If you're an on-air reporter with two great Live reports from fires, pick the better one. The other Live report will add nothing to what the news director has already seen. Instead, take that time to show a different skill -- an investigative story or a feature piece.
Whether you're in radio or TV, the ability to broadcast Live is essential to prove on your tape or DVD. Nearly anyone can simply read copy into a microphone or produce a scripted newscast.
Demonstrate your skills when there are no scripts. Show that you can think on your feet if you are the one on the air or the one in the control room making split-second decisions. Above all else, the news director will expect this on your resume.
Make sure your tape or DVD is up-to-date. If you have a great human interest story that is timeless, keep it. But if your Live report is from Campaign 2006, find something fresher.
A news director wants to see clips that represent your day-to-day work, not your "greatest hits" from the past decade. Get into the habit of freshening your tape or disk so that is ready to go the moment you find out about that great job vacancy.
Your work doesn't stop there. Be ready for two ways a news director may try to find out about your daily job performance.
One is to ask for a second tape. Figure out in advance what is your next best work that can make a second tape not appear weak.
The other way is to ask for your most recent five stories or last night's aircheck. If you're in the job market, get creative with covering the routine city council meetings or the slow news days so that you're prepared for this possibility.
That's especially true if your day-to-day work is posted on your current station's Web site. That potential news director may be checking you out without your knowledge.
Ideally, your tape or disk would be technically flawless, but that's nearly impossible in broadcasting. If you're a radio reporter doing a Live remote that has some audio interference, explain to yourself why you need that clip.
If you think your report from a tornado scene is too good to worry about audio crackles and pops, sell it that way to the news director so that he or she isn't distracted by the technical difficulties and instead concentrates on your work. The same is true for TV. Maybe you didn't look your best the day you covered the tornado because it was raining and the wind was blowing. Remind the news director of the weather conditions so that the focus is on your reporting and not your appearance.
Building a TV resume is always a work in progress. But the time you take now will pay off when your next news director calls to schedule an interview.
