In the midst of the ridiculous, juicy, and deeply concerning, I would rather click on something that makes me smile:

Things are a lot different from when I last blogged. Apparently, AEI went through an Internet outage which resulted in a wasted workday during the holidays. Now, I’ve past my one-year anniversary, went through a major website redesign/migration (check it out), personnel changes, and I’ve picked up some new skills in the process.  I can now fully understand HTML code, I’ve experimented with online marketing, and most importantly, I’m learning A LOT about politics and policy that will be critical to the next election.

While it’s been great learning new things (which is why journalism and new media excite me), I have lost something important in the process. I’ve grown up writing, telling stories, talking to people about what drives them, and finding new ways of communicating. This past year, I feel like I’ve been in somewhat of a black hole because I’ve been working behind-the-scenes…or I guess I should say, behind-the-screens. I could blame the long hours my job requires, the other qualities I’m trying to carve out in my overall package, and generally being too busy because of other obligations. But I know what they say is true–if you want to call yourself a writer, you better write. And today, where it’s so easy to publish yourself, there’s no excuse not to. My current supervisor, who happens to be an excellent, seasoned journalist, said it perfectly the other day–writing is like a muscle. If you don’t flex it enough, you will lose it.

I’m afraid I’m as wimpy as this guy, and it’s time to drop the excuses. Now that I’ve settled into my routine, finished the department’s major project, and am starting to get my life back, I’m going to try to flex my muscles and give this an honest try.

Although most of us couldn’t physically leave the house for two weeks, it turns out life didn’t stop because one thing sure as hell worked and kept things going: The Internet. We had two classes online (meaning I still had to get up early and focus for a few hours), projects were still due, I was still expected to write, and communication continued between friends. Except for the occasional trek to the nearby grocery store, I was essentially glued to my computer for company (I was living alone at the time), entertainment and work during Snowpocalypse 2010. But last Friday, another inconvenience came about that beat snowpocalypse. Not only did it inspire some of my coworkers to go home early or not even come in, but it literally halted business and made it so we had no choice but to read, do menial tasks, eat and socialize until life started again.

Last friday, the Internet, Intranet, and Outlook all crashed for 8 hours. Most of those hours, nobody was here. But I was.

I get into work at the wee hour of 7:30 every day, so I was among the first to notice something was wrong. Keep in mind that my entire job revolves around the Internet and the ability to use it. I went around and asked everyone if it was happening to them, contacted IT, and stared at the frozen hourglass until the rest of the crew came in. I was frustrated that I came in early so I could leave early, but ended up having to stay late to play catchup. The interns were thrilled because that meant they could have long lunches and an early Friday. For those of us who’s work didn’t magically disappear when the Internet died, we had to stay late and make up for lost time. But that’s besides the point.

It was funny to me that the effects of the Internet and email dying were far worse than 3 feet of snow towering over the District of Columbia. We all felt disconnected, useless, lost and purposeless without it. But during the snowstorm, there was a frenzie on Twitter, everyone was glued to their computers (what else would they be doing? Shoveling their cars out of their driveways to be met with a mountain of snow in the street?). It just goes to show how important the Internet is to running a business. We’re a think tank, so it’s not like the company necessarily revolves around the web like other companies do. And yet, life stopped that morning more so than being snowed in last February.

I’m also realizing just how dependent I am on the Internet to run my life. When I go to work, I am at the computer for close to 11 hours. I come home, and I’m online again doing my social media, talking to friends and Skyping with my boyfriend. I go to sleep, wake up, and am strapped to the computer again. I even got the new iPhone (YAY), to which my mom commented, “that’s not a phone, that’s a mini-computer.” Soon, I’ll become a robot.

What does it mean that life stops when the Internet dies? What does it mean that my life has revolved around the Internet?

For now, I find myself so busy with the tasks I have to do that I have little time for much else–research, personal website time, sleep and outside education. I’m also helping a new media company write proposals for new clients, which will allow me to think more creatively and strategically about social media marketing. I’d love to have a week off where I could sit and deeply assess what needs to be done at my dayjob to make things run quicker and more efficiently. I guess I’ll save that for the holidays.

With that being said, I still greatly admire anyone who has taken a lesser paying, more insecure job in journalism because I know just how hard it is to do what you love and make a living from it. Maybe one day I’ll go back to reporting, but I love working with websites and thinking of new strategies of connecting with fans and spreading good content. When it comes down to it, understanding the desires of those who explore the web, dispersing valuable information and building a brand are all vital tools in journalism and online communication.

Although I miss engaging with others on my Twitter account, reading all the foreign policy news I can get a hold of and going to bed past 12:00, I am happy to finally feel that sense of security/certainty I’ve been looking for and will make the most of the experience.

Now after months of searching, networking and getting published, how did this one end up working out?

a) Being at the right place at right time

b) Never stopping work (I never stopped interning, freelancing and working on projects)

c) Great references from past places that couldn’t hire me

d) Continued networking (not just to ask for something, but for equal exchange of ideas)

e) Good ideas, new ideas

f) eagerness, enthusiasm, willingness to work long hours

g) mad skills

The most important is “right place, right time.” To do this, you need to BE at the right place, doing the right thing and assert that eagerness, skill and innovation. It also helps to be at a company where your efforts could potentially pay off through good clips, references or hell, even a job. It took three months, but it happened.

I’ve learned a lot tonight, but I also learned a lot about the more techy side of journalism at the ONA 2010 conference.

I was fortunate enough to attend panels on Friday and Saturday as well as an amazing job fair on Thursday. My live blogs are on the site, but here are some takeaways from the conference based on my experience.

 1) Stop saying “journalism” vs “digital journalism.” What we’ve learned is that digital is the new standard. Newsrooms have made the adjustment (God help them if they haven’t) and now they’re playing with new tools (graphics, social media, data collecting) to deliver information to a very digital audience. It is detremental for newsrooms and especially j-schools to see digital as a luxury or advanced skill. It is now a necessity.

3) News is going to be a social experience. When you look at basic sociology, it seems obvious that the best way to provide a successful service is to LISTEN to your audience. How do you listen to your audience? You RESPOND to them (as @WSJ does on their twitter feed), invite input and make changes based on that input. I’m not going to “engage” in a website if I think a human being won’t ever see it or reply. People today follow trusted news streams rather than individual news sites, and crowdsourcing has become more important than ever b/c of the limited resources many newsrooms are facing.

4) J-schools better step it up. I was most intrigued by the “Rewiring the Ivory Tower” discussion b/c it seemed like there was a huge divide between J-schools that are “with the times” and J-schools who still see journalism as a degree for people who like to write. I’ll say that the writing drew me to jouranlism in the beginning, but now it’s part-writer, part-expert internet stalker, part-computer programmer, part videographer and part digital social butterfly. They NEED to require HTML and design courses as well as video. And most importantly, they can no longer separate online journalism from broadcast. We need to know it all, and I feel like I missed out b/c of that divide.

5) Know what makes a good site. I really enjoyed the session on website traffic and search engine optimization. Search engines care about social media (notice the amount of YouTube videos and Tweets that show up for your average search). Some tips the panelists gave included adding “related stories” to stories that get big hits on your page, making SEO-friendly headlines and links, ask for viewers’ zip codes to target information, and monitor interactivity. Engagement is far more important than hits. Also, use written numbers, understand the importance of location, use tags in the Titles, describe what’s going on in your multimedia (those don’t always show up in search engines) and write for your audience!

First of all, it was rude for this student to essentially call this person a “Dinosaur” by saying his or her job is no longer relevant in today’s journalism world. I’ll skip a rant about this person’s inability to communicate effectively to a potential interview subject and write grammatically correct. But in journalism, if you want anyone to talk to you, the first thing they teach you (and what you should already know by being human) is not to insult them.

Two main things come this post, however, about the merging of the traditional journalism sphere and the introduction of new media and tech-focused journalism jobs. It’s apparent that the “Dinosaur” is probably already extinct or on his/her way out and doesn’t want to be reminded of it, especially by a wide-eyed student who could be taking his/her job upon graduation. The second thing I think of with this post is how unprofessional, unprepared and nieve this cubby is as a SENIOR in journalism school. Both are dangerous to journalism in their own way.

The best part about this was the onslaught of comments that came from the article. Most insulted the kid’s writing skills, but others pointed out the relevancy of a journalism degree that has seniors bug old-timers in journalism as their final projects.

“When I think about how much this student is paying for his worthless journalism degree vs. what the veteran “dinosaur” journalist paid for his journalism degree, which did have worth for many years, I’d say the student is on the losing end of this one.”

Ouch, buddy. We could theorize about the value of a journalism degree these days, but I’ve already got the degree, so I’d rather not get depressed over it.

I did learn valuable tools about new media journalism as part of my degree, but I will admit that because these new skills (video, web design, social media, graphics, interactive, etc) take up so much time and mental energy, the fundamentals can go unnoticed (luckily, my rigorous writing courses and print-intensive undergrad background helped me out). But I still have a lot to learn from both worlds. Right now I’m lucky enough to work with professionals who are reaching their 70s with decades of valuable experience while also working with the innovators of tomorrow’s media landscape.

“How about the person who is “teaching” journalism? You won’t find a bigger dinosaur than that”

This comment also stood out to me because it makes you think about which institution and which professors are teaching you the skills you need to know for this “new” journalism. Sure, some schools might have a history of excellence, but are they in touch with what you need to learn to get a job these days or do they glorify the Woodward/Bernsteins of the past? Are the professors making sure the print kids learn video and the video kids learn web skills? I hope so.

I fall into the wide-eyed cubby category, but I feel like I’m a bit of a mix between the “Dinosaur” and the Twitter, Huffington Post-obsessed cubby. The tools need to be understood and used, but that drive for good writing, research and PEOPLE SKILLS is essential to making these tools significant to society. Otherwise it’s a bunch of wasted messages and pointless graphics.

SEO means improving the visibility of your web site in search engines like GOOGLE, which is the way most people find your site in today’s web environment. SEO allows you to get more hits on your page through natural search results, aka unpaid.

First things you need to think about

• Who comes to my site NOW-demographic
• Why do they come to my site?
• What is the most popular thing on my site (Google Analytics or Review should tell you this)
• What do I WANT to be the most popular thing on my site/what do I want to get more attention on my site?
• What kind of marketing am I doing now to get people to see my articles
• Goals: What audience do we want, how big of an audience, and what do we want to be the “draw” of the site

Most Popular sites today and why

• The most popular sites today (traffic wise) are search engines and social media sites. They include Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Youtube, Blogger, Wikipedia, and Twitter
• Why do they get the most hits? #1—b/c they are excellent search engines/easy ways to get information you want fast. #2 B/c they promote interactivity, they are a part of the “social media” lifestyle and they get you committed.
• Applying it to you—you need to make sure your site gives your target audience what it wants from you in an easy way and you need to promote interactivity to establish some loyalty/commitment to the site.
• Most popular think tank site (based on some Google searches): Heritage Foundation. Why? My guess is b/c they have targeted their audience, given them the content they want (and can only get there) and provide some interactivity.

 Ways to improve your SEO-Marketing Outlook

• Know your audience and give them a lot of what they want. Do they come to the site b/c of a particular issue? Nail that issue on the head and give them ways to spread it around to their friends on social media.
• Think to yourself-what do I Google? What kind of phrases do you Google—like “Top 10 election lies,” “Economic experts on immigration,” etc and incorporate those phrases into your URL titles (which are the titles you come up with in your headlines)
• Use social media to your advantage but do not come off as a used car salesman. Target certain groups, media and leaders that would be interested in your issue.
• To find target followers—see who similar orgs are following and follow them but don’t bombard them with ads for your organization via @’s or DMs. Give them a taste of what they want but don’t force it in their mouths.
• On Facebook-announce upcoming events, give away prizes for joining and facilitate dialogue on each post through “comments”
• Promote your video projects on the home page and send out a notice about them in your newsletters (I get them, so I’ll know!)
• Use lists! People Google lists all the time and those will pop up first.
• Have your fellow colleagues and interns promote site content on their personal social media. Nothing’s more convincing than the recommendation of a friend.

Ways to improve your SEO-Tweaking your website

• Search for your Twitter audience using popular hashtags either by issue #iranelection or news event #midterm. Go to hashtags.org for a starting point. But the best way to use a good hashtag is see what others who cover what you cover are using and join those conversations.
• Use tags on your website when posting stories as your personal branding. Do you want to be the go-to source for a certain issue, expert or trend? On every post, tag the story with whatever keyword you want to be associated with.
• When using multimedia—like a photo, image or graphic, people won’t find it in a search if the description or title is built into that multimedia. You have to label them in the body of the text for it to show up in searches.
• LINKS LINKS LINKS! Do not put a hyperlink on “click here.” Rather, hyperlink the keyword you want people to find when they type it in a search. Add lots of links!
• Your title: Make your title search friendly with keywords, phrases and names that will be searchable. In AP style you’re supposed to only put someone’s last name, but SEO calls for full names.
• To show up in area specific searches, you need to specify the location in the body of the text.like instead of “the store,” say “the Houston store,” etc.
• Make sure your URLs in each post aren’t a bunch of mumbo jumbo. From what I understand you can change the URL of a post on most CMS platforms. If your URL is something like www.ladannekoomaram/top-10-ways-to-get-fit that will show up more likely than www.ladannekoomaram.com/article-13453234. Likewise, when you create URL names, put hyphens in between in each word instead of having them run together.
• Always remember, if you spend a lot of time on a video or fancy piece of flash, it is unsearchable. Put what you need in text too.
• Search spiders love UPDATES, so make sure to update frequently and link to other popular sites that cover what you do. If you get picked up and linked from another popular site, that’s free traffic for you. The best way to get noticed is by the recommendation of someone trusted which is what happens when you get linked by someone or put on their blogroll.
• Surround your links with relevant, descriptive text
• Don’t overuse keywords b/c if a spider sees the word being used too much in an abnormal way, it will count against you.
• People don’t usually read a site for more than five seconds, so give them something clean, visually pleasing and a great lead “above the fold” on the left side. People read screens in the shape of an F (left to right then down).
• Always put captions with images
• Never underestimate the power of the “share” feature, comments and social media
• Your “about” page should have good links, tags and keywords that will make it so your site comes up in relevant searches or similar searches
• Avoid using JavaScript or FLASH navigation. Google’s crawler typically moves from one page to another by following your links/navigation. It can easily navigate “a href=” links, but cannot always follow JavaScript or FLASH links—nor can it complete any forms on your site, needed to “view” a page. This is important if you have any web content behind a password-protected login.
•  If you want more details, I found a great “Beginners Guide to SEO” which is free online, but lengthy http://guides.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization

WASHINGTON, D.C.—President and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership Jeff Moseley stressed the need for comprehensive immigration reform in order to improve the economy and encourage entrepreneurs to start new businesses in the United States.

The House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law Membership held a hearing this morning on the “Role of Immigration in Strengthening America’s Economy” with industry leaders including Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp. and Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg.

They pushed Congress to enact reform that would secure the border, keep foreign students and professionals who study and work in the United States, and hold businesses accountable that don’t verify the legal status of their employees. They also dispelled myths about undocumented workers, like how they commit more crimes and consume more benefits than taxes paid.

Members of Congress drilled Murdoch on the role of FOX News in thwarting pro-immigration efforts and addressed the question of what to do with the existing 12 million undocumented immigrants currently residing in the U.S.

As a businessman in one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country, Moseley discussed the vital role immigrants have had in providing necessary services in Houston. More than one million Houstonians are foreign-born, with one in 10 identifying Mexico as their country of origin. Businesses in his group oversee almost 300,000 jobs in the Houston metropolitan area.

“Our board fully endorsed engaging on a comprehensive immigration reform initiative because we would agree that the system is so outdated and broken that there needs to be a wholesale reinvention and reconstruction of the law,” he said.

Under the current law, many immigrants who want to study or work in the United States have to wait decades because of restrictions on the number of immigrants that can enter the country legally every year. According to Moseley’s testimony, the law only allows 5,000 low-skilled laborers and 85,000 high-skilled laborers per year.

“There should be a mechanism so that every year there is an assessment of labor needs in America. And however that assessment is done, there would be opportunities to allow Visas to be issued for skilled and unskilled,” said Moseley. “Embed one number in law, and then you need an act of Congress to amend it, which then means you’re locked into a number that doesn’t work and encourages a breaking of the law because demand is so great.”

Moseley said Houston’s demand for both skilled workers—primarily engineers and medical staff—and unskilled—highway workers, energy and construction—will suffer once Baby Boomers retire and the workforce isn’t replenished.

Both Bloomberg and Moseley pointed out that the birth rate in the U.S. statistically wouldn’t fill vacant job openings when Baby Boomers retire and immigrants are almost twice as likely to start businesses than Americans.

“We think that a law that does not recognize market forces or labor demands is doomed from the beginning,” said Moseley.

The Greater Houston Partnership created a non-profit organization called the “Americans for Immigration Reform” that sponsors immigration research and outreach to lawmakers, the public and media in support of reform.

Mayor Bloomberg also recently formed a coalition of business giants and mayors to push for immigration reform in Congress. This “Partnership on New American Economy” includes leaders from Disney, Hewlett-Packard, Marriott International, Boeing and San Antonio mayor Julian Castro.

The group says it intends to make its point to policymakers by “publishing studies, conducting polls, convening forums and paying for public education campaigns.”

“The economics couldn’t be any clearer. Immigrants pay more taxes than they receive in benefits. We educate them here and tell them to take those jobs and start them in other countries. We need to create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants,” he stressed.

Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) questioned the panel on differentiating “illegal” and “legal” immigrants and pointed out that mothers with illegal status delivered more than 67 percent of the births in the Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital this year.

“If you don’t believe we have a border security problem, I’ll take you to the Texas/Mexico border and you can watch for yourself,” he said.

Earlier this week, the White House Director of Domestic Policy Melody Barnes addressed a conference sponsored by the Hamilton Project and the Brookings Institution on what the Obama Administration aims to do about immigration reform. She said they were “disappointed” that the DREAM act was shot down and hoped Congress could find consensus to pass legislation in the near future.

“Obama is fiercely determined to stop kicking the can down the road and to get this moving,” she said. “I can promise you that President Obama will not rest until those bills are on his desk and he is able to use his pen to sign them into law to bring people out of the shadows to ensure prosperity and the moral character of our nation.”

Don’t get me wrong. I still have to mooch off my parents to survive in this city for the kind of money I’m making, but hopefully that will change sooner rather than later. I also have many friends who go to  class, intern, drink at happy hours and go clubbing at night. But I’m finding myself standing with one foot in that world–the Sex in the City style, young professional/grad student world–and another in the world where my friends are starting families and thinking about buying homes.

Where am I in all of this? Well, I’m still a young professional trying to make ends meet here and pursue any opportunity I can. I still socialize (and yes, I know that doesn’t go away when you get married and ‘grow up’”) and I enjoy the occasional free food/beer event. On the other hand, I’m in a serious relationship, I stay in more often, I work longer hours and I’m thinking about where things are going and how I can possibly fund a family one day.

Who I was a year ago: The girl learning her way around a new city, meeting so many new people and drinking with fellow journalists. I was meeting an array of new friends, ending an undergrad relationship and learning to live alone for the first time. I was also interning, cramming term papers, learning new journalism skills, chasing after buses and planning my holidays in Indiana.

Right now: I’m the girl who just finished two stories for her new part-time job at the Houston Chronicle, is planning out her next move for another part-time job, and is finishing a contract job through a contact she made throughout the year. I’m also the girl who has had much luck this year getting published and meeting great mentors in my field, but still needs to find a way to earn a living. I’m the girl getting ready for a free food/networking party with my former internship site chatting with my friends about weekend plans and helping my engaged friend think of wedding venues. Also, I’m a girl in love, and missing him from thousands of miles away. I’m the girl who wants to blog (successfully), wants to learn Farsi, wants to get better at multimedia and wants to go abroad someday.

Who I want to be: I want to be the girl who gives advice to people my age on how to go after what they want. I want to be the girl who tells people about her experience in a foreign country working on stories in human rights or cultural issues that strike a cord with readers back home. I want to be in better shape, have a full time job, be married, and keep in touch with those who matter to me. I also want to get better at organizing, less overbooked, and less whiny.

Till then, I’m the girl at Starbucks, munching on pumpkin bread and hoping the Internet keeps working.

I eagerly awaited the question that asked recruiters to list job openings. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any pop up for D.C., but wouldn’t that have been a cool story? “I got my job from following Wednesday night WJChats? Nowadays, a lot of opportunities happen this way.

Robert Hernandez stole the show with his great advice, job listings and connections he made as a professor at USC and a potential ONA board member. What particularly stood out to me was the lack of students weighing in on the discussion or job hunters. Maybe they were nervous or maybe they felt left out of the employed journalists who seemed to all know each other and congregate in a bubble. Or maybe they were like me, who tweeted every so often and clicked refresh hoping for their next break.

I am lucky, considering that I’m fresh out of grad school, someone decided to give me a shot. I’ll be working part-time at the Houston Chronicle in D.C. doing multimedia and various reports on select issues that interest the Texas audience. I’m looking forward to starting, but I’m also looking for other work so that combined, they would equal one livable salary. In the meantime, I’m volunteering for two media groups (ONA and WAMU), keeping up the foreign policy blog and looking to write for various publications.

I was glad that the discussion tonight didn’t solely focus on social media and technology, because at this point, we get it. We should learn these tools to be able to compete, and we should do this on our own or by joining a school that keeps up with the times. AU is getting there–it is full of professors who understand how journalism is changing, but that hasn’t translated to the curriculum. There are still classes where  you have to write 3,000-word stories and there isn’t enough equipment to teach half of the students how to use a video camera. But from talking to some faculty last night at TBD’s launch party, I learned AU has incorporated a video class for the online/print journalism students.

In my opinion, these are the big things you need to get out of your program before graduating:

• You need to embrace social media for all its wonders. Don’t start a Twitter account and stop after two Tweets. You’re probably already on Facebook, so get yourself a Delicious page, Flickr and Linkedin account too.
• Take Bill Gentile’s backpack journalism class to learn storytelling through video. He’s been in the trenches and is about as real as it gets. Also take his foreign correspondence class if you’re an adventurer or have any interest working abroad.
• Bug the hell out of David Johnson when it comes to the web. He is the most forward-thinking professor I’ve had so far. He isn’t the type to hold your hand and show you what to do. But he’ll point you in the right direction and help you if you work hard. From him, learn the basics of WordPress, Drupal, using social media, Flash, Photoshop (he wont teach you it…but yeah…learn it), and how to brand yourself. On the side (as of now they won’t teach you it) learn some HTML, CSS and PHP. Kinda makes you want to major in computer science!
• Learn how to edit and use audio equipment for Soundslides and radio packages.
• Get to know the friendly folks at J-Lab and the IRW, and if you can, get involved!
• Dive into Joseph Campbell’s media myths–they’ll surprise you and serve as a good lesson on how to conduct your own work
• I unfortunately never took a class with her, but everyone who has had Lynne Perri for a class has fallen in love with her because of her great advice with editing and producing quality work. She has also been very helpful to students in the job searching process.
• Finally, blog, put your work on the web and WRITE as much as you can. I came from an English writing background, so that wasn’t as big of an issue for me. But if writing isn’t your thing, the best ways to improve are to a) READ a lot and b) WRITE a lot.
• Oh yeah, and intern/freelance. You NEED experience!

Some advice from Tweeps during#wjchat:

henrymlopez: Q2 Be able to learn. Know that you’ll need to teach yourself and learn what you’re shown.

webjournalist: Q2 When I hired, news judgment, ethics, pro-activeness and good attitude were key. Tech stuff we could teach you, but know basics. #wjchat

JeffHidek: Q2 Flexibility is king. A vast knowledge base is great but you have to be able to adapt to changing circumstances. #wjchat

SLODeveloper: Q2: Ideal dev candidate would have a bachelor’s degree and 2 years experience in HTML/CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL and enjoy dessert #wjchat

kimamoy: Q2 — I look for strong news judgment & Web sensibility, plus ability to learn quickly due to constantly changing tech & new needs #wjchat

andymboyle: @verbalcupcake That they got a degree and have a portfolio that proves they’ve taken initiative. #wjchat

effHidek: Q2 Know the basic principles of databses, coding, flash, actionscript w/ the willingness to learn more. #wjchat #wjchat

kimamoy: i’ve hired laid-off print journalists as contractors, and if they didn’t have web experience, they didn’t last long #wjchat

NicWirtz @verbalcupcake Basically want an example of someone out of their comfort zone and learning something new. #wjchat

wjchat: Q3 Are you interested in applicants being specialists (great videographers) or generalists (scrappy newshounds)? #wjchat

henrymlopez: I am disturbed when I meet people with fresh J-degrees and no digital training. This does not bode well. #wjchat

Q3 Truthfully, know enough about everything but specializing in something. Someone recently said, you need to be a Journalism Plus. #wjchat

BillBoorman: for every interview you need to prepare 3 sets of questions 1 something theyve told you 2 something they havent told you #wjchat

JeffHidek: Q4: Clean up that FB page! We rejected a promising candidate this year after his Facebook profile told a diff. story #wjchat #wjchat

webjournalist: Q7 If you are applying for a Web job, get a domain and your own site showcasing your work. Y’all, it’s actually really simple. #wjchat