Before you can find a job, you have to find job openings. On my links page you can find all the places on the internet I've found that list television jobs. Magazines like Broadcasting & Cable and Electronic Media also feature job listings.

Many big market jobs are filled solely through agents. I don't have an agent but they can do a lot of your job search for you as long as you can do one thing for them: make them money.

Agent David Brunner of DB & Associates explains what he looks for in a potential client this way:

Why do I decide to take someone and what am I looking for? Marketability! Can I move that person in a short period of time? Does he or she have that something? There are a lot of things I am looking for, not necessarily if that person can work in a top 50 market but if they have the tools to go on to better things and make more money for them and me.

If an agent isn't for you, keep reading to see what I've done without one so far.

CONTACTS

Television's oldest cliché, older even than "At this hour" or "Details are sketchy", is "It's not what you know but who you know."

That's only half correct. Its both who you know AND what you know. Knowing people in this business is like knowing people on a beat. The more sources you have feeding you information, the better jump you're going to have on your competition, whether it's for stories or for jobs.

My second job in television, in Norfolk, came when a former colleague from my first job let me stay at his house while I peddled my tape to the stations there. The news director who hired me for my next job in Providence had worked with me in Norfolk. While in Rhode Island, a friend and former colleague from my first job in Salisbury, MD called me with a tip that her station in Hartford needed a sports guy and that's how I moved there. I got to do some freelance work in Florence, SC because the news director there was another friend and colleague from our days in Norfolk.

You can see how much people I've known in TV news have helped me during my career searches. I've been fortunate. I've worked with some good people who also thought highly of me. When you get help from people you know, be willing to reciprocate. Let people crash on your couch when they need to shop their tapes around. The way television news works, you'll soon have not only a network of contacts but an array of friends all over the country.

Always remember that the people you work with now can affect your career later. They can help you. Or haunt you.

"HIT THE ROAD, JACK"

Even if your name isn't Jack you might have to do some traveling to show your tape around. If you ever go inside a news director’s office you will notice at least one pile of tapes sent by people just like you hoping to get looked at. There are simply too many for him or her to look at them all. If you can meet a news director in person, you will have a far greater chance of making an impression that he or she might remember when he or she next needs to hire someone.

Your contacts can help you here. Plan trips to places where you'd like to work. Do you have friends or former colleagues working at stations in any of them? Visit them and ask if they'll help you get in to see their news directors.

If you don't know anyone in a particular town but, say, it's your hometown and your career ambition is to work there, write to news directors of the stations there and tell them so. You might be able to get a news director's attention if he or she sees you as someone sincerely interested in working in his or her town rather than someone wanting to work in a good "market."

Tell them in your letter who you are and ask if they can spare 15 minutes to look at your tape when you’re going to be in their town. Follow up with a telephone call to the news director and politely ask if during such and such span of time when you’re going to be in their neighborhood if you could visit the station and show him or her your tape.

That’s how I got my first two jobs. Before a trip to Ocean City, Maryland, which is about 30 miles from Salisbury, which has two TV stations, I called the news directors at each station. One agreed to see me and I set a specific time to see her, while the other put me off, telling me to "call me when you get in town." I did and he said he would see me, too.

Both news directors liked my tape and asked me to contact them from time to time in case they got an opening. I did. And that news director who originally put me off hired me three months later.

After about two years or so in Salisbury, I began spending vacation time on job searches. I visited two photographers who had gone from Salisbury to the Lancaster/Harrisburg market in Pennsylvania and showed my tape around. I went to see another photog friend who worked in Norfolk, Virginia and managed to get an appointment to visit News Director Jay Mitchell at WTKR-TV. He had sounded about as happy to hear from me as he would have to receive a subpoena. But he agreed to see me. "Two thirty," he said. "You've got 15 minutes. That's your only shot."

It was the only shot I needed. At the end of my 15 minutes, he hired me.

That is an extremely rare occurrence. If you get to meet a news director, your objective should be two-fold: One, you want to make a positive impression in case the news director has or will have an opening for which he or she can hire you. Two, you want honest feedback on your work and on how you package it on your tape.

When you get home, write a note of thanks. A few months later when you think your work has significantly improved, call or write and ask if he or she will look at another tape. If you can do this at two or three stations, it's bound to lead to something good. You'll have contacts. You'll be the one "who knows someone."

Build relationships with people. I have gotten more help than I could have ever believed just because I took time to get to know people and stay in touch with them.

You will also be getting the feedback on your tape and work that you need. Knowing people and using their advice to improve your tape will help win you jobs throughout your career.

Go back to the Job Search main page for ideas on how package your tape and résumé so you can make the same kind of impression.