Why don't you have a career section?

Name me one newspaper with job listings that has never included an article about career advice. That's right. You can't. I understand that most small papers don't have room for a full career section, but why not a column or occasional feature?

It doesn't make sense, then, that college, or even high school, newspapers offer absolutely no job advice. After all, aren't you in school to be better equipped to make money?

We're talking about a super easy subject, too. Colleges have career centers, full of very helpful people. Ask for interviews. Ask for press releases. Ask for help. You'll get more material than you can use in a year.*

Trying to develop a little more interaction with your readers? Let people send in job questions. I'll bet you that you can get someone in your local career counseling office to write the column -- odds are good that you can get it for free, too.

Trying to up your ad sales? Offer to sell job listings near your career column for a premium rate.

Trying to find content that you can delay in case of big stories? Develop a couple of employment features that can be left on the back burner until you need them. The great thing about career stories is that they're a constant. Someone's always looking for a job.

Sample story ideas:

• 10 tips for a tip-top resume
• Finding a summer internship -- that pays!
• The extracurriculars recruiters look for
• On-campus resources for your next job hunt
  

*High schoolers, your counselors and advisers offer a lot of the same help.

Definition: Convergence journalism

Convergence journalism:

A form of journalism in which various forms of media (writing, video, photos, and more) are combined to create a larger journalistic project. The web is an ideal platform for convergence journalism, as evidenced by the move towards multimedia presentations at papers like The Washington Post.