Career Fair

Today, I attended the College of Journalism Career Day & Internship Fair. Dressed in our finest garments, Josh Magness and I approached the club fair maybe a little too unprepared than we should have been. We had both forgotten our résumé as the only official document I had on me were my various satire pieces. Unfortunately, after scoping out the career day field, only real journalistic sources attended, and with no résumé in hand and long lines of prepared students eager for a job or internship, Josh and I headed upstairs to the panel where we could at least be given some advice on how to approach the competitive field. 

The first panel of journalists were called "the masters." These masters included Raymund Flandez, Eric Kelderman, Bobby McMahon, and Aleksandra Robinson. While the usual platitudes of hard work, and being persistent were thrown around the room, I can recall that Eric Kelderman, a staff writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education said that while it is good to market yourself and inform the interviewer when looking for a job that you have "all the necessary skills and would be a great asset to their task force," it may also be good to be as low maintenance as possible. Kelderman noted that many of these people interviewing potential job candidates also have three or four other things they need to be doing and instead of hearing about all of the unnecessary skills you have, simply stating that you have the ability to come in and fit right in and not need any on-the-job training is a much bigger asset than being able to replace water filters really fast in the sink. 

While Kelderman's advice may not seem that profound, it got me thinking. I aspire to write satirical news and if I already know AP-style, then there won't be any learning curve when I apply for jobs. This may be the difference between landing the real fake news job of my dream or just an unrealistic idea of mine.