The Phone Interview

In a traditional job (i.e. not a TV job), you will likely get a phone call at some point from a potential employer or a recruiter.  They will ask you a few questions, making sure you are a good candidate for their position.  Eventually you will get an in-person interview and both you and your potential employer will figure out if you are a good match for each other.

In television news, the story is much different.  Most, if not all, of your first (and even second or third) job interviews will be done via the telephone.  This section of the book helps to prepare you for what to expect in those situations:

We just spent all of this time and paper space talking about the in-person interview – but the odds are that more than half of your interviews will actually take place over the phone. Even if you end up with an in-person interview, you probably had to get through a phone interview of some sort first, in order to end up with the in-person interview. As such, this topic is definitely one to consider. 

Some people will literally move across the whole country for their first job without even seeing the station first.  While that is not recommended, it might be what it will take in order to land your first job.  Try to seek out opinions on the station and their building before doing something drastic like that (posting a thread in Medialine asking about the market is a good start).

To find out more about this section of the book  and other related sections, please click on the "Buy Now" link at the top of this page or click here.  Remember that until April 30th you can order the book with free shipping by using the code APRILMAIL305 upon checkout.  You can also download the PDF version for about half the price as the book itself.

Stay tuned for more excerpts from the book "So You Want To Be A TV Star?" along with more personal stories from the author!