7 Questions about Jobs in Journalism and Advertising
Question #1: What are my job prospects at graduation?
Answer (journalism and mass communication): News analysts, reporters, and correspondents hold about 69,300 jobs in the United States. About 53 percent worked for newspaper, periodical, book, and directory publishers. Another 21 percent worked in radio and television broadcasting. About 19 percent of news analysts, reporters, and correspondents were self-employed as freelancers or stringers. (Content and data reprinted from Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Answer (advertising and related fields): Advertising, marketing, promotions, public relations, and sales managers held about 623,800 jobs in the United States. (Content and data reprinted from Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Why Greenlee? The Greenlee School has a worldwide reputation in journalism with alumni earning the highest awards, including five Pulitzer Prizes. The School is the only one in the region with an advertising degree. Because of that, we place more than 95% of graduates in jobs within six months of graduation.
Question #2: How can that be? Isn’t journalism dying?
Answer: Journalism is changing, not dying. Because of the change to digital/mobile technologies, employment opportunities in national traditional media (metro newspapers, wire services and print magazines) are expected to decline moderately through 2018, about 3-9%. Here’s the good news: Modest losses in these jobs are offset by gains at small broadcast stations and publications and online newspapers and magazines. (Content and data reprinted from Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Why Greenlee? Because of our reputation and alumni base, our best graduates secure positions not only in digital/mobile media but also at such networks as CNN, magazines as Better Homes and Gardens, newspapers as the Des Moines Register, and wire services as the Associated Press.
Question #3: What is the fastest growing field in journalism and mass communication?
Answer: Public relations! Specialists held about 275,200 jobs in 2008. These are concentrated in service-providing industries, such as healthcare and social assistance; educational services; and government. Others work for communications firms, financial institutions, and government agencies. Job growth here is expected to rise 24% by 2018! The need for good public relations in an increasingly competitive and global business environment should spur demand for these workers, especially those with specialized knowledge or international experience. Employees who possess additional language capabilities also are in great demand. (Content and data reprinted from Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Why Greenlee? Several Greenlee School faculty teach public relations, including award-winning practitioners, teachers and researchers. Better still, one third of the faculty are international citizens from Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Korea, Malta, Philippines, and Romania. They are fluent in more than a dozen languages! Other faculty members have worked or do research in Africa, Europe, Asia and South America.
Question #4: What other jobs or careers do Greenlee majors pursue?
Answer: Many of our students go on for law degrees or graduate study, with others securing employment as writers, authors, book editors, interpreters and analysts. Employment of authors, writers, and editors is expected to grow 8 percent from 2008 to 2018. Opportunities for communication majors who specialize or double major in a foreign language are expected to grow 22 percent over the same time period! (Content and data reprinted from Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Why Greenlee? See Answer #3 for foreign languages. Concerning law, book authorship and graduate study, one of our master teachers has a law degree and other faculty members publish scholarship regularly about media law. We have several prize-winning book authors on staff, including the Director. And several more have worked as editors or do cutting-edge scholarship, working with undergraduate and graduate researchers.
Question #5: What will be my best job prospects?
Answer: Significant opportunities exist for talented writers who can handle highly specialized scientific or technical subjects. They will have an advantage in all media jobs and can expect increasing opportunities in the communication industry. (Content and data reprinted from Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Why Greenlee? Many journalism schools, including ours, can boast state-of-the-start equipment. But none can claim this: The Greenlee School specializes in science and technology communication more than any other journalism school in the Midwest, primarily because we’re a part of Iowa State University of Science and Technology (our official name).
Question #6: What other skills taught at Greenlee can help me secure employment?
Answer: Visual communications! Photographers held about 152,000 jobs in 2008. More than half were self-employed, a much higher proportion than for most occupations. Some self-employed photographers have contracts with advertising agencies, magazine publishers, or other businesses to do individual projects for a set fee, while others operate portrait studios or provide photographs to stock-photo agencies. Most salaried photographers work in portrait or commercial photography studios; most of the others work for newspapers, magazines, and advertising agencies. The job outlook for photographers is expected to increase by 12 percent between now and 2018! (Content and data reprinted from Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Why Greenlee? We use visual communications, including photography, in just about everything we do, from student media and organizations to class projects and photojournalism courses. In fact, we have a photographer on staff who has won a Pulitzer Prize with others at his former newspaper.
Question #7: What other advantage will I have by attending Greenlee?
Answer: Students with a background in journalism as well as another subject, such as politics, economics, or biology, will have an advantage over those without additional background knowledge in moving beyond an entry-level position. (Content and data reprinted from Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Why Greenlee? We’re the only school in the region to require in-depth study in a discipline other than journalism, one reason we place so many graduates. Moreover, 1 out of 7 of our majors doubles in a discipline in the humanities, social sciences and hard sciences.