finished with the paper. But it's something I don't do at home, having recently canceled my subscription to the Baltimore Sun. A new report from Scarborough Research find that my Dad is not alone: 74% of U.S. adults, or nearly 171 million people, read a newspaper ‐‐ in print or online ‐‐ during the past week, it found. Other findings include:

• 79% of adults employed in white collar positions read a newspaper in print or online
• 82% of adults with household incomes of $100,000 or more read a printed newspaper in print or online
• • 84% of adults who are college graduates or who have advanced degrees read a printed newspaper in print or online

This is a bit of good news for those working at newspapers. But looking at the bigger picture, my question is -- how long will it last? We've all seen the statistics about the younger generations relying strictly on the web -- and not necessarily newspaper sites -- for their news.

And even if we have this glimmer of hope, are the ad revenues needed to support readership ever coming back? I don't think so, as witnessed by media publishing companies continuing to scramble to find ways to bring in new revenue. To me, finding new ways to sustain the traditional newspaper business model is the real puzzle that needs to be solved moving ahead.