At the beginning of this year, I was promoted from Senior Recruiter to Director of Recruitment and Workforce Development at URL Media. It was my first time successfully advocating for a promotion in my career, and the process felt refreshingly clear and supportive. Still, I was in part successful because I knew how to advocate for myself in a way that made sense for the future of our business.
I spoke about how this happened with my manager, Chief Recruitment and Workforce Development Officer Leonor Ayala Polley, in our weekly URHired video. Here are our tips, with some added advice from Cristina Silva, Managing Editor for Operations & Standards at The Boston Globe and writer of Poynter’s “Ask the Recruiter” column.
- Keep a wins document. Mine lives in a google doc, in my bookmarks tab. When something good happens, it goes in the document.
“I once had a colleague who would email her weekly list of achievements to every senior manager in her chain of command. She didn’t rely on her work to speak for itself, or depend on others to share her contributions, something many of us do,” Cristina said. “This kind of self-promotion can feel uncomfortable for many of us, but it’s critical to building your reputation within the newsroom and across the industry.” - Describe your work as work, not “help.” This advice came to me early in my career from my brilliant former colleague Lauren Brown, who banned it from my professional lexicon. Help is something you offer for free. Work is actionable and should be compensated.
- Frame your work as critical to the organization’s mission. “The key is understanding what is important to the senior leadership team and connect your work to those efforts,” Cristina said.
And remember, she added, to ensure your skills are growing to meet the job you want. “At this point in my career, I would like to eventually become an editor in chief,” Cristina said. “So I am trying for the first time to learn more about the business of journalism and newsroom strategy, pushing myself beyond the comfort of the award-winning breaking news and enterprise work I love doing and have focused on for the past decade.”
Job Board
| URL Media is recruiting for or supporting recruitment of these open roles and opportunities. Contact sonali@url-media.com if you’re interested in learning more about any of them. |
| Position: President & Chief Executive Officer Company: Independent Television Service (ITVS) Compensation: $275,000 Location: San Francisco, CA Position: Executive Director Company: National Association of Hispanic Publications Compensation: $180,000 Location: Remote Position: News Director Company: KUNC Compensation: $100,000 – $120,000 Location: Greeley/Fort Collins, CO Position: Senior Director, Membership Company: Oregon Public Broadcasting Compensation: $130,000 – $150,000 Location: Portland, OR |
| URL NETWORK JOBS The following are opportunities with URL Partners & friends of URL. We encourage you to apply directly! Position: Part-Time Electoral Journalist Company: Conecta Arizona Compensation: $15,000 (September – December 2026) Location: Southern Arizona Position: Development Associate Company: Baltimore Beat Compensation: $30/day, 30 hours/week Location: Baltimore, MD Position: Caribbean Community Correspondent Company: Documented Compensation: $30/hour, 20 hours/week Location: New York, NY Position: Media Sales Account Executive Company: WURD Radio Compensation: Dependent on experience Location: Philadelphia, PA Position: Technical Producer Company: WURD Radio Compensation: Dependent on experience Location: Philadelphia, PA |
