Veteran TV journalist George Smith shares career advice during ‘90 Minutes’ talk

Students in attendance during TV journalist George Smith's Feb. 21 "90 Minutes Series" talk in Schoonover Center left with plenty of career advice.

The Fox 32 Chicago newscaster, who is currently a co-anchor of the station’s “Good Day Chicago” show, covered some of sports most memorable stories during his more than 10 years as an on-site reporter at ESPN.

While at the network, he covered numerous high-profile stories, including the Kobe Bryant and Duke University Lacrosse Team’s rape scandals and NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s illegal dogfighting case. He said his previous experience of covering issue-oriented stories made him appealing to ESPN.

"I never dreamed of working at ESPN," Smith said. "I knew there were far more opportunities in news than sports. Being able to do both has been valuable in my career."

Smith said his start as a TV news reporter came while he was working as a reporter in Portland at The Oregonian.

"I got my first TV job from going to party," Smith said. "I gave my business card to a guy who gave it to his boss in Portland. His boss hired me because his theory was that he could train a good writer how to work on TV."

One student asked Smith, who earned his master's degree from Columbia University, if he thought earning a master's degree was important for a journalist.

"It doesn't hurt, but I'm not sure I ever got a job because of it," Smith said. "If you have the means to get a master’s degree, it's only helpful and opens doors. If you want to get out of the business, it helps get you a leg up against the competition. I recommend it."

As an undergraduate student at Oberlin College in Ohio, Smith said he worked as a sports reporter for the weekly student newspaper. Before beginning his TV career, he also wrote for The Morning Journal in Lorain, Ohio, The Boston Globe, and The Wall Street Journal. 

Smith told the students that they should find internships early in their college career and be relentless in pursuing them.

"These days, you can reach anybody through Facebook or Twitter," Smith said. "But don't be obnoxious and don't be deterred by rejection."

Smith said he received only two interviews from the more than 70 audition tapes he sent out while looking for a TV job and they were both in New York. He said he was offered one of them.

"I sent job applications to all the cities I wanted to work in," Smith said. "My philosophy was to send materials to the places I want to work and not wait until I see a job posting. Many times someone is already chosen for the job by the time the job is advertised."

Smith said the business side of TV is tough and has led to him being unemployed three different times. He said changes in management was the cause of his uprooting every time.  

"The person who hired me left and the new person wanted to hire their own people," Smith said.

Smith said TV industry layoffs are hard to avoid. He said he saw the recent ESPN layoffs coming before he left the top sports network in 2012.

"It's business at the end of the day. If they can do things for less money they will,” he said. “They are still hiring, but it might be for different jobs than before the cuts."

His final advice for the students was to urge them to do more than is required at any new job and to watch what type of content they share on social media.

"Be aggressive and work extra hard," Smith said. "Stay late and come in early. Try to learn the city or teams you cover and make connections whenever possible. You also have to be aware of what you post online or the things you say. Be ready for the consequences of what you do. It's up to you."

Freshman journalism major Taylor Heddleson said she she’ll remember the career advice that Smith shared.

“I received some great job searching advice,” Heddleson said. “As a freshman who wants to become a journalist, it’s good to find out these things early.”

Senior news information major Jordan Horrobin said the fact that Smith started his career as a newspaper writer made him think about his own future career path.

“I’m a print guy who is focused on writing and broadcasting has never been a strong suit for me or something I focused on, but it’s interesting to hear from people who have careers on the other side of the field,” Horrobin said. “The fact that he started in print gives me the idea that somewhere down the road, something in front of the camera could be for me. I never thought about that before tonight.”

Senior sports broadcasting major Kellyanne Stitts said Smith’s talk will help her with her job hunt after she graduates in May.

“I got a lot of information about the industry,” Stitts said. “As a graduating senior, it’s nice to hear from someone in the business who has worked at ESPN.”

Smith's talk was part of the “90 Minutes” series, which was developed last academic year to create discussions on politics, racism, sexism and global topics. The series exposes students to people who have faced adversity or who have seen bigotry and discrimination happen for others, but have stepped forward to address those social and cultural wrongs.