Ask the Recruiter

Q:  Since I first wrote to you, I have graduated from college with a B.A. in journalism and completed another summer internship, where I got some excellent clips. Your advice helped me a great deal the first time around, so I though I'd write you again.

I am now seeking a job as an entry-level reporter. The large metro daily where I had my first internship invited me in for an informational interview a few weeks ago. This paper has a well-known reputation for hiring recent grads and former interns. They seemed impressed with my clips, but I have been told more than once by the newspaper that they are not hiring any reporters right now. I was told to keep in touch. A week after the interview, the paper called me with an offer to be a copy aide part time, working the late-night shift on weekends.

I understand being a copy aide is sometimes a good way to break in at some of the larger newspapers, but I'm not planning to stay in this area of the country for more than one or two years, and I really need a position where I can get a lot of experience fast. When I was an intern at the paper, it didn't seem like the copy aides did much more that just that -- assist reporters with faxes and copies. I feel that I'd get better clips and more relative job experience writing for a smaller paper or even freelancing.

To complicate matters, I just found out that this newspaper has recently hired a new reporter, even though I was told they weren't hiring at all. I politely turned down the offer and said I needed to find something full time. Did I just make a big mistake by turning down the job? I can't stop thinking about it, and I hope I didn't burn my bridges.

Thanks -- I appreciate your advice.

B.B.

A: You had a difficult choice to make. And you chose well.

Even if the paper had not turned right around and hired when it said it could not, even if it were not in an area that you plan to leave, even if it had not offered you a part-time job -- you chose well.

You have decided to become a journalist and are holding out to be one.

That is smart, though tough, in the face of a small offer from a big paper.

Stick to your guns.

I once had a new graduate turn me down for a copy-aide job, saying she was going to report instead. I admired her courage, kept in touch and hired her later -- after she had a few years of reporting experience.

I like your intestinal fortitude.