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Secrets To Making It as a TV News Anchor & Reporter
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Getting a Television News Job
Few occupations are more competitive than television news. It is normal for news directors to have hundreds of applicants for a single job. Getting hired is a matter of persistence and standing out in the crowd in addition to talent.
Your resume tape must be impressive. If your tape is ordinary you will not be noticed and you will not be hired. The news director should see you immediately when he presses the play button and you must look spectacular. Your work must be dynamic, energetic and insightful. There are a lot of excellent journalists vying for the same job. You need to get noticed. For more details on how to make a resume tape, see the article below.
Many entry level television news anchors and reporters think getting an agent is the answer. Having an agent makes them feel important and they figure that the agent will do all the work. This is flawed thinking. Getting a television news job involves a lot of work regardless of whether you have an agent. Most agents are useless in the early stages of a career and will only hold you back. Entry level journalists should find jobs by themselves. Agents should only be considered when you are contemplating a move to a top 10 market. For more details about hiring an agent, see the article below.
Make sure that your resume tape is packaged to stand out in a pile. The sad fact is many resume tapes and DVD's are never viewed by news directors. They sit in huge piles only to be ignored. A news director needs a reason to pull one out of the pile and look at it. Be sure your tape is adorned with bright colors and large letters spelling out your name. If the news director decides to look at it, it better be easy to find.
Make a lot of copies of your resume tape and send them everywhere. Naturally you should send them to stations that have job openings, but you should also send them to stations that don't. There is a lot of turnover in television news. If there isn't a job opening right now, chances are there there will be soon. Identify markets that appeal to you and send your resume tape to every station in that market. That way if you get an interview you can visit several of them at once. The more tapes you have floating around, the greater your chances of getting a job. News directors often pass good tapes along to other news directors at other stations if they like you but don't have openings.
Follow up with emails and telephone calls. Pester the news director mercilessly. They will do their best to ignore and discourage you. Don't let them. The news directors are hiring anchors and reporters. They don't want people who are going to give up or take 'no' for an answer. Good journalists are persistent. Show them that's what you are. You have nothing to lose. The worst that can happen is they wont hire you.
Pursue every job as if it is the single thing you want most in life. If you don't go all out for a job then you wont get it. Even if you don't think that you are interested in the position, don't let that temper your job pitch. The only time you should ever think about whether you actually want to take a job is after it's been offered to you.
Be bold and go to the station. If you really want to work somewhere, don't wait to be invited for an interview. Tell the news director that you will be in town and would love to drop by to meet him face to face. Promise to only take up a few minutes of his time. Most news directors will let you do this if it doesn't cost them anything. A face to face meeting can propel you to the top of the list. If you are financing your own travel for the interview, stop by all the stations in that market. If a station is flying you out there, it is improper to interview with anther station on that trip.
Be persistent. Expect to be rejected by dozens, possibly hundreds, of news directors before getting a television news job. If you don't handle rejection well, this is not the career for you. If you are optimistic and determined, you might have what it takes to endure the job seeking process. For more details on what you can expect, see our page on The Truth About Television News Careers.
