Let’s say your old job or current one is a little lackluster and you have a burning designer to bolt into the media world! Whether it’s the digital space in editing or perhaps design is more your thing, you may be wondering how to break in without any relevant experience.

Well, according to a post on U.S. News & World Report, making the leap can be done but there are a few pointers to keep in mind.

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If you think you’re a star employee because you can tick off all the responsibilities in your job description, think again. Your goal should really be to keep your boss happy, otherwise known as “managing up.”

In the latest Mediabistro feature, workplace experts tell the best ways to communicate with your higher ups and project efficiency and smarts.

No. 4: Keep your manager in the loop.

How do you keep from sharing too much or too often with your manager? Christina T. Schlachter, author of Leading Business Change for Dummies and CEO of the consultancy SheLeads, says it pays to just ask. “Take the lead in determining communication. Don’t wait for your boss to do it. Ask your manager how often he or she wants to hear from you and in what form.”

For more tips, read Managing Up: 7 Ways to Keep the Boss Happy. [subscription required]

Calling all jobseekers! If you’ve been glued to your screen for the back-to-work boot camp serving the chronically unemployed, as in Sundance Channel’s docu-series, Get to Work, there’s one more episode for this season.

On Monday at 10 p.m. ET, the series will wrap up its season with an episode, “Wake Up and Smell Reality.” For a sneak peek, three unemployed job seekers bond over the fact they need to change how they see themselves in order to find jobs. Read more

Yesterday morning the New York Times and the New York Newspaper Guild convened to work on ongoing contract negotiations.

It didn’t go so well.

According to the Guild’s blog, the Times had “changed not a detail of its insulting wage proposal, offered not a dime more toward our pension and raised by just a few hairs its offer on health care.”

So the Guild representatives walked out.

The offer included an increase of $100,000 to the health care fund that the company contributes to, which the Guild called “some slight, stumbling progress, but…far behind that of most private employers its size.”

In exchange, the attorney who represents the Times in the negotiations told the Guild that the offer was “proportional to the disappointing” proposal the Guild put forth at the last negotiation session.

The drama is scheduled to resume next Wednesday when the next negotiation session takes place.

Looking for a new job? Feeling a bit down and out and need a little jolt to your search? At Mediabistro, we talk to hiring managers and employers every day so we know what they’re looking for.

Please join us for our job search boot camp, an innovative 4-week online conference designed to help you discover your unique qualifications and learn how to showcase your skills to employers. Join us. It could make all the difference in your job search.

In the latest episode of mediabistroTV’s “My First Big Break,” we talk to legendary filmmaker Spike Lee.

While Lee is well-known for his movies, did you know that if it wasn’t for NBA superstar Michael Jordan and a pair of Nike Air Jordan sneakers, Lee–and Nike–might not be the icons they have become today? It all came down to a risky commercial shoot.

“So Michael Jordan could easily have said, ‘I can’t take a chance on this young gun, this young boy, just give me the reels of the top guys on Madison Avenue.’ But Michael Jordan didn’t do that,” the Red Hook Summer director recalls. “For some reason, he decided to give me a shot. And the commercial I did with Michael Jordan ended up being some of the greatest campaigns ever in the history of advertising and Nike took off.”

For more videos, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

T, also known as The New York Times’ style magazine, has a new editor. Deborah Needleman, the editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal style magazine, is going to be in charge of T.

According to the Times, its executive editor, Jill Abramson, indicated in a statement that Needleman will be integral to expand the magazine:

“Deborah is a creative and innovative editor with an impeccable sense of style and design. As we look to expand and extend T and continue to evolve it for our loyal and sophisticated New York Times audience, we will rely on Deborah’s broad range of experience and creative energy. She is coming on board to strengthen the franchise and reimagine its future on all platforms.”

Prior to joining the WSJ, Needleman founded the style magazine, Domino, and was also editor-at-large for House & Garden. She’s the co-author of Domino: The Book of Decorating and wrote The Perfectly Imperfect Home.

Allison Silver, the former opinion editor at Politico, has a new job. According to Romenesko, she’s been named executive editor of opinion at Thomson Reuters. Tuesday will be her last day at Politico.

According to the site, John Harris, the editor-in-chief at Politico explained in a memo:

“Tapping into an extensive network of writers, and pursuing her own eclectic interests, Allison put POLITICO in the middle of many Washington debates in a way that we had not been before, which is what she promised in our discussions upon her arrival three years ago. She always pushed for better display for her authors, and for better ways, such as specially commissioned artwork, to illustrate opinion pieces and draw the reader’s eye to them….Her big shoes are being filled — temporarily — by managing editor Bill Nichols on a fill-in basis while we ponder our long-term choices about opinion.”

Dancer, check. Actress, check. Host, check. Correspondent, check. No wonder Tanika Ray calls herself a Renaissance woman –  not only has she performed with Will Smith and Brandy, she’s hosted shows on Lifetime, CBS, TLC and had gigs as a correspondent for Extra and HGTV’s Design Star.

In the latest installment of Mediabistro’s So What Do You Do? series, Ray says that her TV career began when, after watching a red carpet interview, she thought, “I can do that.”

“It’s not about being still in a place and holding on to it for dear life. I don’t think we live in a society where we celebrate ‘oh, for 35 years I’ve had the same job.’ That’s just not how we’re wired anymore and there’s no security in that anyway. So, why not be free to check off everything on your life before your days come to an end?”

Read more in So What Do You Do, Tanika Ray, Red Carpet Reporter and Host of The CW’s Oh, Sit!?

Okay, by now we know that Undercover Boss is a huge hit so why shouldn’t there be room for another hit reality show based on working?

Fox thinks so now that its new show got the go-ahead — essentially companies will decide whether or not to fire an employee. Read more