What I learned about covering the economy

Writing about the economy has taught me both more about my future and the job markets I will face, and how to write about the economy as a journalist.

Almost every time the topic of me being a journalism major comes up in conversation, I usually hear negative comments about my major choice. "Oh, journalism is a dying industry," or "your job hunt is going to be tough as a journalist," are two common concerns I hear. Yes, I know that it is not going to be easy finding a job after graduation, but I also know that it is not going to be impossible.

U.S. News predicts a top ten list of where the jobs will be in 2020, and the list is heavily computer, science, and business based. While journalists may not know too much about science (or at least I don't) we have the skills that required for many different business and computer related jobs. Being a journalism major, I’m learning all about blogging, HTML coding, Adobe products, and Microsoft Word products, which all are computer based. Computer occupations, according to this list, have the largest number of online openings. Promotion and public relations also appear on the largest number of online openings list at number nine.

Other tips I learned to keep in mind for my future job hunt I found on an article from U.S. News called “10 Career Facts You'll Learn After College.” I thought the most important one in order to succeed in this job market was to remember, “there are jobs you’ve never even heard of in your field.” Just because I’m a journalist doesn’t mean that the only job I can have is a reporter. With the journalism industry changing to fit the needs of it’s readers, by putting more news online and for smart phones, there are plenty of new jobs being created in the business.

Having to write an article about the economy taught me more about how to find information using databases. While writing this piece, I’ve learned how to navigate around the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the United States Census websites. Prior to this assignment, I did not know that anyone with a computer could easily access specific demographics of cities in the United States. Now, I understand how simple it is to find out the average income of households in my hometown, or the unemployment rate by states, along with many other facts to enhance a story. Using these websites can help by providing statistics and data for a piece, and also to use to research more about your article. These helpful tools can provide data to question someone of authority during an interview. For example, if someone was doing a paper on unemployment rates, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the United States Census can provide all the facts to question a politician about why the unemployment rates in their town is higher or lower compared to the rest of the state or country.

This assignment taught me how to find a job in today’s job markets and also how to better understand the economy as a journalist. It’s important for writers to understand the topic they are writing about; how could someone write a clear article if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about? I learned new terminology for all things related to the economy while also picking up some tips for my own future. By reading other writers’ work who have more experience both in the journalism business and how to get hired, I learned many new skills to help better my career.