Missing It

Closest I've been to this type of situation was with a fellow content editor (who was a good friend) five years ago at my previous job. He was on the verge of an emotional breakdown -- there were some family issues, but it was mostly because he was in a stressful job in which he was expected to turn a deluge of Pabst Blue Ribbon into Dom Perignon, and upper management crapped all over him if he didn't. So he went into the ME, explained his situation, and asked for a week or two of unpaid leave. ME didn't ask what he could do to make the work conditions better or less stressful. Instead, he asked, "How much PTO do you have? Can you use PTO instead?" My co-worker said he preferred not to use vacation time (he was actually VOLUNTEERING to be docked a week or two of pay). ME responded, "I don't know how leave works. You'll have to go through HR." So he tried HR, got the typical runaround, and simply gave up. The good news is he worked through his problems (despite the lack of support from our employer) and landed a non-newspaper job three months later. He's making slightly more money, dealing with a lot less stress and living happily everafter.

 

That's funny. I never had two weeks to write 500 words, but once I got over the idea that it was too tough to write about something I know nothing about, I found it just a matter of doing some research and getting comfortable enough to fill 500 words. It was a lot like being a GA writer: You don't need to run a marathon, you just need to complete the sprint.

 

Exactly. After leaving sports writing, I have written about pediatric healthcare and the prepaid industry. Each time, I went into the job with next to no knowledge of the subject matter. It was just a matter of doing what research I could and relying on subject matter experts who could help me out. Hell, I knew fuck all about volleyball before I started writing about it for prep coverage. But I read up and talked to coaches.

The ability to write transfers well among different subject matters, which is why I think some sports journalists are more qualified for jobs outside of the industry than they think. But I guess, as noted above, it is more important that hiring managers realize that.

 

That's our best and only hope -- that those who do the hiring have a newspaper background and/or recognize intangible qualities that aren't listed on a resume (working as part of a team, quick decision-making, ability to handle heavy workloads under deadline pressure). Also, it helps if the application goes directly to hiring manager. If the screening process involves HR, we're probably dead meat.

 

The good thing is they have yet to figure out a way to computerize copy writing. I'm sure it's coming. But there's a lot of work out there to be done and not a lot of people who can, as Bronco notes, juggle a lot of different tasks in a short amount of time.

 

At the company I worked for after I left the Herald, a digital information firm, I helped test computerized writing and editing software. I wouldn't worry their general use is around the corner. It was then (2012) in a sort of flying car stage of development. Flying cars that stalled out a lot.

 

My employer is recommending software that rewrites whatever you scrape and feed into it. I write original copy so I can't attest to how well it works.

 

Coming from one who's escaped the industry, list those qualities on your resume, for crying out loud. Don't leave it to someone to read between the lines. Spell it out for them.

After 10+ years in journalism and pitching it all to serve in Peace Corps, I was totally at a loss at what direction to pursue after I returned. I basically went administrative, and even though I've never worked directly in that capacity, I compared everything I'd ever done to the vacancy announcement and listed everything I could stretch into something in the ad. As a federal gig, it went through the mother of all HR departments. My hope was to come in around level 6 or 7 of the 14-step range, which would have been about what I made at my journalism job.

Instead, they brought my in at step 14, the highest they could go.

List the intangibles. Don't make them interpret, or guess at, any of your skills. Tell them straight up what they are and why you are qualified for the job.

 

Just a cheat sheet to get some of you started -

Additional abilities and skills:
- Costing your child a scholarship
- Favoring everyone's rival
- Only talking to the quarterback
- Knowing which press boxes have the best food
- Ignoring other teams that work just as hard
- Drinking while simulatneously crying

 

- Making two meals out of newsroom cake.

 

- Only covering (name of team here) when it loses.
- Knowing location of closest free wi-fi at all times.
- Knows cheerleading is not a sport.