Tanner's Tips

Recently I went to New York and met with Tanner Stransky. He's a Drake alum, a writer for Entertainment Weekly, and author of Finding Your Inner Ugly Betty. In short, he's kind of a big deal. I got to sit down with him and learn more about what it takes to get your foot in the constantly contracting journalism industry. Bottom line? It's not easy. Print media is just on the outs. It's a sad reality for people like me. But I did learn a lot from talk to him and now I pass Tanner's tips on to you.

1. Tailor your resume - Don't use the same resume over and over and over for every job you apply for; tailor it to fit the job. If it's an online job, play up online experience. If it's a job like Tanner's in entertainment media, play up your experience with entertainment. You get the point.

2. Use resources on campus - Drake has a lot of journalism professors (and I mean A LOT) who have actual real-world journalism experience. It's a good idea to talk to them and see who they know. A lot of them have good connections at the Des Moines Register and Meredith and even a bunch of other places in and out of state. Journalism has always been about who you know. Don't be afraid to ask.

3. Find alum - I don't remember if this was his tip or mine, but either way it's worth mentioning. Before I went to New York I asked my adviser if she knew any alum I could contact. Advisers like to keep tabs on their students after graduation because they like to brag about them a bit. And that's perfectly fine and totally awesome if they can hook you up with an old alum. I think alumni are the best type of people to meet with because you already have something in common (you both went to the same school) so it takes away a lot of that initial awkwardness.

4. Figure out what you want - This one, I think, is the hardest. Tanner says to tailor your resume, but I pretty much snatch up every opportunity I can find and there isn't exactly a common denominator between all of them. After a while you have to kind of pick an avenue, even a broad one, and pursue it like crazy and get experience in the area of your choice. If you like interior design, find interior design stuff - even if it's just a blog here and there or an random freelance article for the web. If you like sports, write sports articles for the school newspaper. It's good to be well-rounded, too and have a variety of experience, but it's also beneficial to have one interest or specialty because it makes finding real jobs in that field much, much easier when the time comes.