How persistent should I be?

Many young journalists seeking internships and jobs wonder how persistent or aggressive they should be in their searches. Here’s what newsroom recruiter Brenda Rotherham says:

“I don’t like the word ‘persistent.’ It sounds a little bit like ‘pest’ to me. And I don’t much like to advise people to be aggressive either because aggressive behavior makes people nervous. It makes them feel like they’re going to get pushed around.”

Instead, Rotherham suggested, remember your goal. “What you’re trying to do is to get information about what kind of opportunities they have and to give them information about you and how you perhaps can be a solution to their problem.”

Sometimes, she said, this means backing off.

To be offered a job:

• There has to be the right opening.
• You must be the best candidate.
• Money to hire has to be in the budget.

These things can get in the way:

• You might be a good candidate, but the paper doesn’t think you are the best candidate.
• They might love you but don’t have an opening.
• They might love you and have an opening, but the budget won’t allow a hire now.

Rotherham said she doesn’t like to encourage reporters to back off. But “You sometimes have to understand that you can’t change the circumstances.” In those cases, be persistent in making sure you understand the hiring situation at the newspaper and have conveyed all the important information about yourself to editors, she advised.

Don’t e-mail clips, said Rotherham, who fills 12 paid internships each Summer. She prefers a well-conceived application package that is mailed to her. Then, call her to talk about it, she suggested. “Tell me something about yourself. Ask me an intelligent, thoughtful question.”

Managing Editor Chris Weston of the Greenville (S.C.) News, a listener on the call, agreed that editors do not want clips e-mailed to them. Put some care into your application materials and spend time on a cover letter, he said. “We want to see how you think and how you put words in action.”