Schechter previously worked as a local news reporter in Dallas, Minneapolis, Dubuque, Youngstown, and Kansas City.

Immediately after college, Schechter started his career in Dubuque, Iowa in 1993 as a Primary Anchor at KDUB-TV, a now-closed local television station.

[8] At WCCO, Schechter created The Last Flagraiser with photojournalist Thomas Aviles, a 2003 regional-Emmy-winning, documentary length piece following the last living service member from the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima in World War Two.

As a senior reporter, Schechter spent his first ten years at WFAA covering typical local news.

[14] In a congressional hearing, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated the series "shows we need real vigilance in making sure that banks honor their obligations to serve minority communities, low- and moderate-income communities, within their operating areas.

"[15] It was with Verify Road Trip that Schechter began covering climate change, realizing the pattern's threat and need for additional news coverage from a local level.

[20] In August of 2022, Schechter announced that he was taking a job at CBS News as a member of their new Innovation Lab, a branch of the business intended to experiment with next-generation storytelling.

[26] His pieces have covered forest fires; the effects of light pollution; sea-level rise; climate-change anxiety; university climate divestment; the effects of greenhouse gasses; climate-related extinction, specifically of the Yarrow's spiny lizard;[27] and more.

In December of 2023, Schechter capped off CBS's weeklong docu-series "Warming Signs" with an hour-long piece in which he visited Svalbard, Norway, the fastest-warming area on planet earth.

[31] Schechter also writes broadly circulated opinion pieces on the how local journalists can better cover climate change.