<p>My DS just graduated with a degree in journalism and media studies. He has a fabulous resume with many top of the line internships. He has his own blog and linkedin account. He has been spending 8 hours a day applying for jobs. He will go anywhere in the world and will do just about anything in media. He has not gotten one call back. Not one. We reworked his resume to make it easier reading in the hopes that it would stand out. Still nothing. Does anyone have any ideas? He is certainly qualified for entry level jobs, but it’s like his resume goes to the blackhole and no one even looks at it. He desperately wants a job and is trying not to get discouraged but…</p>
<p>I have a young cousin with a master’s in journalism from the UK who applied to over 150 television stations before getting a job. </p>
<p>The only thing I can suggest is for him to go back to professors or people he interned with and network, ask for advice on his presentation, and so forth. That is probably going to be more helpful than sending out blind resumes.</p>
<p>He could also find one or more local organizations and volunteer his media expertise. Sometimes that leads to something.</p>
<p>I know it can be very discouraging, but he’s done all the right things so far.</p>
<p>Has he talked to the companies where he interned and let his supervisors know he is looking for a job?</p>
<p>Often times if they know he is job searching and he did a great job for them they can refer him to other companies. Send his resume to his old supervisors as an attachment in an email to them. They could forward it on.</p>
<p>Is he using the same key words in his application as the job description states. Sometimes a computer is picking out resumes and those applications actually make it to a real person.</p>
<p>Can he write relevant news stories and sell these to news sites while he is waiting for call backs. Pick a local story or something really relevant and send it off to local papers or magazines etc.</p>
<p>Is he making use of his college’s on-campus recruiting system?</p>
<p>Even though he has graduated, it is probably still available to him as an alumnus, and there may be jobs listed that he would not see anywhere else. Employers who are looking for journalism graduates recruit at universities that have journalism majors.</p>
<p>In retrospect, he should have been using on-campus recruiting during his senior year to hunt for jobs, but 20-20 hindsight doesn’t help now.</p>
<p>I have a family member who has a high profile journalism/media career. His first job was editing textbooks through a publishing company. Then he did some contract writing for an online magazine. It was there his talent and style was picked up on. Can he do any freelancing in the meantime of any sort - getting his stuff in print (and getting noticed) might be the ticket to something more lasting.</p>
<p>He is in contact with EVERYBODY, past bosses, professors, alumni network. I will tell him to make sure his CV or cover letter matches keywords in the job descriptions so if a computer is sorting it selects his. Hopefully. He keeps asking me, are you sure you don’t know anyone who works in media? Nope. I work in medicine. I don’t cross paths with media people. lol He is keeping up with his blog and trying to post relevant stories while he searches. I just wish it wasn’t so hard. He is so excited to work, but I can see how the process would dampen enthusiasm.</p>
<p>So I just googled "websites looking for freelance writers " and came away with some great Sites. Some appear very legitimate. Have him give it a go</p>
<p>It’s too bad his internships didn’t result in a job offer. IMO I think they generally should but they obviously don’t.</p>
<p>Has he considered branching out a bit - i.e. maybe looking for a job at corporations in their own PR and communications areas? Every larger company has people employed in these areas.</p>
<p>Another possibility - technical writing. This can be a pretty employable area. It takes more than simply writing abilities and is a different style of writing and it’s best if he has some technical savvy yet he doesn’t need a technical degree to do it. Many companies employ technical writers. Others are employed by contract firms.</p>
<p>Finally, there are many general jobs where writing skills would be considered a plus. He can try for some of those.</p>
<p>Some of the above might not be exactly what he had in mind for his dream job but they give him more experience, more contacts, and more money.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>I have a master’s degree in journalism and I teach transitional English at the local community college. They are always looking for adjuncts. </p>
<p>Have him look at the encyclopedia of associations available in every library and maybe on-line. Every trade and interest group has an association. Every association has publications that need writers; the publications may be on-line, but they still need to be written.</p>
<p>There are lots of marketing jobs at companies as well. He may feel as though as a pure journalist he does not want to do fluffy stuff, but I have seen lots of marketing jobs posted and they all want good writing. </p>
<p>Now is a crappy time for government, but there is a series for public affairs officers and some of the jobs are in exciting places on earth. </p>
<p>Oh, and universities also have publications, don’t we know that? They also have good benefits!</p>
<p>Best wishes.</p>
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<p>This is good, but when I mentioned on-campus recruiting, I was also talking about the school’s online recruiting system. Most colleges have this. It’s sort of a job board that’s specific to the college, and often, opportunities appear there that don’t appear on public job boards. He should be checking this system regularly for opportunities in his field that are open to alumni as well as current students.</p>
<p>He may also want to contact his college’s career center for guidance. They work with alumni.</p>
<p>My DD gripes about her school’s career center; however, I have been looking at other schools’ career centers if there is no login. Some of them are pretty good, so he could look at some of the big name J-schools and see what they are suggesting.</p>
<p>Another thing along Marion’s line of thinking is to do aGoogle search with companies where he would like to work with the name of his university. Up pops alums who work there. THEN send an inquiry letter asking to come in and talk about the industry–not a job, but just a visit.</p>
<p>dkitty, hang in there. It could take some time. It took my niece quite a while to land a full-time gig. In the meantime, she did work her summer resort job. that she had throughout college. It might be good for your son to find any job until he finds suitable employment in his field even if it as a clerk at a convenience store or Home Depot.</p>
<p>What kind of work does he do exactly? Or can do? I can offer some links/insights for the company I work for. They are hiring for some positions I would love to work in (also a journalism+media studies major here) but I won’t be graduating for another two years, so I could send some links your way if what he does fits the description.</p>
<p>Lullabies, He wants to ultimately work in broadcast journalism. Right now he is applying to production assistant, news assistant and multimedia journalist jobs. He has interned at ABC, NBC and Nightly News and recently returned from a stint in Israel as a freelance international reporter; he blogs, has written content for on line media, and has done in front of the camera work at both ABC Sports and NBC News, he also pitched story ideas to affiliate stations.
Any insight or ideas you can throw his way would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks</p>