Don’t just read the newspaper. Create it.

With all you could be doing at Carnegie Mellon University, why should you dedicate your time to The Tartan?

Learn by doing.

Sure, classes can teach you a lot, but employers or graduate programs want to be certain that you can apply what you know in a real work environment. It’s not enough to know what you need to do — you have to be able to do what you need to do.

Whatever role — or roles — you take on, you’ll be guided and instructed by your editor or manager. He or she will not only push you to develop the skills related to your specific job but also to be comfortable working in a large organization.

Working at The Tartan, you’ll have the opportunity to learn, in formal and on-the-job training, to:

• develop your job-specific skills — writing, photography, online development, etc.
• communicate more effectively with coworkers, subordinates, and superiors
• organize your thoughts and schedules more easily
• multi-task more naturally
• solve problems more dynamically
• effectively manage a staff of unique individuals

Many staff members leave convinced that they learned more by working at The Tartan than they did going to classes while at Carnegie Mellon. This is the real deal.

Build your resume, portfolio, and most importantly your experience set.

Employers and grad schools need proof that you’re worth their investment. They look at your resume, your portfolio, and they ask you questions about your experience. At The Tartan, you can build all three.

• Resume — Never write that you’re dedicated, hard-working, or ambitious on your resume. Words mean nothing. If your resume shows that you wrote 29 articles as a news writer, moved up to Assistant News Editor and mentored a staff of 20 younger news writers, and then led the whole news staff as News Editor, there will be no doubt that you’re dedicated, hard-working, and ambitious.

• Portfolio — Class projects can be great portfolio pieces. But why not show off by including your dynamic design for the front page of a newspaper serving a community of 12,000 students, faculty and staff? How about including the ad campaign you designed for a local company that raked in over $2,000 in revenue?

• Interview — "Tell me about a time when you led a team. What did you do well, and what would you do better in the future?" You could talk about the time your project group was slacking off, so you _____. Or you could explain that you led the 18 person layout staff, using effective group facilitation skills to hold organized but creative brainstorming meetings each week, all the while managing the work schedules and making sure your staff got paid.

Working at The Tartan, you will generate proof that you are just the person a potential employer has been waiting for.

Have fun.

We work hard. But we play hard too. The Tartan’s staff includes nearly 175 people from all different majors, years, and backgrounds. We’ve got so much to work with that it’s hard not to have fun.

Our Values

• Truth — At the heart of journalism is truth. Our primary goal is to provide the students, faculty, and staff of Carnegie Mellon University with content of the highest quality and integrity. Every member of our staff — from journalist to web developer, from photojournalist to sales consultant — is working to bring the truth to the Carnegie Mellon University community.

  Similarly, all members of our staff commit to upholding the highest level of honesty and personal integrity at all times, while acting on behalf of The Tartan and while going about their daily lives.

• Diversity — The Tartan’s staff needs as much knowledge, talent, creativity, and experience as it can possibly get. That’s why welcoming people who bring something new to the organization is central to our mission as a news organization.

  Every Carnegie Mellon student comes to campus having lived an indisputably unique life. Still, many of us have common interests and common concerns. For The Tartan to have a keen grasp on what it should be addressing, its staff must reflect the community it serves.

  If you feel like The Tartan doesn’t address your interests, join the staff so it can. (Also, you can also always e-mail ideas to contact@thetartan.org).

• Innovation — In the past year and half, The Tartan has reinvented itself, inside and out. We are a learning organization. We thrive on innovation. Staff members at all levels are encouraged to actively develop new ways to do their work – and ours – better.

• Education — Everyone who works at The Tartan is here to learn. Working with people from such a range of years, majors, and interests offers us a great wealth of knowledge and experience. We are each other’s TA’s, RA’s, academic advisors, and career counselors. Older staff members naturally take younger staff members under their wing to help them learn.

• Fiduciary Responsibility — The Tartan receives between 25 percent and 30 percent of its funds from your student activities fee. We take it upon ourselves to use these funds responsibly, for the benefit of the student body.

• Fun — We work very hard. But we play hard, too. It’s important to us that everyone has fun with their job.