Q. Is freelancing a better way to get hired than piling on the internships?
I'm about to finish an internship with a monthly paper. My editor recently told me that I should freelance my work. I am a convert to the field and recently completed a degree from a journalism school. Until the conversation with my boss, I had planned on taking more internships in order to get the experience I need to land a job at a daily paper. I am in New York City now but hope to work elsewhere in the state or in New Jersey.
Thanks for answering all the good questions!
Another Late StarterA. I agree. People do ask good questions.
I'm going to disagree with your boss on this one. Many, many people who get hired do so on the basis of good internship work -- either at the place that hires them or another. Comparatively few freelancers get hired into permanent positions. Check me on this by asking your boss how many freelancers he has hired.
This is August and relatively few internships are offered for the fall and winter. I would run a combined internship/job search and be ready to accept either. I am glad you are ready to move out of the highly competitive New York City media market. I think that would improve your odds.
You write that you are interested in New Jersey, and we are about to see some major departures from the buyout offers at
The Star-Ledger in Newark and its sister paper,
The Times in Trenton, and I am going to give you some conflicting advice about that. The first piece is to get your applications out quickly, while the people at those papers are still trying to make their decisions. If you can, avoid the area around those papers. You could have some very difficult competition.
Now, here is the conflicting advice: While I want you to stay away from those areas, I think you should apply directly to the papers themselves, especially the smaller
Times. We have often seen newspapers offer buyouts and soon resume hiring. Natural attrition and buyout-induced job hunting can push staffing levels below the new target, prompting hiring. This does not always happen, of course, but one never knows.
Good luck -- to all of us.
More on making the transition from internships to jobs is at
"Breaking In: The JobsPage.com Guide to Newspaper Internships."
Coming Friday: A question that needs no answer as an editor writes about some unbelievably poor applications.
