IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2007 - 17

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Page 17

Jonesing for Journalism

Reel Appeal

After a year in London, Gielan felt that
she still hadn't found her ideal career.
She researched various options and
talked to scores of people ("probably
100!" she adds) with different types of
jobs. Her parents, wanting her to be selfsufficient and happy, had advised her
early on that, "'If you're going to leave
engineering, make sure you're going to
something that you really like because
there's a lot of job security and money in
engineering.'" But the outgoing and creative Gielan wanted to take a leap and
chose to break away from a more traditional technical career.
When she saw an online ad for an
opening for an anchor/reporter at Channel One News in Los Angeles-a station
that creates a short daily broadcast on
national and world news for millions of
students across the country-Gielan
took the "call for audition tapes" as a
sign that it was time to make her move.
Ever the traveler, she flew off to Los
Angeles and signed up for some basic
journalism classes at UCLA. After a
semester, she decided to shoot a video of
herself to use as an audition tape.
"I made it in my living room and it
was a minute-and-a-half long," she says.
"I talked about why I would be great for
this job; I had to just show my personality
because I didn't have any work experience. Then I called human resources
every week for about three months asking, 'Have you seen my tape?' and 'Do you
mind if I call back next week to check
again?' Finally, I just called and said, 'Listen, can I just come in? I have a few questions and would like to meet with you.'
The person in charge of H.R. was really
nice, and she said that would be fine."
The day Gielan went down to the station, the show was hosting a town hall
forum and, planting herself in the studio
audience, she introduced herself to all
the station executives during commercial breaks. A week later, she had a call to
come audition and was soon hired as a
freelancer for Channel One News.

Gielan used "the high-quality tape" from
Channel One to put together a reel and
got a full-time job in El Paso, Tex. Hired
as a reporter, she was soon promoted to
the position of morning anchor. After
two years in El Paso, she decided to try
for a job in a larger market and applied
to jobs in many of the major cities. When
the first call, interview, and offer came
from FOX News Chicago, "I was sold,"
declares Gielan. "I love this city."
Currently, Gielan serves as a reporter
and fill-in anchor for FOX News Chicago.
Though there is no "typical" day, "In the
morning, I either bring my own ideas for
a story or I get an assignment. They pair
me with a camera man and then we go
out to wherever the story is. Once I get
all the information-sound and video-I
come back to the station, go through the
tape, pick out the pieces that I want to
include, and then sit down and write the
story. I write everything from the introduction by the anchor all the way to the
end. Once the script is approved by a
managing editor, I pass it off to an editor.
Then I voice the track, and the editor
puts it all together. In total, the story is
usually about two minutes."
One of her favorite things about the
job is that every day is different. "One day
I can be at a press conference with the
mayor, and the next day I'm with a family
of a five-year-old boy who was shot, talking about how they are coping." She also
cites live shows and breaking news as
really exciting because of the time pressure to get as much accurate information as you can on air as soon as possible.
But how can someone who likes practical problem solving deal with the stress
of not knowing what will come to her
each day? According to Gielan, "Engineering is very task-oriented and, in
essence, so is my job now. When you are
doing a problem set, you have to go from
problem 1 to problem 10 and work
through them all. In journalism, you
have to get all the information and put it
together in a certain way. And the cre-

WINTER 2007/2008

ativity in journalism is much like the
creativity in programming."
While creativity plays its part, "It's
good to have studied something other
than journalism because I can ask educated questions about certain subjects
and be answered more thoroughly. Then
I'm able to explain those answers better
to everyone else," she adds. Gielan recalls
the story she covered on Google's expansion in Chicago as a time when her
understanding of technology proved
valuable. With the worlds of science and
technology becoming more innovative
each minute, we can almost be certain to
see something engineering-related in the
news each day. Who would be better to
report on the results of modern science
than someone who knows which questions to ask?
Gielan has become an example of
how an education in engineering can
open all types of doors. "I really believe
that with an engineering degree, you
can't go wrong," she says encouragingly.
"There are so many opportunities, some
that you might not even dream up, but
having an engineering degree will help
you with anything you want to do. It
tells people right away that you're capable and you can think things through.
Most people don't get engineering
degrees, especially not women, so it
shows that you're a hard worker, up for a
challenge, and you have a good educational background."
With that sort of reputation, it seems
an engineer might never have to settle
for one thing. Even as successful and
happy as she is in Chicago, she continues
to dream big for the future.
"I would like to stick around," she
explains, "but it depends on my career.
New York is the place to be if you want to
do national news. Eventually, I would
love to be a part of the team at 60 Minutes. I have a lot of respect for the work
that they do."
-Leslie Prives is a freelance writer
living in New York City.

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

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