Ramit Sethi advises someone wanting to break into journalism, which loses 40,000 jobs a year. Network aggressively with journalists you admire through warm introductions, ask for short meetings to learn what set them apart, and deliberately practice what top candidates do instead of being average.
This question is from someone whose parents hated them because they named them P3. I'm sorry, P3. There's not much I can do to help you. I don't work miracles. P3 asks. My dream job is in a declining industry, journalism that offers low pay and is losing 40,000 net jobs per month. That's, excuse me, per year. Yeah, I know I picked a lousy dream, but it's my freaking dream job, okay? Most of the opportunities are stepping stone ones working at a small TV station or a tiny magazine no one reads. And it's next to impossible to get past that point. So what should I do? This is a great question because a lot of young people we know want to work in these glamorous jobs like media journalism, like anything entertainment related. And the unfortunate thing about these jobs is that because there's so much supply, they basically get paid nothing at all. And in fact, a lot of them are being kind of outsourced or just downsized like P3 mentioned. So here's what you need to know. You are right, that you're competing against hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people. The good news is that most of these people are extremely average and terrible at what they do, especially when it comes to strategically thinking of their job search. Now, having been in the media world a little bit, and I know a lot of journalists, every time I go on TV actually, and I meet a new anchor, I always ask them, I'm like, you know, there's so many anchors I meet who end up in Kansas for their entire lives. Like, how did you make it to New York? How did you make it on the Today show or the early show or whatever show? And it's so interesting that so many of them say, you know, oh, I did this, I did that. But a lot of it was just lucky. So a lot of them are open in acknowledging that. But here's, I think, the more interesting part of that interaction. I'm finding the top people in the field and I'm asking them what they did, what they did differently, how'd they end up there? Have you done the same thing? Have you met journalists who you admire, who have made it and asked them what their route was? My bet is no, my bet is you're kind of just sitting here looking at this industry, but you're not talking to the people you admire. Find the people you admire in that industry, go reach out to them and say, hey, I'd like to take you out to coffee or get a warm introduction maybe from the former dean at Your school. There's a lot of connections you have that I'm sure you're not even tapping. Go on LinkedIn and look at who you're connected to to get to this person. Get a warm introduction, say, listen, I know you're busy. I just have a quick question. I graduated from X school. My goal is to be a top tier reporter. But I know that there's a ton of competition and I'm trying to start my career off early because I know that if I make an important decision now, it will compound over the course of my career. I just have one simple question. There are a lot of places that journalists can end up at. Many of them end up at third tier papers. You've made it to the top. What could you tell me about it? If it helps, I can come to your office. I can meet you in your lobby for 10 minutes. I'll meet you for coffee, I'll take you out to any restaurant you want. I know this is an unusual request, but I would love to have just five minutes of your time because I'm trying to understand what it is and it would be so important to me. Please use that if you think it's good. I made it up on the spot. The point is, the strategy here should be, look, I'm in this industry. Normally I would just say think about getting out of the industry, but you don't want to. That's your dream industry. Fine, stick with it. But don't just be an average candidate. Talk to the top people. And if you can't reach the top people, start with the second tier or the third tier. Work your way up, ask them what differentiates them and then try to do more of that. All right? Good luck.
