USA Today and Your Futures

Class, I hope you enjoyed the tour and talk at USA Today, and were energized by the possibilities facing you in this brave new-media world.

The economy will turn around, and I am convinced that if you are a hard worker and have superior reporting and writing (and some multimedia) skills, you will get a job.

It just may not be the more traditional news job you had envisioned.

Remember as you begin your search that not just traditional news organizations are doing news.

Many nonprofits are paying reporters and researchers to report on specific hotspots or topics. (Stateline.org, for instance.)

Some nonjournalistic businesses are paying reporters to write about their specific niches.

And many enterprising young journalists are connecting with or launching Web startups--helping to shape the way news will be covered and displayed in the future. (One of our recent graduates recently became editor of a Web startup in Los Angeles, for instance.)

So if you're smart and have good skills, you will get a job. But you may have to be dogged to land it.

We'll talk more in class on Wednesday.

In the meantime, check out some of the job listings on JournalismJobs.com, MediaBistro and Poynter.

Best, Chris