(This piece originally appeared in the AR&D Media 2.0 Intel Report, April 20, 2007, and has been edited slightly.)
News Directors absolutely want to hire reporters, anchors and producers with online experience. Many consider it essential now, as indeed it is. Part of the transition to becoming a 24/7 local media operation is having people with online skills who don’t have preconceived notions that “TV comes first and everything else comes second.” So NDs are giving the edge to candidates who have computer chops. But, as Cory noted in his April 16th entry, many of the kids coming out of school don’t list their computer experiences on their resumes. Why?
At the RTNDA@NAB convention, students post their resumes on a bulletin board outside the meeting halls in the hope that a news director will take notice. Bergman noted that, of the emerging reporters’ resumes, “less than a quarter make any mention of the web… (although those people) likely have MySpace or Facebook blogs… (and) a lack of web experience on a resume is a non-starter for me if I were hiring for a TV reporter position — especially in a smaller market.”
So I poked around a bit at Wednesday’s career fair. Why the disconnect? If news directors wanted computer experience, and the young reporters had it, why weren’t the job candidates listing it?
It turns out that young reporters think it’s so obvious they have computer experience that they don’t even think about including it on a resume.
Here’s what Stevi Nelson, a broadcast communications major at Westminster College, wrote on her blog after reading Cory’s entry:
“I think, as an employer, you can pretty much assume that every recent college grad has experience with e-mail, Microsoft word, PowerPoint, and the internet (including either myspace, face book, blogging, or all of the above)… So, if you don’t see computer experience listed on a resume, it’s pretty safe to assume that the grad wanted to save the space for something that sets his/her resume apart from the rest.”
Isn’t that fascinating? She considers online experience so humdrum that she’d rather use her resume space to list something that “sets her apart.” Talk about a disconnect! It’s that very online experience that sets apart this generation from the existing generation of newsies.
So while we’re looking at resumes that don’t list computer experience and thinking “non-starter,” they’re writing resumes and thinking “well, OBVIOUSLY, I have computer experience, so I better put down something that will set me apart.”
The lesson – for both sides – is the classic “don’t assume.” News Directors should specify in their job openings that they are looking for people with online experience. That can be as simple as having a MySpace page, a blog or a Facebook page. Students, in turn, should not assume we’re all that bright. They should understand that their online skills are the most valuable part of their background right now.
