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Q. I'm expecting to graduate in nine months with little more than a school newspaper internship and another planned for summer. My lack of news involvement is mostly due to having to work full time throughout college, and I fear that my resume will seem rather unimpressive to employers.

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I have, however, made time to attend journalism conferences in Paris and Washington, D.C., as well as a few weeks experience as a research aid at an independent magazine. I'm concerned I need to beef up my credentials, and I wonder whether I should add these extras to my resume. If I do, how should I do it? Should I add an "additional experience" section?

Also, what about my job? Would recruiters look at my six-plus years with a company as a sign of dedication, or wasted time? I'm hoping it will strike them as the former.

Ohio

A. Add the conferences. They won't make a huge difference, but they will help a little. You could call them "additional journalism activities." You might also add membership in a professional association, which could also increase your networking opportunities.

Joe Grimm

Editors are divided on the value of non-journalism jobs. Personally, I like to know about them because they can tell me something about your work ethic, reliability and responsibility.

I recommend you list your full-time job and describe it in ways that show how the work you do there helps make you a better journalist. If you are paying for a significant portion of college, say how much. And describe your jobs that will be relevant to editors. Note detail orientation, customer service, research and writing. Add supervisory or managerial experience.

Grimm on internships: "Breaking In: The JobsPage.com Guide to Newspaper Internships."