Advice for fresh journalism graduates (from a May graduate)

A spring 2008 graduate of our journalism program got a job as an editorial producer with MLB.com. That means he gets paid to watch baseball and write about it. Sweet, no?

So to help out other journalism students, Nick Rosinia wrote this — “The ‘How to Watch Baseball All Day and Get Paid Handsomely (Well, Not Really) For It’ Guide” (published here with Nick’s permission):

1. The new job title is “editorial producer.” It means little else than the Internet is too cool to have “copyeditors,” but you might win a few points with a recruiter if you know it.
2. Editing a story is called “producing” it, and putting it onto the Internet is called “sending it live.”
3. Learn how to write grabbing subheds. That’s right, everything gets a subhed. Some tips: Use present tense, use a clever headline and put the bland news in the subhed.
4. The hours are horrible, and there’s no way around it. Be prepared to work from sundown until sunrise. Find friends that like to go out on Monday.
5. Learn to edit and produce flawless work faster than you thought was fast. The motto in the online world is “send it live now, get it right later.” If you can send it live and get it right, someone might actually tell you you’re doing a great job. You’ll be amazed at how fast things get produced.
6. Morale in the world of journalism is low. Don’t expect box seats at the Yankees game for a corporate outing anytime soon, or a raise.
7. Don’t think because you’re an editor you won’t have to write. You may be called upon to write a couple grafs for a breaking story at any moment, and you’d better produce something that doesn’t embarrass you. Stick to the basics, but don’t think you won’t be writing.
8. Your work will appear instantly, so be sure it’s good. Instead of waiting for tomorrow’s paper, you will have your headlines and other work displayed prominently before you head home. Be sure to save any clips you want that moment, because things change very quickly and can disappear.
9. You will produce photo captions, write teasers, put together online packages and other items that involve short, succinct writing — but it’s the first thing anyone sees. You’re producing the full product now, not just writing headlines and designing, and your work is the grabber for the reader more than ever.
10. Learn basic HTML, it’s all you need. Know what a <p> tag does and how to make something bold (<b>) or insert a line break (<br />).
11. Enjoy not having to wear anything that resembles a suit to work, and not having to fight traffic to get to and from work.

You see, Nick is not a Web geek, and certainly not “computer jesus.” He’s just a well-prepared j-school grad who knows enough to be competent and skillful in the new news environment.

That (and a knack for editing) landed him a nice job.

I recommend HTML Dog for teaching yourself basic HTML. It’s not difficult.

P.S. Nick sent this to his editing professor, not to me, because he wasn’t one of our so-called online students. His editing prof sent it on to the rest of the journalism faculty, I’m happy to say. It looks like there will always be jobs for good copy editors.