After the Soviet Union fell apart, I went to Russia to cover the civil wars in the former Soviet republics. I covered the dot-com boom for Computerworld -- particularly the way that the Internet transformed the world's financial system.
For the past three years, I have been covering the way that the rise of China has been transforming the global economy -- and this is the biggest story yet.
The way that China is transforming from a command-style to a market economy without massive political upheaval and loss of life is an example for every country in the emerging world. It is a privilege to be able to chronicle the ways and the means in which this is happening.
But what we've seen so far, with the transformation of Shanghia, Beijing, and Guangzhou into world-class cities, is only a fraction of the story. Cities in central and western China have been quietly learning from the example of the coastal trendsetters and implementing laws and policies that make them equally attractive to both foreign investors and home-grown entrepreneurs.
In addition, the national government is quickly putting in place the infrastructure that the country needs to develop, including roads, railways, and airports.
Here at Emerging China we hope to cover the westward expansion of China's economy, the good along with the bad. If you would like to participate in our endeavor, as a contributor or as a supporter, please feel free to contact me at maria@tromblyltd.com.
Meanwhile, enjoy your reading.
It promises to be a great trip.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Journalists and bad job-hunting skills
Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism's "Journalism and the World" blog. Click here to see the original post (and comments).
I don't know if this is the case just in China or everywhere, but a great number of journalists I interview lately have remarkably poor job hunting skills.
It seems that I'm spending this week - like most weeks -- up to my eyeballs in recruitment ads and job applications. This time, we're hiring for a bookkeeper/office manager and freelance writers and copyeditors for a new online magazine about central and western China.
I've been seeing resumes from people with nice academic backgrounds and truly horrible work histories. Sure, there's always the chance that they're evil people who can't keep a steady job because of their hobby of murdering drifters. But I tend to assume the simplest explanation -- they don't know how to job hunt.
This is sad because there are so many books and other resources for job hunters, and it all really boils down to research and networking -- two things that reporters should be excellent at.
I understand that the market is saturated and it's hard to get started, but there are a few things that I look for on a resume and from an applicant that I hardly ever see -- and the bad job market can't possibly be to blame. Among them are:
* Commitment to journalism. Even during stints as a waitress, does the applicant continue to write freelance articles, contribute to professional organizations, take courses, even volunteer as editor of the local library newsletter? Something? Anything? Or do they just give up? I don't want to hire people who give up easily.
* Basic professionalism. Is everything spelled right? Are parallel grammatical structures actually parallel? This is a no-brainer. Why would anyone turn in a journalism resume to an editor before it's been proof-read?
* Pushyness. If I don't have a job available or at the right salary, does the applicant negotiate? Maybe there's something else they can do to prove themselves, or while the right job comes along? I want a reporter who can't take "no" for an answer. If the reporter is really, really pushy I might even create a job just for her. It's a tough profession. I want tough people.
* Volunteerism. How willing is the applicant to do something that's not in the job descriptio? I want to see evidence of participation in professional organizations, or taking on extra assignments. If it's not in the resume, it's easy enough to demonstrate -- offer to help me out with a project. There's always things I'm working on that I need help with. Even if it doesn't directly lead to a job, it will certainly lead to good recommendation or referral.
On the other hand -- and I hate to admit this -- I have a soft spot for applicants with no job-hunting skills. I see someone with a decent educational history and job record but an misprinted resume and ugly shirt and an inability to look me in the eye, and I think, "If I hire this guy, he'll stick around for a while, because he doesn't know how to job hunt."
I'm not proud of this. And I feel guilty, and compensate by helping writers out when I can. I've been known to copyedit applicants' resumes. (Okay, that's not from guilt -- I just can't stop myself. I even copyedit restaurant menus.)
Freelance writers are even worse. Which is funny, given that they, in effect, are constantly job hunting.
Here's what I often see from freelancers:
* No website. In this day and age, how can you not have a website? The quickest, cheapest way to do it: get a free blog from Google (Blogger) or Terapad, which are the two services I recommend most often. Blogger, however, is blocked in China - which could either be a good, or a bad thing. Post your bio and your resume in the "about" section, and your clips as blog entries. You can back-date your blog entries, so you can post your clips by when they appeared. Depending on the kind of permission you have from your old editors, you can either post the whole article, or just the first couple of paragraphs and then the link to your original story. You can add a couple of articles a day until you've got a nice selection of clips to look at - which brings me to the next point:
* Just one clip per pub. Writers often provide a list of publications they write for, plus one clip each from a handful of them, presumably their best clip. I wonder: did the magazine drop them after one story? Were they so hard to work with that the editors never wanted to see them again? More than a nice clip, I want to see evidence that the writer had a long-term, successful relationship with an editor. In the past, when clips had to be copied, editors probably didn't want to spend their time wading through stories and just wanted to look at a handful of the best ones. Now, I want to see all the clips. Yes, the all the hundreds -- or thousands -- of stories. Maybe the best ones can be featured in a special section somewhere, but I want to be able to browse. Is the writer consistent? Able to learn new subjects? Have a broad background -- or have depth of knowledge in a particular field? These are all good things to know.
* Goofy email address. It costs $10 (or less) per year to register a URL. Gmail will cost your email for you, for free, at that URL. So you don't need to have a hot_john@spam_host.com account. You can use john@johnsmith.com, and still have Gmail's great interface. Many small businesses are using it these days to host their corporate email. Freelance writers should, too, or invest in an email hosting service.
* No testimonials. Many editors would be happy to give writers a quote testifying to their ability to meet deadlines or to produce usable copy. For some reason, however, most writers never ask. It's okay to ask. The worst that could happen is that the editor woud say no, and blame corporate policies. I want to help my best freelance writers stay in business, which means that they need a steady flow of work. And if they get too busy to write for me -- well, I'm sorry to see them go, but I'm also happy for their success. I bet other editors feel the same way.
Meanwhile, if you're looking for either freelance or staff work - or a summer intership -- look me up. I'm always checking my email.
Signing off in Shanghai,
Maria
I don't know if this is the case just in China or everywhere, but a great number of journalists I interview lately have remarkably poor job hunting skills.
It seems that I'm spending this week - like most weeks -- up to my eyeballs in recruitment ads and job applications. This time, we're hiring for a bookkeeper/office manager and freelance writers and copyeditors for a new online magazine about central and western China.
I've been seeing resumes from people with nice academic backgrounds and truly horrible work histories. Sure, there's always the chance that they're evil people who can't keep a steady job because of their hobby of murdering drifters. But I tend to assume the simplest explanation -- they don't know how to job hunt.
This is sad because there are so many books and other resources for job hunters, and it all really boils down to research and networking -- two things that reporters should be excellent at.
I understand that the market is saturated and it's hard to get started, but there are a few things that I look for on a resume and from an applicant that I hardly ever see -- and the bad job market can't possibly be to blame. Among them are:
* Commitment to journalism. Even during stints as a waitress, does the applicant continue to write freelance articles, contribute to professional organizations, take courses, even volunteer as editor of the local library newsletter? Something? Anything? Or do they just give up? I don't want to hire people who give up easily.
* Basic professionalism. Is everything spelled right? Are parallel grammatical structures actually parallel? This is a no-brainer. Why would anyone turn in a journalism resume to an editor before it's been proof-read?
* Pushyness. If I don't have a job available or at the right salary, does the applicant negotiate? Maybe there's something else they can do to prove themselves, or while the right job comes along? I want a reporter who can't take "no" for an answer. If the reporter is really, really pushy I might even create a job just for her. It's a tough profession. I want tough people.
* Volunteerism. How willing is the applicant to do something that's not in the job descriptio? I want to see evidence of participation in professional organizations, or taking on extra assignments. If it's not in the resume, it's easy enough to demonstrate -- offer to help me out with a project. There's always things I'm working on that I need help with. Even if it doesn't directly lead to a job, it will certainly lead to good recommendation or referral.
On the other hand -- and I hate to admit this -- I have a soft spot for applicants with no job-hunting skills. I see someone with a decent educational history and job record but an misprinted resume and ugly shirt and an inability to look me in the eye, and I think, "If I hire this guy, he'll stick around for a while, because he doesn't know how to job hunt."
I'm not proud of this. And I feel guilty, and compensate by helping writers out when I can. I've been known to copyedit applicants' resumes. (Okay, that's not from guilt -- I just can't stop myself. I even copyedit restaurant menus.)
Freelance writers are even worse. Which is funny, given that they, in effect, are constantly job hunting.
Here's what I often see from freelancers:
* No website. In this day and age, how can you not have a website? The quickest, cheapest way to do it: get a free blog from Google (Blogger) or Terapad, which are the two services I recommend most often. Blogger, however, is blocked in China - which could either be a good, or a bad thing. Post your bio and your resume in the "about" section, and your clips as blog entries. You can back-date your blog entries, so you can post your clips by when they appeared. Depending on the kind of permission you have from your old editors, you can either post the whole article, or just the first couple of paragraphs and then the link to your original story. You can add a couple of articles a day until you've got a nice selection of clips to look at - which brings me to the next point:
* Just one clip per pub. Writers often provide a list of publications they write for, plus one clip each from a handful of them, presumably their best clip. I wonder: did the magazine drop them after one story? Were they so hard to work with that the editors never wanted to see them again? More than a nice clip, I want to see evidence that the writer had a long-term, successful relationship with an editor. In the past, when clips had to be copied, editors probably didn't want to spend their time wading through stories and just wanted to look at a handful of the best ones. Now, I want to see all the clips. Yes, the all the hundreds -- or thousands -- of stories. Maybe the best ones can be featured in a special section somewhere, but I want to be able to browse. Is the writer consistent? Able to learn new subjects? Have a broad background -- or have depth of knowledge in a particular field? These are all good things to know.
* Goofy email address. It costs $10 (or less) per year to register a URL. Gmail will cost your email for you, for free, at that URL. So you don't need to have a hot_john@spam_host.com account. You can use john@johnsmith.com, and still have Gmail's great interface. Many small businesses are using it these days to host their corporate email. Freelance writers should, too, or invest in an email hosting service.
* No testimonials. Many editors would be happy to give writers a quote testifying to their ability to meet deadlines or to produce usable copy. For some reason, however, most writers never ask. It's okay to ask. The worst that could happen is that the editor woud say no, and blame corporate policies. I want to help my best freelance writers stay in business, which means that they need a steady flow of work. And if they get too busy to write for me -- well, I'm sorry to see them go, but I'm also happy for their success. I bet other editors feel the same way.
Meanwhile, if you're looking for either freelance or staff work - or a summer intership -- look me up. I'm always checking my email.
Signing off in Shanghai,
Maria
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Outrage continues to build about jobs outsourcing
Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism's "Journalism and the World" blog. Click here to see the original post (and comments).
On Sunday, Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post made fun of PasadenaNow's plans to outsource local reporting jobs to India in his column, Hack for Hire.
He does it by trying to show how funny it would be if American reporters tried to cover news in India or China.
Of course, American reporters cover news from India and China all the time.
American journalist routinely parachute into foreign countries and write them. They are obviously taking jobs away from locals with much better understanding of local cultures. Sure, they write in terms that people back home can understand, but I would argue that it is much easier to learn to write in terms that Americans can understand than to figure out what's happening in, say, China or India.
And many American reporters cover the world without ever leaving home.
They pick up the phone and call people, or send emails to them. A few years ago, it would have been impossible to do this -- you would literally have to have someone on the ground, going around and knocking on doors.
Today, my reporters complain when their voice mails to Vietnam officials aren't returned the same day.
I did a story on the Iraqi stock exchange a year or two back. It was when there was still optimism in the country, and there was actual hope for the exchange. I did meet some Iraq Stock Exchange executives while they were on a trip abroad, but I never took them up on their invitation to visit Baghdad. The interviews for the story were conducted by phone and email.
I also wrote about Indian outsourcing for years before I ever actually visited India. But then, what technology journalist hasn't?
Usually, my conversations with sources in foreign countries are very specific: What do you think about the new regulations? What does your company plan to do next?
Occasionally -- very, very rarely -- I might ask sources to describe what something looks like. As webcams proliferate, I might soon be able to ask them to pan the camera across their office.
Electronic communication is already good enough for business, technology, and economics stories. With the rise of blogging, it's even become possible to do remote "man in the street" type interviews with ordinary citizens, by finding them through their blogs.
Sure, Weingarten may do a lousy job with his first attempt at covering local news in India. But if he were to do it, day in and day out, for a few months, he'd probably get pretty good. Sure, he probably won't learn Tamil in that time, but he will have probably collected the emails and telephone numbers of all the local players, so he can contact them after the meetings and find out the background of what actually happened and what it means.
An Indian reporter covering the US will have a much easier time of it. Indians already grow up with a steady diet of Friends, Hollywood movies, and all our other cultural exports. There's no language barrier, and public information is usually easily accessible compared to that in other countries.
Then there's the "hierarchy of majors" effect on US journalism.
Here's my theory (in case you haven't heard it yet):
The toughest majors are the math-heavy ones: physics, mathematics, economics, chemistry, engineering. That's where the preponderance of the smartest students ends up.
Then there are the tough non-math majors: premed, prelaw, the life sciences, government, history. There's a lot of memorization of facts and understanding of processes.
After that, you've got the language majors, comparitative literature, the softer side of the literal arts curriculum. A student might have to read a few books and write a few papers, but it's neither rocket science nor brain surgery.
Finally, you've got the communication majors. I'm not sure what they have to do. I presume they already know how to communicate before they ever get to college. It's the major of choice for college athletes and men and women going for the Mrs. and Mr. degrees. When I get a job application from a communications major, I better see a second major in economics or government or something -- anything! -- else.
So, on the one hand, you've got an excess of American communications graduates barely able to add two and two and planning to hop over to public relations the minute they get a chance.
And, on the other hand, you have smart, hungry, driven Indians who had to work like crazy to get into college at all.
You do have a problem with quality control. Even in the United States, reporters sometimes slide fake stories through. Oversight is much, much harder when the reporter is on the other side of the planet, especially when the editor isn't familiar with the story the reporter is covering.
I suggest the following quality control mechanism for overseas reporters (of any nationality):
* Full transcripts -- in English - of every interview. If a quote doesn't have a transcript to back it up, cut it out of the story.
* Full contact info for each source (including email addresses). Routinely email quotes to sources to check for accuracy. (Not the whole story, just their particular quotes.)
* All source materials (using Google translation if they're in foreign languages). If a fact isn't backed up by a source material, cut it out of the story. And, of course, if a fact isn't attributed at all it shouldn't be in the story in the first place.
It is a little bit of a pain to collect all this stuff. We use an online relational database in our office. But the investment in a good document tracking and workflow system is well worth it, in my opinion.
Signing off in Shanghai,
Maria
On Sunday, Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post made fun of PasadenaNow's plans to outsource local reporting jobs to India in his column, Hack for Hire.
He does it by trying to show how funny it would be if American reporters tried to cover news in India or China.
Of course, American reporters cover news from India and China all the time.
American journalist routinely parachute into foreign countries and write them. They are obviously taking jobs away from locals with much better understanding of local cultures. Sure, they write in terms that people back home can understand, but I would argue that it is much easier to learn to write in terms that Americans can understand than to figure out what's happening in, say, China or India.
And many American reporters cover the world without ever leaving home.
They pick up the phone and call people, or send emails to them. A few years ago, it would have been impossible to do this -- you would literally have to have someone on the ground, going around and knocking on doors.
Today, my reporters complain when their voice mails to Vietnam officials aren't returned the same day.
I did a story on the Iraqi stock exchange a year or two back. It was when there was still optimism in the country, and there was actual hope for the exchange. I did meet some Iraq Stock Exchange executives while they were on a trip abroad, but I never took them up on their invitation to visit Baghdad. The interviews for the story were conducted by phone and email.
I also wrote about Indian outsourcing for years before I ever actually visited India. But then, what technology journalist hasn't?
Usually, my conversations with sources in foreign countries are very specific: What do you think about the new regulations? What does your company plan to do next?
Occasionally -- very, very rarely -- I might ask sources to describe what something looks like. As webcams proliferate, I might soon be able to ask them to pan the camera across their office.
Electronic communication is already good enough for business, technology, and economics stories. With the rise of blogging, it's even become possible to do remote "man in the street" type interviews with ordinary citizens, by finding them through their blogs.
Sure, Weingarten may do a lousy job with his first attempt at covering local news in India. But if he were to do it, day in and day out, for a few months, he'd probably get pretty good. Sure, he probably won't learn Tamil in that time, but he will have probably collected the emails and telephone numbers of all the local players, so he can contact them after the meetings and find out the background of what actually happened and what it means.
An Indian reporter covering the US will have a much easier time of it. Indians already grow up with a steady diet of Friends, Hollywood movies, and all our other cultural exports. There's no language barrier, and public information is usually easily accessible compared to that in other countries.
Then there's the "hierarchy of majors" effect on US journalism.
Here's my theory (in case you haven't heard it yet):
The toughest majors are the math-heavy ones: physics, mathematics, economics, chemistry, engineering. That's where the preponderance of the smartest students ends up.
Then there are the tough non-math majors: premed, prelaw, the life sciences, government, history. There's a lot of memorization of facts and understanding of processes.
After that, you've got the language majors, comparitative literature, the softer side of the literal arts curriculum. A student might have to read a few books and write a few papers, but it's neither rocket science nor brain surgery.
Finally, you've got the communication majors. I'm not sure what they have to do. I presume they already know how to communicate before they ever get to college. It's the major of choice for college athletes and men and women going for the Mrs. and Mr. degrees. When I get a job application from a communications major, I better see a second major in economics or government or something -- anything! -- else.
So, on the one hand, you've got an excess of American communications graduates barely able to add two and two and planning to hop over to public relations the minute they get a chance.
And, on the other hand, you have smart, hungry, driven Indians who had to work like crazy to get into college at all.
You do have a problem with quality control. Even in the United States, reporters sometimes slide fake stories through. Oversight is much, much harder when the reporter is on the other side of the planet, especially when the editor isn't familiar with the story the reporter is covering.
I suggest the following quality control mechanism for overseas reporters (of any nationality):
* Full transcripts -- in English - of every interview. If a quote doesn't have a transcript to back it up, cut it out of the story.
* Full contact info for each source (including email addresses). Routinely email quotes to sources to check for accuracy. (Not the whole story, just their particular quotes.)
* All source materials (using Google translation if they're in foreign languages). If a fact isn't backed up by a source material, cut it out of the story. And, of course, if a fact isn't attributed at all it shouldn't be in the story in the first place.
It is a little bit of a pain to collect all this stuff. We use an online relational database in our office. But the investment in a good document tracking and workflow system is well worth it, in my opinion.
Signing off in Shanghai,
Maria
Monday, June 4, 2007
Busy season
Note: This blog post also ran in the Society of Professional Journalism's "Journalism and the World" blog. Click here to see the original post (and comments).
Last week, we had so many story assignments coming in that we ran out of writers (including our freelancers). Thus no postings from me for a while.
We've been running ads for more writers and copyeditors, but it will take time to train people and get them to the point where they actually save us work, not create more work for us to do.
For a new writer, we have to hold their hand through the entire reporting process, help them organize their stories, and then rewrite everything from scratch after they hand them in.
For a new copyeditor, we have to hold their hand through the copyediting process, then re-edit everything they hand in.
We don't have a choice, of course -- there aren't many experienced business writers out where we are, so training is essential.
I had much the same experienced when I worked in Russia in the early 90s, though back then I was training news reporters, not business writers.
Meanwhile, if anyone wants to get involved and help us out, just drop me a line.
Signing off in Shanghai,
Maria
Last week, we had so many story assignments coming in that we ran out of writers (including our freelancers). Thus no postings from me for a while.
We've been running ads for more writers and copyeditors, but it will take time to train people and get them to the point where they actually save us work, not create more work for us to do.
For a new writer, we have to hold their hand through the entire reporting process, help them organize their stories, and then rewrite everything from scratch after they hand them in.
For a new copyeditor, we have to hold their hand through the copyediting process, then re-edit everything they hand in.
We don't have a choice, of course -- there aren't many experienced business writers out where we are, so training is essential.
I had much the same experienced when I worked in Russia in the early 90s, though back then I was training news reporters, not business writers.
Meanwhile, if anyone wants to get involved and help us out, just drop me a line.
Signing off in Shanghai,
Maria
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