How to Get a Job as a Field Reporter
Most news is produced from a news desk nowadays. Most information is obtained through the phone or the internet. You can retrieve lawsuits online, interview heads of companies in a conference call and write breaking news in your pajamas. Field reporting is not as common as it used to be.Being a field reporter means knowing how to get your hands dirty. Often, literally. To become one, you have to show that you're not afraid of taking on challenges, often physical ones.
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Things You'll Need
- Notepad
- Tape recorder
- Good walking shoes or boots
- Working vehicle
- GPS device (optional)
- Tote bag (optional)
Instructions
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Scour the internet for field reporting jobs. They will not usually be listed as "field reporter," but rather as "correspondent" or just "reporter" and instead use phrases such as "applicants must be willing to travel" or "applicants must possess a working vehicle."
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Apply to field reporting jobs on the internet or, even better, call up the offices and ask to speak to the news directors or editors. Journalists are go-getting kinds of people and more often than not, appreciate when people take the initiative to go beyond the mundane.
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Show up at a job interview for a field reporting job by already looking the part. This means you cannot look like you stepped off the pages of Forbes. Field reporters do not walk around in business suits and carry briefcases. They dress professionally, but comfortably. They wear shoes they can hike in. They carry bags that can fit many necessary items, such as a bottle of water, a tape recorder, notepads, pens and batteries, to name a few. If you look like a character from "The Devil Wears Prada," your interviewers will likely categorize you as being more suited for an office job.
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Mention during your interview how you are not afraid to get your hands dirty, as mentioned, and talk about some stories you may have pursued in the past that had required you to travel. Talk about interesting places you've visited and written about. Mention how you overcame any obstacles, such as obtaining visas or fixing your own vehicle.
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Show, don't just tell. Bring with you news clippings of such articles you have written or better, television pieces or documentary footage you may have recorded.
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Tips & Warnings
Do not be sloppy -- you want your interviewers to picture you as a field reporter when they look at you, but you don't want them to mistake you for a slob.
