My son graduated from college with a degree in Communications and is looking for a job as a TV reporter . He is very smart (made the Dean’s List multiple times) and he interned at CNN in Atlanta his Junior year and was able to make a Demo reel there (a reel of various reports he has done). Everyone told him that he had what it takes to to get in TV. He is very handsome, has nice hair, smile, and white teeth. Takes care of himself. He is well spoken. He’s friendly and outgoing. He follows current events closely and can carry on intelligent conversations about the Presidential election and even foreign affairs, he minored in Political Science and was even considering a double major at one time.
He graduated in December, 8 months ago and has not gotten a job offer or even an interview and applies for jobs everyday. We live in Catawba, South Carolina and I was hoping he could get a job at one of the stations in Charlotte before moving off to New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles or DC. Those are the big TV news hubs and where the good paying jobs are but we wanted him to get a job locally in Charlotte and save money before moving off. We go to the websites of the local stations here and apply for every Reporter position that is open. He checks twice a day for job updates.
He has a cousin that lives in Charleston that he is very close with, and she said that if he found a job there he could stay with her. He very much loves Charleston, SC and he started applying to every open Reporter job on the local news sites and never gets a response there either. Additionally, I have a sister that lives in Nashville, TN during the summer, spring and fall and she has a home in Bonita Springs, FL where she lives in the Winter. She said he is welcome to live in either for his first job if he can find one in Nashville or Fort Myers. So he is sending in apps to those stations as well. He sends emails to the news directors at the stations and still doesn’t get a response, much less an interview or a chance to try out.
He is getting a little down in the dumps. He is thinking about abandoning broadcast and trying his hand at PR… But I know that is not what his passion is.
My husband and I are putting another son through college… So we are on a tight budget. We saved to put them through college so they would not have college loans. Although my son that graduated did take one out his Senior year to finish, because it cost us a little extra finding a place for him to stay in Atlanta for his internship… Rent was very expensive. We had to dip into our retirement. I mention this because if he had to move off far away, it would be difficult for us financially to help him get set up etc with an apartment, furniture, etc. So we really need him to get one here in the Charlotte area so he can stay home and save money or where my sister lives in Nashville or Fort Myers or his cousin in Charleston.
Any advice on what he needs to do in order to better his chances? He said he might reach out to the contacts he made at CNN and ask if they could help him get one in those cities.
What outreach has he done to alumni from his college who are working in the field? Has he had his resume and demo reel reviewed by career development folks from his college? Is he staying top of mind with professors from his program for referrals and recommendations? What has he been doing since graduation to stay current- volunteering at the local public access cable channel? Offering to do an internship at the local PBS station?
It’s an election year. He needs to wander into one of the storefront campaign operations in Charlotte (National, State, local, doesn’t matter) and volunteer to work on media outreach.
But his college should be his first stop. If he hasn’t had a phone conversation with someone from career development at least once a week since he graduated to remind them that he’s not working in his chosen field (yet) he needs to start. This is what they do for a living- help their graduates get launched.
Hugs to you. This must be very frustrating.
And yes- the contacts at CNN- should have reached out to them months ago. Why “might”? Of course he needs their help.
I think he needs to broaden his search. The markets that he is looking at, in my opinion are too large for a first job in broadcast journalism. The two young people that I know who have broken into this field cast a wide net and both are working far from home in small Midwestern towns at small tv stations.
I graduated in 1993 with a degree in print journalism - not quite the same as your son, but I’ll give my feedback.
ANY journalism jobs in large markets are impossible to get out of college unless (1) you are simply amazing or (2) have a strong network to help you get your foot in the door. I searched for a year for copy editing jobs after graduation and couldn’t even get a bite in a midsize or larger market. I finally got a nibble in a small town in Nebraska and realized I could make more money working in a call center in Omaha than I could writing basic copy for a small newspaper so I turned it down. Had I stuck with it, taken that job in a teeny tiny market, who knows where I would be now.
If he’s truly passionate about broadcast journalism, he needs to broaden his search now and be willing to look at smaller markets - get his feet wet and more demos, then move up. He needs to swallow his pride and work his alumni network.
All the markets you mention are in the top 100, and some are top 30: for someone right out of school the latter in particular is unrealistic. (So is shooting for LA or NYC with even a few years experience.)
The reality for most on-air talent jobs is that you start out very small (think top 150-200 markets) and move up every couple of years or so.
And BTW, for beginners, it’s very common not to get a single response to a MASS mailing of demo tapes.
So I would strongly suggest your son start focus on small markets, IN ADDITION to following blossom’s excellent advice.
Another option: your son could widen his job hunting scope and apply for production assistant/news writing/producer positions (off-air) and then use his station’s resources to get recommendations and to develop a fresh demo tape. It’s always easier to get a job when you’re already employed than when you’re not working.
The youngest person I know who is doing television news is 27 and she took a job out of college with a reel from her internship and her college experiences in a small Michigan market as a producer then got an opportunity to be on camera weekends and is now their weekday news anchor…so it took about 5 years to get to anchor in a small market in Michigan. The “oldest” anchor I know started in a small town here in the midwest, then to the west coast in a number of places, then to Chicago over the course of about 15- 20 years but she never married and could bounce her way up cross country without having to deal with a spouse’s job or kids schools. She’s now married, out of the business and is not looking to get to New York or back to LA plus age caught up with her as a female.
I’d suggest following Blossom’s excellent advice about reaching out to contacts, but widen the search to include smaller markets too. According to Nielsen ratings, all of the markets you mentioned are in the [top 100 markets](http://www.tvjobs.com/cgi-bin/markets/market2.cgi): Charlotte is #22, Nashville is #29, Ft. Myers is #61, and Charleston is #94. The stations use [these ratings](Top U.S. TV markets: Cleveland-Akron-Canton moves up a spot to 18th - cleveland.com) to set advertising rates, so the higher a station ranks in the market the tougher it’s going to be to get a job there.
I think your son needs to target smaller markets and widen his search to include other positions. I worked in broadcasting. I was a technical director so I had no interest in being on air, but I didn’t start as a technical director. Everybody wants to direct or be talent. Not so many want to work in the traffic department, or marketing, or graphics, or as support staff. Pulling in satellite feeds on the overnight isn’t exciting, but it gets your foot in the door.
Is your son working now? After I graduated from college I lived at home and worked in the graphics department of a local newspaper and saved money to finance a move to wherever I was able to land a broadcasting job. I was fortunate that my first job was only across state, but I was prepared to go farther. If your son had some savings, he could widen his search.
@momofthreeboys, TV is funny: many women “age out” of on-air jobs by 40 – but many men have a hard time getting good anchor jobs BEFORE 40. And moving from market to market is the norm.
There are exceptions, of course. I worked for a top station 20 years ago in a top 20 market. Out of all the people I worked with – some 30 reporters, anchors and fill-in anchors – only 3 are still working there today. They’re definitely he outliers, both in on-air longevity and job stability, and people marvel at their luck.
Look for small markets in the Rust Belt. Here in New York, there are TV stations in places like Elmira, Plattsburgh, Watertown, Binghamton. There is also 24-hour Time Warner Cable News. All survive because of fresh, young talent.
My S1 graduated from Marshall University with a double major in sports journalism and history in 2014. He interned at our local CBS affiliate and they hired him right out of school as an associate producer. He’s been there two years and has been promoted to producer. It’s not his heart’s desire but it is a foot in the door and valuable experience. Charlotte would be considered a big step up for him. Small markets are the way to go. Matt Lauer’s first job out of Ohio University was at our local NBC affiliate and look where he is!
@Middleman68 I am in Denver and I think our lead evening anchor Kyle Clark may have worked at Elmira at one point. If he ever jumps to a larger market, there we be riots because he’s so popular here!
I don’t know her, but Ginger Zee (20 some years + younger than me) is a great example of another Michigan woman and her job track: Flint, Michigan at a station owned by a former college roommate’s family, then to Merrillville, IN, then to Grand Rapids, MI, then Chicago…after that the Today Show, Good Morning America and Dancing with the Stars LOL. All l’m doing is adding again the advice to seek out a smaller market. Housing costs should be less expensive anyway and if a job is procured should be able to be self supporting. Meanwhile hopefully the OP’s son is working and saving money while living at home.
Oh wow. I’ll tell my son. I don’t think he will like moving to the Midwest or Rustbelt to a small town LOL. We lived an hour away from Charlotte for a couple of years because of a job I took and none of us liked being that far out from everything. He is a city kid, he’s not even a fan of being in the suburbs, like we are now.
EDIT: I just told him. He said that he talked to people at CNN that started out in production and then moved into on air roles at CNN without moving to small towns in the Midwest. He said he is going to try that route, because he really loved being in Atlanta and he has a lot of friends living there currently.
He’s applying to editorial production jobs there. They entail writing the newscasts and booking the guests that appear on the show along with doing pre interviews and research for the anchors. He did a lot of that and assisted with that as an intern.
Yes. My son has been working part time as a personal trainer and has some money saved up. His girlfriend got a job in Orlando and he travels there to see her a lot and I’ve been trying to tell him that the airfare and road trips to see her every few months is not wise.
“Agree, I don’t know anyone on-air that didn’t start in a small market.”
My friends D graduated two years ago and her first job was as a sports reporter in San Antonio - not a huge market but not peanuts either. She stayed a year and is now a sports reporter for one of the big 4 stations in San Diego. I’m sure she is very good (I liked her FB page so see her reporting on the field at Padres games) but she is also drop dead gorgeous - which I’m sure is part of the reason she got great jobs so quickly,
Magnolia- I’m giving it to you straight. Your son is competing against kids who graduated two months ago, and he’s about to start competing against kids who will graduate December 2016 and most of them have been pounding the pavement, networking like crazy, and having their professors make phone calls on their behalf. He does not have the luxury of time to focus on CNN and Atlanta to the exclusion of everything else. If you told me he’s had 15 interviews and not made it to the offer stage, I’d tell you that he’s on the right track and should just be patient but to keep doing what he’s doing, expanding to editorial production as well.
8 months after graduation and not a single interview? He does not get to decide that he’s moving to Atlanta. He needs to work 2 hours a day networking with people in Atlanta, and another 6 hours a day networking with people in Duluth, Peoria, Dayton, Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Boise, Toledo etc.
And why hasn’t he gotten 5 interviews in Orlando while he’s there? Call the alumni office of his college; find every living alum living in the Orlando metro area AND every other town/city he drives past on his way down to the GF and get their particulars- where do they work, what do they do. Every single one working in or near the media industry- boom- they get an email from him. “Hi John Doe, I am a recent alumnus of X and would love to spend 20 minutes with you next time I’m in Daytona Beach learning about your fascinating career editing the nightly news broadcast at the Daytona Public Access Cable station. Attached is a copy of my resume- let me know when I can phone next week to set up time to meet”.
he’s spending money on traveling already- he should be interviewing like crazy on his way down and back. This isn’t rocket science. But sending resumes in response to postings on the internet isn’t working. So stop doing that. And start networking. Professors, kids from his program who graduated a year ahead of him who ARE working in TV, adults from his program who graduated 20 years ago who now run station operations for a large NBC affiliate- basically everyone. Network. And if he hasn’t been working with career services at his college he’s exhibit A on why kids need to. They get paid to do this. You paid for this already. Presumably they have a vested interest in getting him employed in the field they trained him for BEFORE the December 2016 cohort hits the job market.
@blossom He looked into doing another internship (he already did one at CNN) and if you are not enrolled in college most places will not consider you for an internship. He was paid at minimum wage at CNN, most local stations do not even pay interns which is why he didn’t do one locally. We live 44 miles from Charlotte, thats 88 miles a day. A long commute not to get paid.