Looking For Entry Level Media Job For Three Years (applying, alternative, job interview)

[butterfly95]

I majored in journalism in college, interned at two major tv stations in NYC, sent resumes everywhere, and graduated back in 2007. Right now I wished I had majored in something else and am applying for grad school programs in education because that's one of the fields I have experience in.

I have substitute taught at a school and am now tutoring part time until the end of the school year, but I still want to break into media. My last media internship was about three years ago and opportunities are so scarce that I'm used to being one resume out of thousands. I have a blog and write for some online publications.

Some of my classmates managed to get to full-time staff jobs at major tv networks, they told me they went online to find the jobs, I've sent resumes online, talked to internship supervisors, the field is really tight to get into.

There's always freelance opportunities, but they don't pay and are competitive. Ideally, I would like a media job, but I keep ending up in other fields, like telemarketing, direct care, and retail. I had temp and volunteer assignments that only lasted one day. I applied everywhere, from Target to editorial jobs with magazines, all of which, according to management, I'm not qualified for. At one interview, I was asked why I couldn't find a job at my school job fair. One job interview I had this past week was for retail, the job is three months long, until the end of the summer. I was competing with kids that didn't graduate college yet. I haven't gotten a callback yet.

People told me just take any job I can get. I tried that and became a job hopper who has only worked low level hourly jobs since school ended. I don't know how to break into any field right now. The only decent job I found was two years ago, as a paralegal, which I got fired from two days later, it sucks. I keep going from job and job and alot of jobs out right now are temp.

Does anybody have advice for a liberal arts grad who got stuck? Thanks.

[bluepepper]

I'm not sure I have a ton of advice about starting out in general, but I do have advice about trying to get a job in media: freelance, even if it doesn't pay. That way you have examples of your work you can point to when you're trying for a job.

For example, my dream job is doing statistical analysts/valuation for a professional baseball or hockey team, but obviously that's something a lot of people would want to be in and is thus very competitive. My plan is to offer to do work for free (obviously in addition to my day job), see if that gets me a foot in the door, try and build up contacts and a large body of work, and go from there.

[annerk]

Get in touch with the local news, alternative press, or music rag and ask about writing for them, even if it means for free. You need to get published and to build a portfolio in order to land a paying gig.

I freelance, and got my start by submitting a few articles to a local paper. They didn't pay me (they do now) but I got published and that was the key. I now take freelance assignments for a number of local and national publications--and get paid.

[FarNorthDallas]

What do you mean by a job in media - doing what exactly?

[kodaka]

People told me just take any job I can get. I tried that and became a job hopper who has only worked low level hourly jobs since school ended.

How does 'taking any job' equate to becoming a job hopper? Take any job yes--but stick with it. Don't quit until you find a full-time permanent job in the field you want.

The only decent job I found was two years ago, as a paralegal, which I got fired from two days later,

This is what you consider a 'decent job'? One you did for only two days and got fired from? How on earth did you manage to get a paralegal anyway, when you don't have the requisite degree? Something's fishy there.

I applied everywhere, from Target to editorial jobs with magazines, all of which, according to management, I'm not qualified for.

Well, there's your answer. You are applying for jobs that you are not qualified for. Try applying for jobs that you ARE qualified for.

Overall. it doesn't sound like you are selling yourself very well. You really need to downplay your random temp jobs and emphasize the writing you've been doing for online publications.

And you may not have realistic expectations. Some occupations just have very few permanent, full-time jobs and most people who work in them are freelancers or contract workers. If this is true for you, then you just have to embrace that lifestyle, or accept that finding a job will be much much harder (or find a new career).

[FBJ]

Now that I have 1 year at my current job, I will now come up strategies to find a part-time media job. I also had this same question 11 years ago but have no internet access.

[butterfly95]

I just got a customer service job, so that's good. My family's still waiting for me to get a real job, though.