Lynn Poole states that writing is a craft, a business, and a difficult profession, as he has discovered from writing five books himself. Colonel Mason, a graduate of Harvard and student of John Gallishaw, is the author of numerous historical novels and juvenile books, some translated into 18 languages. He maintains that waiting for inspiration is nonsense and that the writer should keep regular hours. His method of composition is to dictate his stories to a secretary who transcribes the drafts on yellow, then blue, then white paper. Colonel Mason explains that the two types of novels are stories of accomplishment and stories of decision. The elements of any story should include who, when, where, and how and should create urgencies or crises, as his impromptu story exemplifies. He describes his travels and research for his most recently published book, Silver Leopard, about the First Crusade, and displays his research notebook for his current work, Our Valiant Few, about the Civil War. His advice to young writers is to study with a competent teacher, write daily, don't quit your job after selling your first story, and remember that writing is more perspiration than inspiration. The second guest, Holmes Alexander, studied and wrote at Princeton and Cambridge. He then taught writing at the McDonough School, a private Baltimore school, and wrote book reviews and other pieces. When he was elected to the Maryland legislature, he wrote about his campaign and sold the story to Harpers. After that he became a reporter with The Baltimore Sun, covering county politics and Johns Hopkins University. He wrote biographies of Martin Van Buren and Aaron Burr as well as other books, nonfiction articles on horses, and fictional baseball stories, which he sold to such magazines as Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, and Esquire. He became Kiplinger's senior editor and ultimately a syndicated columnist. His advice to aspiring writers is to go where the trouble is to get the news, be able to write anywhere, and ignore obstacles to writing. A party at the end of this program celebrates the eighth year of Johns Hopkins programs with WAAM and the first anniversary of "Tomorrow's Careers." Herbert Cahan hosts the party, Mrs. Kennard Calfee presents the cake, and Lynn Poole introduces the staff. In addition to those normally appearing in the credits, he includes Dick Zibner (new assistant producer), Andy Bevins (floor manager), John Stokes and Allen Holmes (cameramen), and mentions Herman and Ben Cohen (of WAAM Network) and John Charles Daly (of ABC).

During the Great Depression of the early 1930's the McCormick Company made a commitment to its employees to raise salaries, reduce working hours, develop a profit sharing plan and provide other benefits to improve morale and thus production. Employees need to receive recognition and participate in management decisions. The personnel manager is involved with recruiting, selection, hiring, training, progress appraisal, wage determination, morale, counseling, grievance negotiation, working conditions, and benefit programs. It is important to develop leaders for tomorrow who understand human relations in the field of personnel management, which involves psychology, sociology, anthropology, and economics.

This program opens with film clips from Robert Flaherty's "Nanook of the North," the first pure documentary film, and additional footage from "The Witch Doctor," a dramatization of the voodoo rituals of Haiti. Documentary specialist Nicholas Webster, who has directed over forty films to educate the public, explains that good documentary reportage dramatizes the actual. For example, in his film "Seizure," commissioned by the Veterans' Administration, he uses both professional actors and real epileptics to make his point. Scenes from this film also show how careful, creative editing can create a natural illusion. Examples of good editing are also evident in scenes from his documentary personifying the cotton picking machine and its impact on people in the south. Film editor and producer Phil Martin demonstrates a movieola for film editing, and during a mock filming session, a cameraman explains how to take light readings. Mr. Webster suggests that students interested in cinema get a broad educational background in college before concentrating on subjects related to film production.

Lynn Poole interviews five students graduating from the Johns Hopkins University this year. He asks pre-med major Rierson and English literature major Seipt about their future plans, how they financed their education, what influenced them to attend Hopkins, and their comments on the university's curriculum. Allison Furst, a Wellesley College graduate, is at Hopkins on a scholarship provided by the Fund for the Advancement of Education for a teacher training program. She did graduate work in her own field while learning teaching methods and participated in a paid internship. Mr. Poole asks her about factors in selecting a position after graduation. Electrical engineering students Lory and Garbis tell Mr. Poole about their interests in this field and about the guidance from and influence of professors William Huggins and Ferdinand Hamburger. They also critique the curriculum and describe their future plans.