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I'm a recent college grad who's busy sending applications to every paper on the East Coast via e-mail. Obviously, clips are a big part of the application, so I want them to look as good as I can. But I've run into a problem: I can't show in an e-mail how the papers I wrote for used my story, i.e., if it went on page one or if it was a centerpiece.

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Should I tell them next to the clip what page it went on? Most want the stories pasted in a word processor document anyway, so it wouldn't be hard, I'm just not sure if it's kosher.

I'd like to believe newspapers only care about what you wrote, not what the editors at another paper thought of it (which is what the recruiters at papers I've talked to tell me), but I don't think that's true most of the time. And if I got a story on A1 at a big paper, I want them to know that.

Should I label my clips with the page they were on, or should I just trust the content will (hopefully) speak for itself?

Thanks,

Alex

There is no problem with writing a clearly labeled intro to each clip. You seem to understand that no changes to the clip itself are permissible.

Joe Grimm

But I have reservations about your overall strategy.

Spamming the East Coast with your resume and clips does not sound focused enough to be effective.

Reduce your targets and increase the attention on each one.

Unless you know of immediately available openings, I would use regular mail, phones, e-mail and, where possible, visits.

Pouring your energy into hitting everything means you can't focus on anything.

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Coming Friday: She wonders how receptive the newspaper market will be to her later if she leaves her reporting job now to be closer to her boyfriend.

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