Last Updated: June 29, 1999
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Recruiting
The premise was simple, almost a riddle:
Q. If you bring 20 mostly minority journalism students a year to
the ASNE convention to produce the convention newspaper, The ASNE Reporter,
how many leave with connections for jobs or internships?
A. 20.
That was the starting point for the first job fair at an ASNE convention.
With a captive audience of hundreds of top newspaper editors, many from
smaller markets that have limited recruiting resources, ASNE would bring
the proverbial mountain to Moses. That way, instead of 20 students
with jobs, perhaps dozens would establish relationships and secure internships
and entry-level newspaper opportunities.
The outcome was a job fair that attracted more than 150 job seekers
(including the staff of The ASNE Reporter) and editors/recruiters from
53 daily newspapers. On Friday, April 16, the job fair room was energetic
... noisy ... diverse ... electric.
Many stepped up to the challenge to organize the event, a natural outgrowth
of ASNE’s traditional regional job fairs. A coalition of representatives
from The Freedom Forum, the Asian American Journalists Association and
UNITY: Journalists of Color, joined ASNE to plan and execute this groundbreaking
event. On the recruiting side, the University of California — Berkeley
journalism school and the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism
at San Francisco State University helped get the word out to students in
the region.
In less than two hours, some editors reported meeting or touching base
with dozens of applicants. In fact, the short time may have been the only
limiting factor.
“Given the number of job seekers, the job fair should have been at least
a daylong event,” said Leslie Guevarra, director of editorial hiring at
the San Francisco Chronicle.
Students, mostly drawn from colleges and universities on the West Coast,
appreciated the opportunity to talk to editors from markets and newspapers
from all over the country. Some connections were made for internships
this summer and future opportunities.
Terry Chea, a first-year graduate student at Berkeley who already had
an internship for this summer lined up at The Fresno (Calif.) Bee, said
“The job fair was a good way to learn about jobs and internship opportunities
after I graduate in May 2000.”
The job fair was flanked by two events: At the beginning, a panel offering
practical advice on how to get a newspaper job, and a reception at the
end sponsored by The Freedom Forum.
And yes, there was a personal gain. I hired a copy desk intern at the
job fair.
Lloyd is managing editor/features, administration and planning for
The Greenville (S.C.) News.
