Rebecca Jarvis, the investment banker who hobbled on crutches to being a finalist on "The Apprentice," was at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers conference in Minneapolis Sunday and talked about her experience on the reality show.
She and her mom, Chicago Tribune reporter Gail MarksJarvis, revealed some of the inside stories their contracts forbade them from talking about. Dad James was in the audience.
Rebecca, on the job for a month now as an associate reporter for CNBC in New York City, was editor of her high school newspaper and wrote for her college paper.
This is some of her advice for aspiring journalists:
"If you are in college, write as much as possible for the college paper. You don't have to be the editor."
"Pick beats and stories that interest you. You'll do them the best."
"I just started sending out story ideas to (magazine) editors around the country. I always asked my friends who read those magazines what they liked and what they wanted to see. Some of my friends have their finger on the pulse. Make sure they're not too esoteric, but err on the side of pitching something that's a little esoteric because at least it will be different."
Rebecca said she received lots of offers after being on "The Apprentice," but the ones she liked best did not come from people who wanted to hire her because she had been on the show, but from people who said they liked the way she had conducted herself, knew she had been a banker and were aware of other experiences on her résumé.Both mother and daughter said the journalist in them made it hard to turn down requests for interviews, but the contracts they signed restricting them from talking kept them quiet.
Rebecca said she went on the show for the experience, but that being under lights and cameras and wearing a microphone 24 hours a day wore on her. The closest she came to quitting happened when she broke her ankle about three days into the reality show, but she decided not to and felt that if she could continue on the crutches she was just learning to use, she could really accomplish something. She very nearly won.
