Ask the Recruiter

Q: So I'll be starting a new job at a 100,000 circ. bilingual English-Spanish weekly paper in a few weeks. I was wondering if you had any advice for starting out at a new place. Do you have any tips on how to get going on building sources and getting my name out in the community? What should a reporter do when he/she gets into a new paper at a new town to start the ball rolling quick?

S

A: There are no shortcuts to this. It takes time and work.

Some ideas:

• Identify the newspaper's local history expert and ask for a tour.
• Ride public transportation.
• Go to different stores, restaurants, churches, barbershops every chance you get. Ask the people questions.
• Draw a map of the community's spheres of influence: social, cultural, political, government, religious and on and on. Seek out sources in every part of your map.
• Hand out a lot of business cards.
• Build a database of the people you meet.