We always tell students that the most important writing they'll be doing when they get finished with school will be a cover letter and a resume. This article from Job Journal explains how to put your resume a cut above the rest.

To follow up on the strike at the Vindicator, members of the Newspaper Guild voted down the contract. However, two reporters have crossed the strike line and returned to the paper. It looks as if both the paper and the union are stuck with each other.

It's the story that won't go away. That is, outsourcing of editorial jobs to India by British and American publishers. I don't see a lot of reporting in the American press about it. This story comes from India. It's not a great threat at this point but it is the seed of something that could mushroom in the coming years.

Wired News is letting most of its writing staff go. They are converting the last two staff writers into editors. In recent years they are doing what many publications are doing: relying on freelance writers for content.

Last November we noted that the Vindicator of Youngstown, OH was on strike. The editors and writers are now being told to get back to work or they will be permanently replaced. They will vote tonight whether to accept the contract that has been offered.

Amid a lot of union news comes this tentative agreement between the Northern California Media Guild and the SF Chronicle. The employees have made a lot of consessions but there will be no layoffs.

There's an informative interview with Sreenath Sreenivasan, dean of students, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. In it he makes some critical remarks about the state of American journalism (not good, he says). However, he is very encouraging about the freelance market.

We're always told to "network." The CareerJournal has an article on networking for introverts, something that writing types can relate to. And don't confuse introversion with shyness. Introverted or not find out how to integrate networking into your working day, from CareerJournal.com.

Here's a description of the future editor who "gathers and sifts and vets and shares and guides and goads -- and does all that not just with beat reporters but with beat citizens: readers turned writers." Despite my own skepticism one thing is certain. Journalism and, in fact, the whole literary system is changing in ways that can not be predicted. Perhaps they will say in the future, "the stimulation was sufficient."

Writing is a subject dear to the readers of Sunoasis.com. And writing well is an excellent way to enter any sort of job these days. To quote the article, "Corporations spend as much as $3 billion annually to improve the writing skills of their workers, and poorly written job applications are often tossed out immediately, according to a recent survey."

Leave it to Scottish scientists to come up with the newspaper of the future. Every reader will have a pronounced squint.

When a writer allegedly steals a piece of writing, should he expect payment when the article is run with his name on it?

A goal-orientated employee makes for a happy employer.

Fast Company has a few words about "dream jobs," by those who work them, including a travel guidebook author.

Check out the News University Courses and take some free classes. You have to register but most of the courses are free and self-directed.

Would you like to know some basic copywriting tips? Check it out at Self SEO.

Is it true that American journalism has reached a nadir? If true, it's also true nothing stays the same. The path upward will be found.

Freelance-writers might be interested in knowing where the hottest six growth sectors are in the economy. Where there is growth, there is an increase in eyeballs, advertising, publications. It doesn't matter whether the growth is in health-care or biotech.

Get some excellent advice from Kelly McBride about hiring young reporters and being that young reporter that gets hired.

On the labor front:
Some 75 employees of Gruner + Jahr USA -- including CEO Russell Denson -- are let go as Meredith closes on the acquisition of Family Circle, Fitness, Parents and Child magazines.
Village Voice employees are preparing to go on strike for the first time in the newspaper's 50-year history.
Labor contracts covering 1,500 workers at San Francisco Chronicle and its SFGate.com expire at midnight Friday.

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David

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