Fine-tune your reporting clips

When you're applying for a specific job, you can ask exactly what they want to see. But before that stage, you can evaluate your clip packet. Do you show a range of styles?

Here are some examples of good writing in different categories at the college level – recent winners of the Hearst Journalism Awards.

Spot news – winner from Pennsylvania State
Profile – winner from Arizona State
In-depth – winner from U. of Kansas
Features – winner from Cal State-Fullerton

One solid recommendation is to have 5-10 clips that include breaking news, enterprise (i.e. stories you generated on your own, from your beat, not from a news event, assignment or press release; your note or letter could indicate how you came up with the story idea), investigative and news features (profiles, funny stories/"brites").

If you're lacking in one area, pitch an idea to your editor and write one to fill the gap. (Even if you've already sent a packet, you could send an additional clip later to update it.)