How to get a media job when the market is down and nobody loves you

I went to a forum at the NY Press Club last night that involved the editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, an Executive Producer from NY1 News and the founder of Mediabistro.com. Here are some tips they provided...

1. Continuing Education: Always be teaching yourself new skills like design, page layout, html.

2. Get a flip camera: http://www.theflip.com - a high definition version just came out too. Get this, mess around, jump into the future.

3. Build your own brand: have a direction, distill yourself down to who you are and what you care about, don't abuse networking * don't always ask people to give you a job, schedule informational phone or in person (if they have the time) interviews.

3a. Informational interviews: Should ask for 15 minutes and stick to that time frame, send a thank you note in an email and card

4. Build a brand online: Blog, Yelp, Facebook, Myspace, your own web site, podcast! 

5. Network: Network, network. And not just the 1970s movie about media. Create an E newsletter once a month to send to people with my clips and what I'm working on, send to friends to pass on to friends of friends, be authentic!!

6. Be mindful of job description: Use key words in job description in your resume and cover letter to avoid automatic filtering process

7. Don't leave 2 minute phone messages with your number at the end: Be clear and articulate on the phone. Leave number at beginning and end and keep it brief!

8. Web sites: newschallenge.org 

                        paidcontent.org

http://typepad.com

bailout@sixapart.com

newsu.org

poynter institute 

cgr

9. Important media terms (for understanding audience on web): BAW- Bored at Work

   CCT- Conference Call Time