Journalism Grads Face Tough but Rewarding Job Market

by Peter Vogt

MonsterTRAK Career Coach

If you're a college student or recent graduate who plans to launch a career in print or electronic journalism, that first job in the field probably won't come easy, nor will it mean overnight wealth. But most who do manage to break in really enjoy their jobs -- and often who they work for.

Those are key findings of the "2003 Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Graduates." It was conducted during the 2003-to-2004 academic year by the Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Georgia and released in August 2004 at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

The study involved 2,680 new bachelor's degree recipients in journalism and mass communication and found that 63.5 percent of the print journalism graduates and 57.1 percent of the broadcast journalism grads found full-time jobs in their fields in the study's time span. Both figures were down slightly from the 2002-to-2003 period, when 66 percent of print grads and 61.3 percent of broadcast grads found full-time jobs, and down significantly from 1999's rosy numbers, when 80.4 percent of print grads and 72.3 percent of broadcast grads found full-time work.

But according to the Grady College study, most new journalism grads who did land jobs in the field said they're happy with their positions and the contributions they're making to society:

• About 68 percent of grads who landed full-time jobs said they're pleased with the organization they work for.
• Approximately 61 percent agreed with the statement, "The work I do is meaningful to me."
• Two-thirds of grads reported they have chances for advancement within their organization, and a similar amount work for a company that promotes from within. Almost three-quarters said they look for jobs with advancement opportunities.
• Only about 27 percent said they'd choose a different major or career if they had it to do all over again.

Median starting salaries were $25,500 for grads at daily newspapers and $24,000 for those who accepted positions at weeklies, the study found. Meanwhile, grads at radio jobs earned median starting salaries of $24,000, while entry-level TV jobs paid a median of $22,000.

"Given the poor job market, it probably should be viewed as surprising that only a quarter of the graduates in 2003 wish they had chosen a different career," the study's authors wrote. "[But] those graduates who have found jobs are proud of their employers and reasonably strongly committed to them. They think their work is meaningful and generally feel the personnel policies of their employers will reward them for their investments."

The authors added that experts predict that advertising spending will grow significantly through 2007. If that happens, "the job market confronted by journalism and mass communication graduates in the next several years should start to show signs of improvement," they said. "Journalism and mass communication graduates in 2004 and beyond must hope some of the growth in advertising expenditures translates into fuller industry growth in the next several years."

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