"Getting out of the business" resource thread

A. Get help. Even if your company's poor insurance won't cover it, they probably have an employee assistance program that can direct you to a low-cost alternative.

B. Get yourself straightened out, then get out. You'll be in a much better place when you start that next job. That's not always feasible, of course, and sometimes you need to leave and figure out the other stuff later.

 

Thanks wicked. Scary when this profession ruins your family life. Bless you.

 

Get the hell out, Fredrick.

 

Thanks ace. If Fredrick stays put until he gets shown the door like will be the fate of everybody before long in this profession, do you think meds are in order? Remember, we journalists are resilient. Not many members of society are disdained by so many: the public, the people we cover and our bosses as well. We are an unpopular lot with all. However we do feel some stress and I know some turn to psych prescribed meds for relief.

 

You don't seem like a lad who cares that he is disdained by society. Maybe try some medicinal marijuana.

Anyway, journalists are like cops. People say they hate them until they need one. Then they just hope to survive the encounter.

 

Great post.

 

A hypothetical job-change question, based on a conversation the other day with a friend who's still employed in newspapers.

You're working in a newspaper job that's not safe -- it's at least 50/50 you'll be laid off in sixth months to a year. You get an offer for a non-newspaper job in a field that has stability and job security and includes benefits. You'd almost certainly accept it if you were already unemployed. But the money is 30 percent to 50 percent less than what you're currently making, and it might be a challenge (but by no means impossible) to live on that. So do you stay in the current job, try to ride it out as long as possible, and hope to somehow avoid the ax for at least a year or two? Or do you make the change and assure yourself of a steady (albeit lower-paying) job for the foreseeable future?

Whether or not you've faced this sort of decision, I'd like to hear your perspectives. In the interest of full disclosure, my friend (whose personal/family situation is a bit different than mine) says stick it out, while I'd seriously consider making the move.

 

I'd probably pass, unless I thought there was just no way I'd find a similar pay cut a year from now. If you get laid off in six months, you've already got six months extra salary as compared with the previous job, *plus* unemployment for quite awhile, during which time you can try to find something similar.

 

I'd say it depends on what the non-newspaper job is -- specifically whether it is something you're interested in, or have thought you might be interested in -- and whether you're actually wanting to get out of newspapers (but perhaps haven't been sure how to go about that, and that's why you haven't done so yet).

I know that makes for a lot of variables and sentiments involved. But the truth is, if you're not in a position where you actually have to make a move, well, those are things that are important, and to be considered seriously. Sentiments, and degrees of anxiety or unhappiness could be deciding factors absent any actual forced need for change.

Remembering how things were near the end of my newspaper career, and knowing what I know now, and with the perspective I have now, I would probably opt to leave. But that's now. Change is hard, and most people don't do it willingly or easily. Back then, I probably would've just stuck with what I knew, for as long as I could, just as it appears your friend is thinking of doing.

 

Does the job offer any room for advancement? That'd be an issue for me.

 

Can the move lead to more money? Do you have the possibility to get a raise or advance within a year or two?
Will the new job provide you with any additional skills to expand your current or future career prospects?
A 30 percent cut might be OK if its for a year and will lead to bigger and better things. A 50-percent cut is HUGE, depending on benefits.


Me, I'd be inclined to pass.

 

That's a good question, and it's one I faced about a year ago.

The pay difference was about $4/hour less, and the benefits were a wash (although it would have been 90 days before they kicked in at the new job).

Ultimately for me, although the new job would have been in the same town, it wasn't worth it to completely upend our family's schedule. As much as we second-shift deskers complain about our work hours, eventually you build your life around them, and with two kids in high school and my wife taking classes to change careers, it wasn't worth it to change.

A year or two from now my decision probably would be different.