New
York-based Bloomberg News is one of several financial news services that has expanded
aggressively in Japan in recent years. Bloomberg increased its Tokyo staff by 15 percent
last year, and now includes 70 foreigners, all of them hired locally. About 40 percent of
its 330 employees are female; the average age is 32, with 10 percent of the work force
over 40. This week Jobfinder talked to Bloomberg' Ian Fallmann.
Qualifications are tough
Most of our foreigners are in English language news, a few are in our English language
television news, and a few in sales and service. We hire very few generalists; we hire to
fill specific positions. If we're filling a reporting position we look for someone with
reporting experience. We want them to have a financial background. We get a lot of
journalists from securities companies or banks. They may know the markets but they don't
know how to write. But it's easier to teach people how to write than it is to teach them
about financial markets. Reporters absolutely have to speak Japanese fluently. Editors
don't necessarily.
Financial journalism differs slightly from news journalism
There are a lot of short market pieces in financial journalism. For example: "The yen
just dropped two yen against the dollar, write a two paragraph story about why." It's
more factual, and there are more numbers and percentages, but otherwise it's basically the
same as news journalism. In terms of the importance of different skills for a financial
news reporter, I'd say: (1) bilingual language skills, (2) writing ability, (3) news
experience, (4) financial background, and lastly (5) TV presence or technical skills.
Experience and language are most important
By the time we get around to hiring people we want them to have had writing and journalism
experience for a number of years. We have hired a few people out of journalism school but
only a few. Knowledge of Japanese is the number one criteria to work for us in Japan. They
need to have the ability to interview a company executive in that company executive's
language and talk about everything from bond yields to synthetic fibers.
Clips (samples of published writing) should have something extra
I look for initiative in reporting. Something that distinguishes it, especially in an
article that other people are writing about. It could be a detail, an anecdote, something
that makes a simple, standard story more compelling for the reader. And that comes from
imagination and initiative.
Compensation is competitive for a demanding job
We have a bit of a sweatshop reputation. People here work very hard. Overtime is certainly
expected and it's not compensated. I think we pay well. We don't lose people because
they're not being paid enough, but probably because they want to write feature stories for
Newsweek rather than short market stories. We have a bonus system that is related to the
performance of the company.
Don't wait for job listings
Anyone interested in working for us should keep in touch with me regularly. The best way
is by email at: ifallmann@bloomberg.net
New
York-based Bloomberg News is one of several financial news services that has expanded
aggressively in Japan in recent years. Bloomberg increased its Tokyo staff by 15 percent
last year, and now includes 70 foreigners, all of them hired locally. About 40 percent of
its 330 employees are female; the average age is 32, with 10 percent of the work force
over 40. This week Jobfinder talked to Bloomberg' Ian Fallmann. 
Qualifications are tough