"I'm leaving the business": How do people react?

Great stuff, Kaylee.

Until this fall, I had not seen many college football or college basketball games for years because I was always working the desk, and even though the TV was up there on the wall, I never had time to look up and watch, and the shitbags I worked with couldn't take it if the sound was turned up.

I love the college games. To work on those games and not be able to follow the action and the drama and especially the in-game analysis was not fun. And then you have to write all those headlines on deadline about the games you didn't get to watch, and although it's easy enough to do, you could always write better headlines if you got to watch and hear parts of the game, and especially the dramatic conclusions.

Geez, I mean, give us a little time to think on the job. Nobody wants to write a headline straight off the AP lede.

 

That shouldn't sting. That should make you proud of your dad.

Anyone who can punch the clock at a factory for 30 years knows what it means to take care of his family.

Hat's off to your dad.

 

I was kinda surprised at the reaction when I got out. I thought people would make fun of me for going into librarianship, but almost to a tee they were amazed and thought it was cool. I remember one fantasy football draft when I was telling people, and one guy was going out about how awesome it was. He knew nothing about the newspaper biz, just thought that I was going into a good field. That made me feel good.

I've always had supportive friends so they never made me feel bad about changing careers. It's turned out to be a great move since I ended up working in a great place. Even worked as a stringer at my old place for a few years, and freelance some on the side.

Wouldn't say that librarianship is the greatest way to go; lots of funding issues there and it's tough to break into a good, full-time job. But it worked for me and I was supported by friends.

Even if though don't support you, tell 'em to go fuck themselves!

 

I bowed out of sports writing about two months ago after five years.

My thinking was: there are too many people trying to chase down a decreasing number of jobs, and I hear very few people around me in the biz give gleaming endorsements about their jobs, lifestyles, or paychecks.

Do I miss the buzz of Friday night football and the rush of cranking out a compelling game story a couple hours later against deadline? Sure. For a second. Then I go back to sipping my gin and tonic at happy hour, actually hanging out with friends and family on the weekends, and doing it all while counting the hundreds of extra dollars a month I have in my pocket.

My salary increased by 90 percent. No lie. Either my last stop as a sports writer paid smaller peanuts than I thought, or I just got really lucky when I left the biz.

I'd say in hindsight it's a little of both. Once this new 9-5 gig made me an offer, after I picked up jaw off the floor, those same sort of questions about me giving up the profession came up. My response was "It's just business. I've got to do what's best for me." Usually did the job.

And for those wondering, I work in corporate communications now. It's a different world for sure, but I can't admit to any regrets so far...

 

Ain't it great just to go hang out with friends and watch Hometown High beat the fuck out of the Vicious Vistors?

Hey, games can be fun again. And you don't have to take notes or anything else.

 

Indeed. I'm learning what the words "fan" and "social life" mean again.

 

God am I glad somebody started a thread about this.

I love what I do. Honestly, I do. But here's the thing. Ever since I arrived at my current gig, life has been a balancing act, especially financially. Student loans, car payment (on a very modest vehicle), cheapest rent I can find this side of section 8, power, cable... at the end of the month, I just can't afford for anything to go wrong, be it with my car, my health, whatever.

Well, in the last few months, shit's been going going, thankfully with the car. But I look around, and all I see is a big fucking hole, with no bottom and no way to pull myself out with my current work situation. Every month I flirt with late fees on just about everything, tap-dancing and trying to time things out so I don't overdraw my account and really screw myself royally.

I see friends both in and out of the business who are successful. And after some introspection, I think the problem is with me. Sure, the job market sucks, but it sucks for everyone. It's sort of like a minor-league ballplayer, you know? You've got some talent, but maybe you need to own up to the fact you'll never make a decent wage doing what you love... and you need to move on. Or maybe I just need to pull my head out of my ass.

To those who have left the business, any advice either publicly or via PM would be greatly appreciated.

 

And oh yeah - I'd be remiss to mention that this is the first time I haven't had to work two jobs just to make ends meet in five years...another perk to the outside world.

 

Great topic.

I got out of sports more than two years ago (started in print in college, moved to TV and radio full-time but "kept" a toe in the "written word" throughout. In sports 10 years total).

It struck me when I was in the crummy Metrodome press box three years ago, covering a Vikings game on Christmas Eve (eating the Vikings' crappy food -- worst in the NFL, right?), when my wife and two kids (2 and six weeks at the time) were three hours away, back at home. I had been looking for the "exit plan" casually but that day, as I drove back in a snowstorm, sealed it for me.

I was able to walk away from sports five months later after a merger/buyout at my station left all of my colleagues fired, except for me and one other employee. I stayed in journalism but moved to a much more relaxed job in a different city (doing news, Ron Burgundy-style!). I never realized just how much the managers took advantage of my work ethic in sports...until I got out.

While I don't get the supposed "thrill" of slapping together all of the Friday night football games for the late news, I did keep this promise: No high school sports when I'm 35. None. At least, now, I get to only watch the sports I care about (college football) and the sports reporters at my current shop usually enlist me once or twice a year to cover the local NFL team (off-air, just to gather sound since I know the media protocol).

Now, I just get a "thrill" from more money, better hours (I worked just one weekend day in 2+ years). It's paying off with my family. My marriage has never been better and my kids are fairly sharp because we both can give them all our energy.

 

Just look at the job ad for any kind of communications/PR job: ability to multi-task, working on deadline, self starter, able to work on your own and as part of a team, ability to work with a range of people, written and verbal communication skills.

Anyone who's been in the newspaper business has every skill they are looking for. The trick is convincing non-newspaper folks that those skills translate to a 9-5 office job. They do. Trust me.

Another thing: Learn page design skills! This will help a bunch. Most jobs want you to do some type of layout for newsletters or publications. Also, if you're seriously looking to get out of the business and you have a chance to be an asst. sports editor or even a sports editor at a small place, take it. Having supervisory experience on your resume is a big help.

If you have writing skills, page design skills and supervisory experience of some kind, you're a prime candidate for a lot more jobs than you think. Also, definitely look into learning Dreamweaver or some other web skills. EVERYONE is concerned about their website these days.

 

Strikes me that, as so many of us think about leaving the business, the real issue for a lot of us is that the business has left us.

I like what I do almost as much as the day I started. But I'm disgusted by the lousy leadership, the ruthless owners, the panicky cutting of costs, slashing of talent and purging of quality. There are hardly any role models in this business, when you look up the ladder in your newsroom, aside from the occasional noble and put-upon department head who is trying to hold the fort against the hordes of management. Our best days now are limited to acting professionally and finding satisfaction IN SPITE of how the paper is being run, not because of it.

Newsrooms aren't fun places, and colleagues aren't as colorful anymore as they are just bitter. Even if you get a two or three percent raise, your workload goes up 5-10 percent a year with smaller staffs, blogs, podcasts, etc. Little movement in the industry means fewer chances for promotions or to learn new skills (other than survival). Meanwhile, the teams and the athletes don't even pretend to need us anymore and never hesitate to remind us that we're losing our impact.

It's like that old Sunset Boulevard line: We didn't change, it's the newspapers that got small.

 

No one in your peer group, who knows the most about our business, would begrudge you in the least. That should tell you all you need to know.

I always have one eye open at outside possibilities. And when - or if - the right fit comes along, I'll jump, with no regrets whatsoever.