We have talked about what skills, knowledge and experience you would want in a new hire, but what skills does your organization (or your colleagues’ organizations or your clients) actually look for and accept?
Some of you have suggested that you would not hire a Web person who doesn’t have his or her own Web site. Others said they want Web people who use, understand and enjoy Web technologies and sites. They want people who use sites like del.icio.us, facebook, Twitter, etc.
They want people who have used a CMS or blog before and know how they work and an applicant with a blog is always a plus. (X)HTML, CSS and Photoshop? Well, duh.
But I know from talking to several people in the industry that is not the case. The people often in charge of hiring don’t know what to look for, or they often don’t put a large enough importance on people who genuinely love the Web and enjoy using cool Web technologies. Many job openings I see don’t even require Web applicants to know (X)HTML and CSS really well or have a strong familiarity with Photoshop.
Heck, how many of your Web applicants know the difference between (X)HTML and HTML (or the people doing the hiring)? Let’s clarify, I am not talking about applicants that are technical people with no journalism background (the best news organizations have many of these too). I mean journalists working on the Web.
The second part of the question is: what skills does your organization (or your colleagues’ organizations or your clients) look for in new reporters in general? Does your organization even care if your reporters have any Web skills?
Last question: are your companies (or your colleagues’ organizations or your clients) hiring practices helping or hurting your organization for the future?
The New York Times Fiona Spruill says that all journalists expecting a career on the Web desk should have:
- A proficiency in Photoshop, HTML and blogging software.
- An understanding of Web publishing systems (content management systems).
- Experience in the production of multimedia — including the use of audio and video editing tools.
Mindy McAdams says that journalists who can flourish online and in print can do at least these skills:
- Can package the news online.
- Can create original multimedia.
- Have solid journalism credentials.
- Have strong technical skills.
I can tell Mindy that many organizations don’t even require their Web staff to have those skills, let alone journalists in general. Most news organizations still look for print or Web people and not of the Web/print people that Mindy would like to see. Frankly, those are the kind of people news organizations need more of.
That’s just the reality on the ground. So, what are you seeing in the journalism world?
