NBC reporter and BU grad shares secrets for success

By Meredith Warren

NBC Newschannel reporter and Boston University graduate ('80), Jim Hanchett, shared his secrets for a successful career in journalism with student reporters at the BU Washington Center recently.

Hanchett is now a senior political correspondent for NBC and covered the 2000 election for that network's Newschannel service which provides coverage to the network's affiliate stations around the country.

Although Hanchett claimed that he got his job at NBC through a "fortunate coincidence," he told students that there are things they can do to make themselves better candidates for competitive media jobs.

"Look in all the sides and corners for good jobs," said Hanchett, who worked for the Massachusetts State House news service after graduating from BU. He then became a reporter for the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune in Lawrence, Mass., before leaving for Denver, Colorado, to write for the Denver Rocky Mountain News.

Hanchett also recommended that students formulate a career plan. "Figure out where you want to work and then target it," Hanchett advised. "Ask yourself, 'How do I get from here to there?'" Despite this advice, he told students that his path to a career in television was winding and completely unplanned.

While working at the Denver Rocky Mountain News, Hanchett told students, he would cover events alongside television reporters who always seemed to attract crowds of people.

Hanchett said he thought, "This TV thing seems to be working out for these people." He then auditioned for a job as a TV reporter and was hired at a local NBC affiliate in Colorado. When the Los Angeles riots broke out in 1992, he was sent to California to cover the story for NBC Newschannel, a service that supplies affiliates throughout the country with news stories. Newschannel was impressed with Hanchett's reporting skills and hired him as a full-time reporter.

Hanchett also encouraged students about to enter their first real journalism jobs to work weekends, nights and holidays. "The best story doesn't usually happen between nine and five," Hanchett said.