(Not to be confused with ask the recruiter)

Here's the most up-to-date (as of mid-June, 2007) list of employers whose registrations have been processed for GLJJIF 2007. Read it fully: Some singularly listed employers are actually groups of publications that could include a paper you've been looking to contact. If you're an employer who has been left out of this list, please e-mail us at bgsuspj@gmail.com. Here's the list, organized first by frequency, then alphabetically:

— DAILY NEWSPAPERS —

Ashland Times-Gazette
Ashland, Ohio
Circulation: 12,500
Ownership: Dix Communications
Representative: Ted Daniels, editor
Interested in: interns and full-time reporters, copy editors, designers, photographers, and Web
About: The T-G is a community newspaper with an emphasis on local-local. Just because we focus intensely on local news, that doesn't mean that we don't continually strive for excellence. We are consistently among the top award-winners for newspapers our size in Ohio.
Requirements: A year's experience or at least one good internship and experience at a college newspaper or Web site.
www.times-gazette.com


Chicago Tribune
Chicago, Illinois
Circulation: 576,000 daily, 937,000 Sundays
Ownership: Tribune Co.
Representative: Sheila Solomon, senior editor for recruitment
Interested in: reporter, copy editor, designer, photographer interns
Requirements: Minimum of one internship at a professional — not college — daily newspaper. Must be college junior, senior, very recent graduate or grad student.
www.chicagotribune.com


Dayton Daily News
Dayton, Ohio
Circulation: 160,000
Ownership: Cox Ohio Publishing
Representatives: Ron Rollins, Jana Collier
Interested in: interns, part and full-time reporters, copy editors, designers, photographers, Web
About: Major metropolitan newspaper in Dayton. Cox Ohio Publishing owns 9 dailies and weeklies combined as well as their Web sites.
www.daytondailynews.com


Newspaper Network of Central Ohio
Newark, Ohio
Circulation: n/a
Ownership: Gannett
Representatives: Shannon Waters, HR rep, and two editors.
www.centralohio.com


The Advertiser-Tribune
Tiffin, Ohio
Circulation: 11,600 daily, 12,600 Sundays
Ownership: Ogden Newspapers Inc.
Representatives: Rob Weaver, editor, Ryan Good
Interested in: interns and full-time
About: The Advertiser-Tribune is a morning daily. The news staff is ambitious yet the newsroom atmosphere is relaxed.
www.advertiser-tribune.com


— NON-DAILY NEWSPAPERS —

Great Lakes Publishing Co.
Cleveland, Ohio
Circulation: n/a
Ownership: Great Lakes Publishing Co.
Representative: Shannon Gilfillan, director of human resources
Interested in: interns, full-time copy editors, designers, advertising/sales, marketing, Web
About: Great Lakes Publishing publishes: Cincy Business, Cleveland Magazine, Custom Publishing, Elegant Wedding, Feast!, Home Decor, Inside Business, LongWeekends, Ohio Magazine, Web Development and West Shore
www.glpublishing.com


La Prensa
Toledo, Ohio
Circulation: 12,000 bilingual weekly print, 11,000 online
Ownership: Culturas Publications Inc.
Representative: Rico Neller, editor
Interested in: interns, full and part-time reporters, copy editors, photographers, advertising/sales, marketing, and Web
www.laprensa1.com

Labels: gljjif2007, job search, newspapers, recruiters

As some of you are aware, since graduating I have been applying solely to papers in Florida. The Sunshine State provides both an excellent climate and market for a budding journalist and has great opporutunities for my girlfriend's career as well -- music education.

It also, however, has a very competitive job marketplace. I just got off the phone with the state's "#1 ranked weekly," the High Springs Herald. Unfortunately, this is about the 20th job in the past two months that I have not been hired for.

Mr. Ronald Dupont, Jr., who has previously worked with the New York Times and other large papers, had some very interesting things to say. I bought all of them and I would like to share them with you.

The first thing I asked after hearing they had gone with somebody else is, of course, "why?" And he replied to me with wisdom beyond what I have heard from all others.

"Well, Matt, one of the things that stuck out to me was that you provided some color clips, which was rare for the applicants," he said, referring to the 70 applications he received from all over the country.

But what he didn't like was how I presented those clips and how many I sent. In his long job description posted to JournalismJobs.com, he insisted that applicants send at least 10 clips, but that he preferred 20. This is highly unusual, and is certainly the first time I have heard of an editor requesting so many. What he told me, though, was that all editors want that many, but they just don't know it.

Who knows where the idea of sending only five or 10 clips came from, but that idea is wrong. I know this now, after talking with Mr. Dupont. And, even though some of you may have received jobs or internships with that many, I would still argue that a different approach will result in more bites. Especially when you are competing with 70 applicants that have as much as 30 years experience.

He said, "now, Matt I noticed you have just sort of paper-clipped these together, and that certainly did not stick out."

Why, on earth, would someone paper-clip a cover letter, resume and 10 clips together? Do they really think this is what an editor wants to do is fumble through 13 pages of clips for each of the 70 applications they receive? No!

If it's not in a three ring binder, it nearly gets thrown away from the start. And with the use of a three ring binder, you can use sections that divide all of your clips into features, news, columns, etc. The editor can just kick back in his chair, put his feet up and read YOU Magazine. Only interested in features? Well just tab over my friend. You don't have to read every headline to find one, you just read one tab.

And now back to the five clip rule. Job description says only send five clips? Send 20! Or 50! Or as many good examples of your work that you can find. There is absolutely no reason to listen to an editor that says only send five clips. This is not failing to meet an expectation, this is exceeding it.

Why would an editor be displeased with 20 well-organized and presented clips? It's not like they will have to hunt for what they want. If they want an example of a community feature, they just tab over and read a couple of features. No matter what type of clip they want, they can get it instantaneously. TRY doing that with five clips paper-clipped together!

With 30 clips all the work you have done is represented. The editor will not be overwhelmed, they will be pleased. They will think they made a mistake in only requesting five clips. You will have changed their mind.

So, from now on, I am sending a spiral bound book with a table of contents, tabs, a few color clips, and at least 20 clips that represent all the flavors of writing I have done. I am going to send it to the editors that only request five clips, and they are going to set mine aside to read after they have been through all the "others" who just send a simple envelope with loose sheets of paper inside.

Sure, I'll spend $5 to $10 more per application, but that's not as bad as the more than $100 I have already wasted.

Mr. Dupont shared multiple stories with me of times when he walked into offices where 50 applications had been stacked and his was on top. He also told me of a presentation given by a Miami Herald editor who gave everyone in the presentation an applicant's envelope. He told them to tear them open, and then toss aside any with less than a half-page cover letter or 10 clips. At the end there was only one left.

Talk about separating yourself from the rest of the pack.

I'll keep you posted on the results of this new tactic.

Labels: applications, applying, career_advise, clips, editors, job hunt, job postings, job search, job_posting, newspapers, portfolio, resumes