Applying for jobs in digital age
Joe Grimm, who teaches reporting and writing at Michigan State University’s School of Journalism, very few candidates these days use “don’t tell me, show me” approach to writing job applications.
As someone who gets to review a lot of job applications Joe was surprised by those candidates who, for example, would list InDesign as a skill, yet produced their resumes in Word, which is essentially writing software.
“If you want your resume to look nice and you have the skills, why not do it in a design program?” he asks.
“If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Otherwise, employers might wonder how well you really know that program. The same is true of trying to get an online job with an on-paper application,” adds Joe.
This is why a typo in a cover letter can ruin everything. Spelling and grammar errors are signs of carelessness and lack of attention to details – qualities that most employers are looking for these days.
On the flip side a well-written cover letter has landed interviews for people who might have otherwise been eliminated on the basis of their experience.
Steve Buttry took some time out of his job last week as director of community engagement for TBD to post some advice about landing a job in digital journalism. It included some advice about work samples, too. (Yes, he’s hiring.)
For one thing, digital newsrooms want to see digital applications. It shows them you can do what they need.
Buttry wrote, “If you’re applying for a position with a digital organization, which has posted an e-mail address where you can apply, don’t send a hard-copy resume. Nothing screams ‘refuses to innovate’ like using paper and the U.S. Postal Service. I’m amazed at how many hard-copy applications I received. While I didn’t eliminate them automatically for that reason, I didn’t end up hiring anyone who applied by hard copy.”
It is disappointing — but not surprising — that people will claim digital skills they haven’t really mastered. I have seen a lot of people exaggerate their skills — claiming Spanish because they took it in school, for example — so it is not surprising that some would list software skills that they have yet to master.
But if your application is living proof that you know your way around those skills, no questions asked.
