By: Mike Brannen

You’re a cub reporter, months away from graduating with a journalism degree, and are ready to work in the “real world” (ironic the “real world” gets quotations as if it’s a fictional thing!). You’ve got your top cities and news outlets picked out. It’s time to convince them to hire you. At this stage, your resume lacks years of experience. Sure you’ve padded it with internships, but that’s not going to impress me, or the people who are actually going to hire you. Chances are, you have to compete against someone who has more experience than you. But you have an opportunity to outshine them, by delivering a knock-them-out-of-their-seat cover letter.

A resume tells me what you’ve done. A cover letter tells me who you are. A resume shows me what you’ve accomplished before; your cover letter shows me what you are going to do next. If I’m the person hiring you, I need to get an idea that your personality, and what you believe in, will benefit my newsroom.
I believe that I got my first job, in Seattle, and right out of school, because I had a strong cover letter. My current Executive Producer seemed to like it enough to call me with a job opening after I sent it to him.

There are two ways to frame your cover letter: tell a story, or tell your creed.

Your Story
A true journalist naturally embellishes a bit. We do it out of necessity to grab the attention of viewers and readers. It’s time to put those skills to work in your cover letter.

Take some time to think about a day where you kicked butt on the job, or nailed a big story. Describe what you did and why each step was important.

You must weave into your story a way to “brag” about your skills. By “brag,” describe a challenging experience, but not blatantly mention how difficult it was. Let the accomplishment speak for itself.
Sell your reader on why you have a cool job and why it beats anything else.

I would avoid the cliché “I remember the day I knew I wanted to be a reporter” story. Everybody writes that one. As an employer, I don’t care what got you into the business; I want to know what’s keeping you in it.

Your Creed
I wrote mine in this fashion. I detailed what I think are the three main elements of delivering TV news (Live, Local, Now). This formula reveals your values, your news judgment, and your decision-making process.

Your creed is your take on what’s wrong or right with journalism; things you want to see improved, or eliminated. You don’t need an explanation for the things you believe in, at least not in the letter. You probably will once you get to the interview part.

I think the creed is more of what employers want to read about. They can distinguish if the applicant is worthwhile, or meant for the garbage pile.

The creed letter is a bit riskier because what you believe in might not fit the newsroom personality. But, if you’ve done your research, and your letter is tailored to the station’s mission, then you are in a good position for a future interview.

Overall, the type of letter you write should be dictated by the job you want. A story tells me about you. A creed tells me your beliefs.
For either one, make the first line the strongest one in the entire letter. Write it so you know the reader wants to know what comes next. It should be a sentence that no one in history has ever written before, or will ever write again.

Be bold. Be creative. Be original.

Mike Brannen is a morning newscast producer for KIRO7, the CBS affiliate in Seattle. He recently received a Master’s Degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia and completed his thesis, Motivational Use of Twitter. He previously worked multiple positions at KOMU-TV in Columbia, Missouri during for four years. You can follow him on Twitter: @MikeBrannen

By: Lynn Walsh

As the end of another year approaches, many of us will be reflecting on stories and events that we have experienced in 2010 while planning what 2011 will look like both personally and professionally.

If you are like me, the reflecting and planning will include some self evaluation as well as some skills I would like to work on in 2011.

To help you reflect or get motivated for a new year, past president of the Society of Professional Journalists, Kevin Smith, has some advice for Generation J members: be versatile and be passionate.

“Know as much as you can about all aspects of journalism,” Smith said. “It will serve you greatly in your career.”

Smith knows the benefits of being versatile firsthand. Smith was hired as a sports editor at a small paper when he got out of school, but the job soon turned into more than editing.

“On the first day I also learned I was the chief photographer because no one knew how to operate a darkroom,” Smith said. “So, I did that and I was assigned other duties and the work was piled on. In the end I learned so much. Knowing how to do so many things made be valuable to the next employer.”

“So, the bottom line is, you need to make yourself valuable,” Smith said. “Too many people in this profession think they have to specialize. That will come with experience. Forget being niche. Know lots of skills.”

Along with being versatile, Smith believes being passionate will help further your journalism career.

“Veterans can be great when it comes to advice about how to work more effectively with less effort,” Smith said. “You learn the ropes and it gets easier. But veterans aren’t the best about boosting morale. I look for young people who have a fire in the belly and who really want to know and learn and do journalism.”

Smith says he would choose a passionate journalists over one with a bad attitude any day. “I’ve always said given the choice between a veteran with skills but a bad attitude and a young staffer who’s raw but is enthusiastic, I’d always take the later. I can teach skills, but it’s hard to change a bad disposition.”

Lynn Walsh is an investigative video journalist for Texas Watchdog, a nonprofit online news organization that focuses on government transparency and government accountability. Lynn is also the committee chair for Generation J. Get in touch with her on Twitter @LWalsh or Lynn.K.Walsh@gmail.com.