Finding the First Job
Versatility. Quality writing. Confidence. Tenacious reporting. Patience.
Four facets. On paper, they seem simple to achieve. In reality, I don’t know that I could truthfully say that I possess sufficient quantities of them all.
But after absorbing the advice from our guests Greg Lang and Katarina Luketich, it has become evident to me that, in order for success to emerge on my horizon, I soon will.
Panicked? You could say that I am.
Unlike Luketich, whose boldness and courage I respect tremendously, I have not yet reached the point where I feel I have infused within myself the confidence that my skills merit. However, contradictory as it may be, I’ll be the first to admit that the prospect of packing up for a middle-of-nowhere town is fantastically unappealing.
After all, I ventured to Boston from Texas. Returning to similar circumstances would almost feel like a failure.
Which, of course, it isn’t. It’s a stepping stone – a respectable and necessary one. Still, I find myself unable to displace my longing to bypass it.
I wonder if soon, the avenues around the traditional highway of journalism, in both print and television, will be circumvented. After all, sports media outlets such as Bleacher Report and SB Nation are providing people of our age opportunities to showcase their work on a national scale. Similarly, outside of sports, far-reaching companies like Buzzfeed and Complex are hiring young talent straight out of the gate.
The nature of the work options available to us, too, has possibly shifted the well-worn path. Bill Simmons’ pioneered couch reporting and Katie Nolan’s comedic, biased vlogging has sparked a legion of new perspectives on the means by which one can contribute to the sports conversation.
With social media and the nature of virility and popularity, virtually anyone can forge their own way, much like former guests Joon Lee and Jared Carrabis have.
Even Lang conceded that, given a talented enough writer/reporter, large market outlets such as the Boston Globe would consider a candidate with non-traditional experience – a former published blogger with no small-paper experience. Considering the mass shift to an online world, and the evolving styles of writing, it isn’t all that surprising.
But it isn’t quite there yet. As much as I’ll admit his validation of such a trend was precisely what I wanted to hear (particularly as someone aspiring to bridge that gap), I acknowledge that the credibility of these online outlets has not quite reached the point of seamless (or semi-seamless) transition into a paper such as the Globe. While there will inevitably be some who successfully make the transition or even invent their own brand of writing or reporting, they will be in the vast minority.
And perhaps that’s OK.
Based upon Luketich’s tale of transition, I’ve come to a realization that experiences hold value outside of simply reinforcing an existing skill set. Even SportsCenter’s Rob King experienced a mid-career swap when he moved on from his cartooning aspirations.
In fact, I believe that, before even graduating, I have become enlightened to other possible avenues for myself – namely, advertising.
“It’s important to give everything a chance,” she said. This summer, by interning at an agency, that’s precisely what I’ll be doing.
Because whatever I pursue, I want to ensure that it’s what I truly want. As Luketich explained, taking less-resistant winding paths as a substitute for more strenuous, direct roads does not always lead to the same outcome.
For quite some time, I assumed that, should I be meant to pursue journalism versus advertising (or vice-versa), I could always make a shift. Should I have an interest in broadcasting, I could swap over from writing. But as evidenced by Luketich’s friend, locked into a producing position when she’d rather be reporting, that most likely will not be the case.
Regardless of the route, one thing is abundantly clear: it isn’t about us.
Forging long-term relationships with sources, explaining the value we bring to employers… from newbies to veterans and anywhere in the country, it seems that our biggest priority will be catering to those we need (including our audience) – a sentiment echoed by our guests as well as Professor Shorr.
Which, in a sense, recycles my earlier points about beginning as a big fish in a shallower pond. It isn’t about me, and particularly not about my ego.
“Embrace being low man on the totem pole,” said Lang. And if versatility truly is the name of the game as he so conveyed, then it seems as if being low man will be the ideal way to garner that quality.
In fact, after hearing from Luketich, the intermediate phases which await us are meant to be ideal ways to garner many of the aforementioned qualities.
“Your first job won’t be your last job,” said Lang. Although I, like I’m sure many others, have far greater aspirations than local coverage, I recognize that its value cannot be overstated.
Stepping stones serve to provide us safe passage to our ultimate goals, and while I would love to jump over them, I have no intention of tumbling all the way back down.