Purpose Statement: This blog post will list job skills that I possess (taken from a list from the Purdue Online Writing Lab) and how I've developed them in order to work toward creating a resume that I will eventually use to pursue a job.
My work experience has been pretty limited. I've worked as a reporter for about the last year, and over the summer of 2021 I worked at a lemonade stand at various county fairs in Oregon.
Also, several skills seemed synonymous, or closely related enough that I didn't want to write multiple stories, so I'll lump them together.
1. "Creating new ideas / thinking of creative ideas / proposing ideas / selling ideas / expressing ideas orally to individuals or groups"
As a reporter, first at the Linn-Benton Commuter and now the George Fox Crescent, I've had to develop story ideas, then pitch them to the editors or other leaders of the paper. The first two in this list go together in the idea stage, and the second two, though related, aren't exactly the same. The Commuter was less structured, and I wrote my stories first, then proposed them for publication. For the Commuter, I've had to give reasons for my ideas before I begin the reporting process, so expressing and "selling" them is more important.
2. "Coping with deadlines"
Reporting has made me have to pay much closer attention to deadlines than I had before. Sometimes this means staying up late working on a story, possibly one I've reported the night before the deadline. At the Crescent, this has included deadlines for ideas as well as completed stories.
3. "Finding information / conducting interviews / gathering information / listening to others / coordinating schedules/times / picking out important information"
Reporting involves interviews as well as using stored sources and looking for information in other places. When I'm interviewing people, I often have to be the one who's flexible on times and days, which can get frustrating. I've also developed active listening skills and become a better verbal communicator through this line of work. Finally, I have to pick out important information, which can include deciding what angle I want to take on a story mid-interview.
4. "Meeting (new) people / interacting with people at different levels"
Another aspect of interviews is interacting with people I usually wouldn't—including school officials, business owners, and local governmental candidates. I also have to interact with coworkers, including my superiors, on a semi-regular basis.
5. "Reporting information / summarizing information / writing for publication"
The style of writing I've been doing as a reporter has taught me to be more clear and concise than in academic writing. I've also had to detach myself from my work to some degree, as some of my writing has gone through more intense revision than I'm used to. These steps all help me report and summarize the information I'm trying to get across more effectively.
6. "Being thorough / taking personal responsibility / taking independent action / developing plans for projects"
Journalism is often a solitary job, even within the context of an organization. I have to be self-motivated and find who to interview and where else to get information. I also have to make sure that I'm getting a full picture of what's going on, not only taking in one perspective.
7. "Supervising employees / overseeing operations / teaching/instructing/training individuals / coaching individuals"
Working at the fair over the summer, I wasn't officially a manager, but I ended up taking on a similar role because several other employees started after me. This meant that I had to show them what to do while simultaneously keeping the operation of the company running.
8. "Handling complaints / tolerating interruptions / maintaining emotional control under stress / providing customers with service"
Customer service is a taxing job, and it involved responding to complaints quickly and not letting them interrupt the flow of business. I also had to manage other interruptions, like a power outage and a shooting.
9. "Enduring long hours"
Both these jobs have had long hours in different ways. Though journalism isn't too much of an overall time commitment, it can be unpredictable and requires me to be flexible, especially with the commitments of college and sports. At the fair, I was working days as long as ten hours with an hour-long commute each way.
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