"Getting out of the business" resource thread

Your friend could always take the new job and continue on looking for a better gig. One thing that has changed in this generation, and maybe the last one as well is that employees change jobs much more frequently than in the past. Employers don't necessarily look at someone who changes jobs frequently as unreliable; some even think it shows that the employee is talented enough to have multiple employers want them.

However, it's also easier for someone to find a job when they already have one. Some employers still look down on hiring someone who is unemployed, as opposed to someone already employed. If your friend fears being laid off in 6 months, he may want to go on the crappy lifeboat and hope a better ship picks him up instead of hoping the Titanic stays afloat long enough for a rescue (sorry, couldn't resist).

 

Thanks for the thoughtful answers. All good responses.

It's obviously not a "one-size-fits-all" situation because so much depends on personal circumstances. For example, I'm pushing 60. Potential for advancement isn't a huge deal. A smaller salary, as long as the decline isn't too drastic, is better than none at all. My retirement savings, while considerably higher than average for my age group if published figures are correct, are by no means massive. Probably the major thing is to keep group health-care benefits for as long as possible before Medicare kicks in (wife is self-employed and doesn't have access to a group plan). As expensive as health insurance is on the individual market (with potential to get much more expensive down the road), it would eat into retirement savings in a hurry. But the current job probably is safe through at least early next year, and there will be severance pay on top of that. So it's a tough call.

 

My boss is 72. He had to go back to work - part time with no beneis - to pay for his wife's meds. They spend about $1500 a month. $600 a month on one item.

This is a retired banker with a $100k boat and few years removed from. Six-figure settlement from a bank he sued for discrimination, won and took a 2-year victory lap sailing the Mississippi, gulf, keys and Carribbean


At 60, I might be more inclined to take the pay cut for stability.

 

Bronco: You mention that the firm is stable and the field is stable, but is turnover at this company low? Are you confident something approximating what's on the table now will be there in 6 months, 12 months, 18 months?

 

Or, he could just sell the boat.

 

Right now the situation is hypothetical, something we were kicking around. No offer for me, nor my friend. Hard to say what kind of company (if any) might make an offer, and no way of knowing whether something offered, say, a month from now would be there again down the road. The one thing for sure is that a few companies in this metro area (corporate-type situations, marketing firms, newsletters and the like) are advertising for people with copy-editing/design experience, and newspapers most certainly are not.

 

If it were me I would just pass. I like what I do first of all, so I'm not going to just give that up for a shitty job that has better job security. Second, the finances don't seem to make sense to me. Take a 30% paycut, maybe 50% to work somewhere guaranteed vs. my current job, which is probably good for at least 6 months to maybe 2 years? It would take you four years at the shitty job to make the same amount in two years at your current job. Makes no sense to do that when you do the math. Finally, there's unemployment and severance pay when you actually do get the boot. Throw those financial incentives on top and the shitty job looks ... for lack of a better word ... shitty.

 

It's been on the market for about 18 months.
Work-wise he has a great gig: $60K a year for office hours from 8-Noon, Mon-Fri.

He does a ton of work on the boat. It's more work thany any house, car, combined.

 

So, at least temporarily, I've joined the ranks of former journalists. Closed my last magazine story for the foreseeable future today. (I'll probably still do some deadline sports stuff to keep those muscles working.) I've signed a couple of non-fiction book deals and for the first time convinced somebody to pay me to write film and TV scripts. So for the next couple of years, that's what I'm going to do. Books seem on the rebound and TV is in its golden age for writers. Movies, I don't know. Took me two years of pretty solid effort to get the screenwriting thing going for actual money rather than on spec. But there is work to be had if you're willing to smash your head against a wall for a while.

 

Them that can, do. Congrats.

 

So today, I got the call.

A large national insurance company had a marketing writer position open in September at their office roughly 45 minutes from my home. I applied. Interviewed over the phone with the HR lady. Thought it went meh, but whatever.

Few weeks pass, HR lady emails me, asks me to do a short 75-100 word writing sample on the company. I knock it out in about 15 minutes, email it back to her.

Few more weeks pass, HR lady emails and says they want me to come in for a group interview in the beginning of November.

Normally, I suck at group interviews. This one, though, even I thought went great. Two of the three interviewers said they loved my writing sample, they were stunned at my journalism skills. They tell me they had 40 resumes, and I was one of four that they brought in for an interview, so that I should be proud of myself. The job's from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. No weekends. They tell me they'll let me know the next week.

Next week, HR lady calls, and says that one of the company's marketing executives wants to interview me. She tries to make it for the end of the week, but also warned me that the exec was very busy and that the interview may get cancelled.

Morning of phone interview, I'm watching the clock, waiting to call the guy. 15 minutes before the time, HR lady calls, and cancels. He's also going away for Thanksgiving week, so that week's out.

Week after Thanksgiving, I get phone interview with marketing exec. I didn't think I did that great, but one thing the exec said was that he had been in TV news, so he knew there were some transitions to make, but that he knew the skill sets were similar. This left me with some hope.

Two more weeks pass, and today, I get the call.

They loved my skills, they were very impressed with me, and I was one of two people out of the original 40 applicants to make it through the whole process.

And they chose the other applicant.

Because they had more marketing writing experience.

 

Damn. I’m really sorry, but if you keep knocking on the door, it’s gonna swing open. I’m rooting for you ...