Monday, May 21, 2012

A good source of unposted job leads at the end of sweeps

Okay, sweeps are just about over for the news business. (As mentioned earlier, the networks bailed a week or two ago, giving us season finales in early May before segueing to reality show garbage.)

Anyway, that means the summer job hunting season officially begins Thursday and runs till the beginning of November sweeps. So most of you will be sending out bushels of tapes and scouring the Internet for job openings.

Here's a news flash: a lot of News Directors are doing the same thing.

A few things happen after sweeps. If the ratings come in and they're not good, the ND might get canned. He might move on before the guillotine that he knows will fall begins to fall. Or he might just want to move up the ladder.

What does this mean to you? Well, most NDs who arrive in a new place often want some new people. Despite the fact that your new News Director will tell you that "nothing is going to change" trust me, some things, and probably staff members, are going to be new.

So why not greet the new guy with a tape just as he arrives and figures out who he wants to replace?

Go to tvjobs.com, then scroll down the right side of the page to "News Directors Named." You'll find announcements of new management hires. They might not even be at their jobs yet, but you already know that job postings are inevitable in their future. So send a tape to the new guy.

In part two of this, you also know what station the guy left, so a new ND will be there as well. Send a tape to the new person there.

Remember, you don't have to wait for a posting to send a tape. The resume tape police won't show up at your door and put you in handcuffs. But this is just a way to get a little jump on the rest of the crowd.

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