When I was a kid, I had a friend whose Mom refused to let him watch anything but PBS on television. Yes, he had Ghostwriter and Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego, so it wasn’t too cruel, but I still felt bad for him – the poor kid didn’t have Nickelodeon or Saturday morning cartoons. I don’t think my friend turned out any better than the kids who had access to 100 channels, but I do wish that I had spent more time watching educational programming, and less time watching reruns of Saved By the Bell over and over again. Imagine how smart I would be if the part of my brain that is irrevocably committed to remembering early 90s sitcom trivia was instead filled with something useful like what you find on the Public Broadcasting Service…

Got Brain Rot?

For those of you who avoided educational programming like the plague, we’ll give you a quick overview of what PBS is about. The Public Broadcast Service is a non-profit “media enterprise that serves 355 public noncommercial television stations and reaches nearly 73 million people each week.” PBS draws most of its funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which receives significant government funding (15-20% Federal, and 25-30% State and Local). Much of the remaining funding comes from viewers who call in to PBS’ telethons to donate $250 in return for a lovely tote bag. The programming on PBS can be all over the place, but its almost exclusively educational in some way, shape, or form. For the little kids there’s Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, for the big kids there’s Arthur and Animalia, and for adults there are all kinds of news programs and documentaries. Some of my personal PBS favorites from years ago were Frontier House and American High, two of the best reality-type shows ever put on television.

Rockapella Is Not Hiring

Rockapella isn’t hiring new college grads, but PBS is. We’ve identified 5 positions that we think would be good fits for some new grads. They’re not by definition entry-level, but they’re still worth applying for if you have a relevant background. The job descriptions are quite specific, so you’ll get a good sense of whether or not the position will be a good fit for you. Current openings include: Associate – Operations, Associate – Production, Web Developer, QA, Web Technologist, and Web Technologist – Interactive. All of the jobs are based out of Alexandria, VA, where PBS is headquartered. You can submit a general application if you don’t see anything that you love, or you can search to see if they posted any new jobs. PBS also has great internships, if that’s what you’re looking for.

Many local PBS stations offer great entry-level jobs as well, so you may want to look this list of links to local PBS stations’ Jobs pages. There are locations all across the country, so they may offer you some more flexibility. Don’t overlook these opportunities! Many of the local PBS stations are responsible for producing the shows that you see on all PBS stations, so they’re not some mom and pop operation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• PBS.org
• PBS Careers
• PBS Job Listings
• About PBS
• PBS’ Corporate Facts
• PBS’ FAQ
• PBS in the News
• Links to Jobs Pages at Local PBS Stations

Wondering why you haven’t landed a sweet entry-level job yet? It’s probably because you haven’t subscribed.

We've identified PBS as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• all employers
• non-profit
• operations
• production
• software development
• Virginia

---

Jobs Near You

---