But no, really, what's the future of this profession?

25 years? I just wonder about five years from now ...

 

It's frustrating reading this thread.
I'm 35 next week and have been out of the business for three years. I freelance here and there, but where I am there isn't much as far as jobs go and we're not moving so I can go make 25-30K somewhere.
Thing is, even with the family, I'd love to go to some online entity and be that guy who works endless hours, but I can't get a look because any resume I send in gets thrown to the side because I'm too old even though I'd work just as hard as any of the straight out of college kids who are getting hired. It's just assumed I'm looking for stability when the reality is I just want to work my ass off because that's what's fun for me. I've taken time to learn all the bullshit few my age have bothered to and it's not really helping.
I have no idea where to go from here and that's more frustrating. My plan was work at a paper, work my way up and chase my dream job. When it finally opened, I was out of the business for 18 months and didn't even get an interview despite being flat-out better than the guy (a former competitor who I routinely beat on stories, awards, etc) who got the job.
Clock's ticking on finding something to make a career of. The one and only thing I ever wanted to do isn't working for me and it's terrified being my age and realizing I don't have a backup plan.

 

Rhody,

Couple tips that may or may not help:

If you are applying for jobs that you are interested in and you feel your resume is getting tossed because of your age, don't put anything in there to signal your age -- like the year you graduated, etc. I would take the years out of the work history, too. And not mention some jobs if you have had a lot and they don't help get this one.

I'm sure there are still plenty of places where you can work your ass off. What is is that you realy like and who will pay you to do it?

I bet you can work your ass off and write 18 hours a day as an SID somehwere, for example. More and more schools are hiring people to write stories for their web sites or upload videos, etc.

If there is not a job like that open near you, maybe you can convince the school they need one and start out doing some things on the side for them.

If you really want a newspaper/web job, contacts and networking are the key ways to get in the door.

Good luck.

 

Biggest problem I'm facing is location. There's not a lot around here and most people are content to stick with the jobs they have for years. I'm amazed at the amount of writers working here with little or no ties that are still doing the work they've been doing. If I was single, I would have been outta here years ago to find a better job or at least one in a better climate. At one point I think I was the only reporter who left the state and came back. Guys are fine with the work their doing, but what they do isn't what I want to do - I see the APSE award winners and that's the environment I want to work in. Don't have that here.
I'm horrible at networking. I'm a Type A personality guy and there are a lot of people working here that are Type Bs. I'm of the mindset that if someone was sending off random e-mails for a job I wasn't advertising, I'd be more annoyed than pleased and I don't want to piss off a potential employer by bothering them as opposed to just getting a canned response.

 

Networking isn't bugging a guy for a job, it's meeting, helping, working or drinking with people connected with the biz who may know of an opening, vouch for you or hire you.

 

Sounds like dating and when it came to picking up girls, I was more of the "get hammered to get confidence" type. Fat guy move. What do I do, just email and say "love to grab a coffee and talk about some ideas I have?"
I never tried to network because I was always in the camp of my work speaking for itself.

 

One problem that I've found in terms of trying to network for jobs outside the biz is that, for a lot of us, we're working the nights, weekends and holidays when the rest of the world is off, so it's difficult to meet people outside the biz to network with.

 

Do you really want to work 50-plus hours a week? How do you go about your job search? Has anyone in your network given you a lead? There have to be PR/ communications/writing jobs that open up outside of newspapers/websites.

 

So, where are these jobs that are hiring young journalists for lower pay but decent beats? Seriously. I've been out of school for three years and have had no such luck in finding a single reporting job.

I'm honestly excited for the changes in this industry and am forming my own company this year based around what I perceive to be the future of journalism. If nobody's going to hire me, I can make money myself and have fun doing it.

 

We've had a photographer opening for two months. We interviewed three or four people. No one wanted to relocate to a small town to make $23,000 a year.
We've had a news reporter opening since last summer, but apparently the powers that be would rather let it go unfilled and then bitch at us about having too much overtime.

 

If I was fresh out of college I'd jump on either of those. Current situations wouldn't allow that. I'm getting sick of being told I don't have the experience companies are looking for when I do so much media related stuff for free with my own website just because I enjoy doing it. Podcasts, video, photography, marketing, social media BS and of course, the actual writing.

 

To an aspiring journalist, follow your dreams. But since you are an aspiring journalist, you can sort through info and figure out the facts. Newspapers are declining. Even the biggest and best ones are going through periodic layoffs. So go for it. But go in with your eyes open.