Resources for You and Your Job

10/10/2017

By Grant Glickson, 
President

Hopefully you’ve noticed that the Guild is ramping up its programming efforts. From media mixers to classes that improve your tech skills, our local is working hard to engage members and help you develop the ever-evolving skills required of media professionals.

It’s an evolving program, and we’d love your input. If you haven’t already, please take a few moments to fill out our survey. And if you have a programming idea you’d like to see come to life, let us know at the end of the survey. The more member involvement in the Guild’s Membership Development program, the better the programming.

[TAKE OUR SURVEY HERE] 

Membership Development at the Guild goes beyond an office-type party planning committee. As the union for media professionals, the Guild has a long history of advocating in our contracts for broad access to career and professional development. We push employers to provide regular training, support and provide better opportunities for our members because you need it to do your job to the best of your ability. 

Professional development makes sense for employers, too. According to the International Journal of Business, “Availability of all employees having access to training and development programs is critical in facilitating growth of an organization, particularly with technological improvements and performance.” Plus, studies have shown that job satisfaction and professional support are as much a factor in employee retention as traditional bread and butter issues like salary and benefits. 

All trades, from uniformed officers and computer programmers to construction workers and teachers, receive continued and supplemental training. Why should media workers be any different? From the Guild’s perspective, Membership Development is about equipping members with the essential tools needed to address the demands of the newsroom. Our platforms evolve, our beats change, we earn new titles, we switch content management systems, we suddenly are responsible for posting our stories on the website. Our daily duties shift over time, and we should know how to address and embrace changes in job functions. 

All media professionals — whether you’re a journalist, a copy editor, technician or administrator — needs professional development. Understanding common encryption apps; knowing how to produce clear audio for podcasts; creating engaging, factual stories for Snapchat are oftentimes part of the job. Even if they’re not part of your day-to-day, it doesn’t hurt to learn. We have already offered many classes on these subjects including video and audio editing, and we have an intro to podcasting course later this month. 

In fact, our website has an incredible (and always growing) list of resources for media workers that includes online trainings available only through the Guild. And we regularly post articles offering tips of the trade for journalists. 

In the coming months, we look forward to seeing you at more events as we roll out panel discussions on the art and craft of journalism as well as trainings on podcasts and multi-media platforms. Our monthly mixers offer a great networking opportunity; we’ve hosted journalists and editors not only from our shops, but from publications like The Rolling Stone, AP and The Guardian

Coming up next month is a conversation with the Times’ A.O. Scott about the nature of criticism, as well as, later this year, a panel with Reuters member, and formerly the President of the White House Correspondents Association, Jeff Mason on the nature of political reporting. We have more digital-based classes coming up: working with audio, social media know-how and digital security. Check out our event calendar for regular updates.

We look forward to seeing you!

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