I have a question about how recruiters look at a newspaper's circulation size. Here's my situation: I'm a reporter at a 15,000-circulation newspaper. I have a possible job offer coming up to work for a company that produces two dailies in a metro area.
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Both dailies are in neighboring cities and share the same stories every day. The reporters are considered employees of both newspapers.
The question: The two newspapers' circulation is about 50,000 combined. One is about 15,000, and the other paper's size is around 35,000. Would moving there look the same on my resume as going from my current job to a 50,000-circulation newspaper? I hope to eventually move on to a larger daily.
Ben
Just be honest and clear about it. You'll be able to say, "I am a reporter in a newsroom that serves two dailies with a combined daily circulation of 50,000."
There's no great tragedy even if editors come away thinking you worked at a 35,000-circulation paper. You'll be more than doubling your circulation size -- even at the 35,000 level -- and I don't think most editors of larger papers will see a huge difference between 35,000 and 50,000.
Will you be working in a larger newsroom with better editors and bigger news to cover? Those pluses can take your work to a new level. That's what really matters.
Whatever you do, don't be guilty of resume inflation.
REMINDER: If you are one of the hundreds who have applied for a
Dow Jones Newspaper Fund internship, hang close to your phone Dec. 14 and 15. That's when the offers will be made -- and decisions will have to come quickly.
Coming Monday: She is ready to learn some new-media skills that can accompany her reporting, but she is afraid of getting pigeonholed as an online producer.
