Time to go corporate
Well, what can I say? I have not heard back from HR about if I passed the drug screening. But whether or not I get this job, I’ve decided to take radical action to increase my chances of landing a decent job in today’s hyper-competitive job market. Perhaps I should have done this a long time ago, but on Monday I am meeting with a professional career counselor.
First a little background:
Last week I was freelance writing an article on how one should go about asking for a raise, and in the course of writing the article I contacted a career counselor to get her insight. After the interview was completed, we began speaking frankly in a friendly manner. We ended up talking for over a half an hour and after the conversation was through, thoughts that had been brewing in the back of my mind came to the forefront.
W, the career counselor, shared my frustration about the lack of adequate compensation for fledgling journalists. For example, the article I wrote about raises earned me only $65. When broken down into $’s/hr, that ain’t much—and I can whip out an article fairly quickly. Meanwhile, there are not many fulltime journalism positions available in this city. Other than working at the one major daily here—and it is extremely difficult to get in—one will usually earn about $25,000/year for working fulltime at one of the smaller community newspapers. That’s pitiful, especially for a job that takes a certain level of education and skill.
While writing for a local community newspaper recently I became friendly with the business editor. Recently he quit his $26,000 fulltime editing position for a public relations position at a local company. He told me that he doubled his income; got his own office, company credit card—and that he still can’t get over the shock of it all. He had no prior PR experience, and he suggested I try to do what he did. And so did W, the career counselor. She told me she’s helped a few of her clients who were in similar situations like mine to break into the field of public relations. And I must admit that last summer when I was aggressively looking for employment I noticed there were scores of PR jobs listed, but hardly any journalism jobs.
W has over 8 years of experience as a career counselor. In fact, she entered her field after growing frustrated working as a local journalist for a mere pittance. I don’t know what her fees are, but I’m willing to pay them. Already she is going over my resume and my website, which in professional parlance is called a “business portfolio.” She’s forwarded me pdf files and other information, which I will be going over this weekend. It also doesn’t hurt that I’m on the cusp of obtaining a degree in Journalism and MASS COMMUNICATIONS. I’ll just start emphasizing the latter.
This does not mean I’m giving up on journalism. I’ll still continue to pen my political opinions about current events—in fact, I can hardly do otherwise. But as far as a career as a journalist goes, I feel like I’ve run into a brick wall. Even if I can break through the wall, the compensation sucks.
Time to go corporate.
First a little background:
Last week I was freelance writing an article on how one should go about asking for a raise, and in the course of writing the article I contacted a career counselor to get her insight. After the interview was completed, we began speaking frankly in a friendly manner. We ended up talking for over a half an hour and after the conversation was through, thoughts that had been brewing in the back of my mind came to the forefront.
W, the career counselor, shared my frustration about the lack of adequate compensation for fledgling journalists. For example, the article I wrote about raises earned me only $65. When broken down into $’s/hr, that ain’t much—and I can whip out an article fairly quickly. Meanwhile, there are not many fulltime journalism positions available in this city. Other than working at the one major daily here—and it is extremely difficult to get in—one will usually earn about $25,000/year for working fulltime at one of the smaller community newspapers. That’s pitiful, especially for a job that takes a certain level of education and skill.
While writing for a local community newspaper recently I became friendly with the business editor. Recently he quit his $26,000 fulltime editing position for a public relations position at a local company. He told me that he doubled his income; got his own office, company credit card—and that he still can’t get over the shock of it all. He had no prior PR experience, and he suggested I try to do what he did. And so did W, the career counselor. She told me she’s helped a few of her clients who were in similar situations like mine to break into the field of public relations. And I must admit that last summer when I was aggressively looking for employment I noticed there were scores of PR jobs listed, but hardly any journalism jobs.
W has over 8 years of experience as a career counselor. In fact, she entered her field after growing frustrated working as a local journalist for a mere pittance. I don’t know what her fees are, but I’m willing to pay them. Already she is going over my resume and my website, which in professional parlance is called a “business portfolio.” She’s forwarded me pdf files and other information, which I will be going over this weekend. It also doesn’t hurt that I’m on the cusp of obtaining a degree in Journalism and MASS COMMUNICATIONS. I’ll just start emphasizing the latter.
This does not mean I’m giving up on journalism. I’ll still continue to pen my political opinions about current events—in fact, I can hardly do otherwise. But as far as a career as a journalist goes, I feel like I’ve run into a brick wall. Even if I can break through the wall, the compensation sucks.
Time to go corporate.
posted by semite1973 at 9:46 AM
2 Comments:
Zak,
I think you should go into politics.
Ryan
Shmolitics!
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