My First Day on the Job

I was in full-on panic mode. Here I was on my first day as an inexperienced reporter having to cover an important story with little guidance. I was starting to regret my decision to take the job. What was I doing here? I wasn’t a journalism major. I didn’t have a “beat.” I didn’t even know all the rules about dealing with sources and off-the-record information.

The previous spring, I’d taken up my boss on his offer and stayed at my part-time job through the summer after college. He gave me more hours, so I was making more money, but I didn’t yet have the responsibility of a “real” job. I’d been an English major and wanted to be a writer, though I had no idea what kind of writer. I’d taken the summer to think about things and prepare for a fall job search.

By the time I began the search for my first full-time job, the job market was in bad shape. During my first few months looking for a job, I sent out countless resumes and only had one interview. Unfortunately, I was very unqualified for the job at the time. Then a woman I worked with at my part-time job told me about a reporter position opening up at the newspaper chain where her daughter worked. Though I’d never thought about being a reporter, I figured it couldn’t hurt to go on the interview. In addition to interview experience, the opportunity meant I was officially networking. All the job search materials I’d read stressed the importance of networking in finding a job.

A few days later, I was sitting down with John, one of the executive editors of the newspaper chain, hearing all the daunting details of being a “cub reporter.” Although it sounded intimidating, it was also exciting, and John didn’t seem deterred by the fact that I had no solid experience. He was happy with the few writing samples I’d brought to the interview and offered me the job on the spot. I thought about the opportunity over the weekend and on Monday I let John know I would take the job. There would be a learning curve, but I would also get to write every single day.

Two weeks later, when I arrived for my first day on the job, I discovered that my editor had been called away for a family emergency. I also learned that the state education department had announced that aid typically allocated to school districts in the area would not come through that year. This would be a blow to schools that had relied on funding to keep art, music, and sports programs running.

Since Monday was press day, I needed to do all my reporting and have the story written by the end of the day. John told me that the fastest way to get reactions and comments from everyone involved was to go to the schools and talk directly to the principals, teachers, and parents. No one would be in their offices today. I jotted down the list of people that I should speak to and set out to cover my first story. On my way to the first school, my mind raced. I wasn’t completely sure what I was supposed to be asking besides how the budget cuts would affect each school. As I tried to think of the kind of information that families in the community would want to know, I realized the answer was simple Reporter 101: Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? If I went back to the office with answers to all of these questions, I would be able to write a complete article.

I made the rounds, hitting elementary, middle, and high schools. As I spoke to the people who ran these schools, I learned so much about what goes into keeping a school’s doors open and all the work that goes into offering students a solid education. It made me think that my new job as a reporter was going to be easy in comparison. By the time I finished up, I’d gotten a crash course in interviewing and had received an interesting range of opinions about the budget cuts. I was already thinking about how I would open the story when I got back to the office. My last step before writing was to get comments from the governor’s office and do some research on past years when state aid was in jeopardy.

The next day I saw my very first news story in print. My editor was happy with it when he returned, and over the next few months, I learned a great deal from him about how to cover a story well, how to handle my sources, and how to make a boring story seem interesting. Fortunately, after fine-tuning the state budget, the governor’s office was able to reinstate the aid money for area school districts. And thanks to my first story, I’d already met most of the school administrators in person and had the beginnings of an actual list of sources for future stories.