Putting Online Job Banks to Work

By: Randy Dotinga Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series on the role of online job banks in newspaper recruiting.

Hoping to click your way to a better career? With dozens of newspaper-related job banks on the Internet, it may seem like a snap.

But there are a few tips to consider before you go online in search of a new gig:

* Spread Your Net Wide: Don't limit yourself to one job bank, no matter how big it is. The right job for you may be elsewhere on the Internet.

Consider the recruitment efforts of the Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Citizen, run through a joint operating agreement. You could look to monster.com and HotJobs.com for ads for newspaper technical workers, marketing staffers, and advertising salespeople, but you won't find them. The newspapers post those ads on CareerBuilder.com instead.

The Citizen is owned by Gannett, which owns a piece of CareerBuilder, said Employment Manager Laurel Garland. "We use them exclusively. We usually have from three to 10 jobs posted at a time."

Depending on what type of job you're looking for, you may need to check five or 10 different sites. Some of the major ones include Editor & Publisher classified ads and resume bank (all at http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/classifieds/index.jsp), JournalismJobs.com, mediabistro.com, and The National Diversity Newspaper Job Bank (http://www.newsjobs.com). State press groups such as the California Society of Newspaper Editors (http://www.csne.org), university journalism departments, and individual newspaper chains also offer online job listings.

In addition, a variety of journalism associations -- representing minorities, gays and lesbians, and women, among other groups -- offer jobs on their Web sites, but usually just to their members.

For a handy and extensive list of newspaper job banks of all types, visit the Detroit Free Press at http://www.freep.com/jobspage/links/jobboard.htm.

* Read the Instructions: If the online ad calls for five years of newsroom experience, don't apply if you have just two. While editors sometimes fail to do a great job of exploring the background of applicants, they typically won't fall for obvious resume aggrandizement.

"I often find it entertaining when [applicants] try to indicate that they have the experience that you're asking for by adding up internships and college newspapers, whatever," said Ray Griffith, assistant managing editor for recruitment and training at The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.

Take time to figure out exactly what editors are looking for. "Read the ad carefully," advised Frank Pine, managing editor of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario, Calif. "Make sure you understand what the job is about, that you have the skills and experience to do such a job."

However, don't be afraid to apply for a job if you think you're just slightly under-qualified. Pine said he often keeps the resumes of those who don't quite measure up as long as they're "within the ballpark" of what the newspaper is looking for.

* Move Quickly: Don't dilly-dally. Chances are that the early birds are getting the attention of the manager or personnel director by sending their resumes within hours after a job is posted.

"The best thing to do is jump on it right away," said Dan Rohn, founder of JournalismJobs.com. "Have everything ready before you even get to the site. Have your clips ready, which ones you want to send, and have a strategy. If you're going for a crime reporting job, you want to show them clips that show you know how to ferret out key details."

* Use Snail Mail: It's usually OK to make an initial contact with an employer by e-mail. But you'll hardly ever do wrong by following up with a hard-copy of your resume and any supporting materials, like clips.

"We want something that you can hold in your hand," Pine said. "Some people send e-mails and attach links to archives for newspapers that they've worked at, but the archives are broken or the stories are no longer there. It can take a while to track down the clips, and that can be frustrating."

* Remember the Other Ways to Find Jobs: Not every newspaper job makes it onto a recruitment site. At the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, for example, Pine occasionally won't post jobs because he already has applicants in mind at local newspapers or colleges. "Sometimes when an opening comes up, I've got some candidates I've already been looking at and waiting for the right opportunity to bring them into the newspaper," Pine said.

For those jobs, the Internet can't beat the oldest trick in the book: making good connections and networking.