There are jobs in business journalism

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Business journalism organizations are hiring despite the gloom in the media organization, according to a panel of recruiters and editors on Friday.

“We’ve had a good growth story over the last several years,” noted CNNMoney executive editor Chris Peacock, adding that his staff was at 25 seven years ago but now has 70 people. “We’re looking to expand in the coming year” by about 10 percent.

There are about 45 open positions at Reuters, said Walden Siew, an editor at the wire service.

“We’ve been steadily adding positions,” added Glenn Hall, the editor in chief at TheStreet.com. “And I expect that to continue for the next several years.”

The panel was part of the fall Society of American Business Editors and Writers conference held in New York. The panelists also provided tips on finding jobs in business journalism.

“You have to report really well. You have to have high standards,” said Beth Hunt, manager of editorial operations at American City Business Journals, which owns 40 weekly business newspapers across the country. “You have to constantly be expanding your skill set.”

Hunt said that staffs at ACBJ papers are not expanding, but the papers are hiring for positions that have been open for a whle and replacing reporters and editors when they leave. “We are hiring, and there are 40 potential places to go,” said Hunt.

Business journalists need to have skills beside being able to write earnings stories and reading balance sheets, said Peacock. They need to be able to use social media and appear on television as well.

“I put a high value on enthusiasm,” said Hall. “Enthusiasm about exploring new socal media opportunities…If they don’t have enthusiasm, that’s my cue to look at another candidate.”

In terms of not getting jobs, Hunt said a big turnoff is when the applicant hasn’t prepared. She recently asked a job applicant about a recent issue about an ACBJ paper. When the applicant said he hadn’t been reading the paper, she immediately led him out of the office.

“If you don’t know where you want to be, if you haven’t had that conversation with yourself, it’s difficult to conduct a good job interview,” said Hunt. “If you want to work for Bloomberg, you would hate my office.”

Hall said he wants to know how many followers a job applicant has on Twitter, whether they have a blog, and whether they have updated a video on YouTube.

“The ones who have created an opportunity for themselves, they are higher up in my esteem,” said Hall. “I only hire multimedia journalists.”