The road to work is paved with a thousand rejections. My quest to find a full-time job in the shrinking journalism industry.
With the last throw of the dice, and after 20 months of searching and a thousand job applications, I finally secured a full-time reporter job.
This event hasn’t just happened. This isn’t breaking news. But now is the time to write about it.
Back in January 2012 I completed the NCTJ Multimedia Diploma in Journalism and the job hunt began. I secured some freelance proofreading work and part-time sub-editing fairly quickly and things were OK. This isn’t a tale of doom and gloom. Don’t get those violins out.
But I wanted more – namely a full-time reporter job. The industry had been hit hard by savage job cuts and I knew it would be tough. Too many people were looking for too few jobs.
It probably also didn’t help that I was aged 43 in January 2012. Ageism is a problem as old as time itself. The challenge was on.
Perhaps I shouldn’t even be writing this? Some blogs and social media websites seem to be full of narcissism and self-promotion. But I want to share the truth.
And if you’re looking for a job as a journalist, hopefully you can learn something from what follows. Or perhaps thank your lucky stars you didn’t have to go through so much work just to find work.
Content isn’t King
Five months after finishing the diploma I did get a full-time job as a content editor. Certainly not a dream job and definitely not journalism, but this is the reality some of us have to accept. By securing such type of work it means you can look for something you really want.
I didn’t give up on the applications during my entire stint as a content editor. It’s important to keep plugging away in the pursuit of a proper career.
I noticed that some students on my NCTJ course in London had moved into teaching or PR. That’s a shame as they spent a lot of time and money on the diploma. But they may not have been able to hold out long enough.
The Do List
So as I trundled along in the content editor role, the applications continued. Here are a few things learned along the way.
Do spend time on each cover letter and CV. Tailor them to the job. I spent about 45 minutes to an hour on each cover letter. I had about 100 CVs ready for the slight variations in job adverts.
Do get feedback on your cover letter and CV. People can check for spelling mistakes and offer advice. It didn’t make the slightest difference with my applications, as I got nowhere. But you may get better results.
Do your research. If you get to the interview stage, learn about the company and ask some questions. They will notice and appreciate it.
Do stay positive. The rejections aren’t personal. Actually, they are as they didn’t choose you. But you don’t have much choice. I’ve been writing for ten years and 99% of that time is dealing with rejection. Get used to it and it will toughen you up. It’s what journalism is all about anyway.
The Don’t List
Almost as above, so below.
Don’t make spelling mistakes on your application. Several times I did screw up and never heard back. Even when I emailed again with an apology and correction. This isn’t a forgiving industry. No one’s going to pat you on the head and say “never mind” or laugh it off. Any excuse to reject you is fair game.
Don’t spend seven days a week looking for work. I often did this and it’s exhausting. You need to give yourself a break – which will help you keep fresh for writing better cover letters.
Don’t apply for jobs way out of your league. You may think going for the role of national newspaper editor shows courage and ambition, but the employer won’t. Lots of adverts now say “applicant must have”. They really are looking for people with (or close to) those skills. They simply get too many applicants to be impressed by what you may think is novel. It isn’t. Spend time applying for jobs that you have a real chance of securing. Every one of my 1,000 applications was for something realistic.
Don’t expect replies. To even get an email back is an achievement. Expect silence. Any more is a bonus.
Don’t visualise success. I did all that – such as imagining a great interview, getting the job and doing the work well. Doesn’t make any difference and why would it? The person who reads your application or meets you will decide if you’re right for the role.
Don’t take any of my advice. If I spent 20 months searching, then why read what I have to say? If someone got a job in a few weeks, read their blog.
The Variation Game
Away from the dos and don’ts it’s worth remembering that my job applications weren’t a routine and robotic process.
The key is to vary when and where you apply. Perhaps you can try cold calling. Use social media to apply. Advertise your services. Use Journalism.co.uk or Hold The Front Page to create a profile. Both those cost money, but there are free websites to showcase your portfolio – Muck Rack, Clippings.me, etc. If you’re a freelancer constantly writing articles for a paper/magazine, you’ll also have a chance if full-time work comes up.
It’s also worth noting that the more loops a company puts you through to apply, the less chance you have. All the interviews obtained were because it was a cover letter and CV to an email address. That simple.
If you have to fill out pages and pages of forms, it probably means you have to get past an automated system that merely checks the right keywords are within. These eat up a lot of time and never yielded success for me. There also won’t be a human reading your words until much later in the application process. Rage against the machine? Not quite, but I dislike my time being wasted.
Happy Hunting Ground
All the (relative) misery finally came to an end in September 2013.
With my last job application I was offered a full-time position on a B2B magazine. When I say “last job application” – it means that. Frankly, I had given up by then and was no longer looking. I had had enough of sending out emails and hearing nothing back. I no longer cared. (Which proves my previous point about “don’t visualise success”. Waste of time.)
If I didn’t get the job on the B2B magazine, the plan was to return to Japan and go back to English teaching. I would have carried on doing freelance writing in my spare time.
In fact, I actually hoped they wouldn’t offer me the job so I could go back to Japan. Sure, I could refuse the offer, but when it came it seemed churlish to turn it down.
The job itself was good, but I’m not here to discuss that and in fact I’ve now left that company. The point was to describe the chase and offer some hope to those looking for work in an ailing industry.
Good luck and I hope all of you don’t (or didn’t) endure such a lengthy job hunt.
