"Getting out of the business" resource thread

My father actually made the jump from journalism to being an investigator with the public defender's office almost 30 years ago. He had a journalism degree, was in that economic downturn, and was lucky enough to get a job with the public defender's office. But he's not a paralegal.

I don't know if that type of certification would be needed now, but I don't see why, other than the paper certificate. It's the same skills. You go out interview witnesses, come back and write reports. You also serve supboenas, which can be a harrowing experience.

Actually, he was visiting in the area recently and had a client in another jursidiction that once lived here. He needed info, so I filled him in on a related case and we went to the local cop shop to talk to the authorities further. He asked the cop the same questions I do every day, just got better answers because he isn't the media.

It's a good gig and very interesting. I imagine if there was such a job open and you showed them your skill set, you'd have a good chance at getting the job without paralegal school, which seem like scams in a lot of cases, truthfully.

 

what's a good thing to put under "objective" that could be used for several different careers that could use the skills I currently have?

 

I don't think you need "objective" on there at all. If you are sending a resume to a company, your obvious objective is to get the job. That's one of those space-fillers that college kids put on their resumes because they don't have enough other stuff yet to fill up the page IMO.

 

General question: Do recruiters still exist? If I were interested in working in a specific industry or with a specific organization (like state government or Target) are there still recruiters I could speak with to get an idea of what jobs are available and what skills they're looking for? Or has everything gone the way of monster.com?

 

Recruiters or headhunters definitely still exist. I think they're more active in some industries than others. I know that for legal jobs attorneys at big firms are constantly getting cold calls from headhunters looking for talent. A buddy of mine worked briefly as a headhunter focused on business management a couple of years ago.

A search for "headhunters" on google popped up a few directories where you can search by industry. I don't know how reliable those are.

 

I saw someone earlier had posted the PRSA site. You can also check out the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators). I suspect I'll be going to conference in NYC next June.

www.iabc.com

As well, I know how much blogs and Twitter and the like are derided on the site.

A note to anyone looking to get into marketing and communications: Embrace social media. Learn about it. Love it. Know how to use it.

My institution is investing $10,000 in making me its social media expert. If a company or institution doesn't have one, it needs one.

 

To wit, Oregon State has just created a position called Social Media Specialist. See the Nov. 5 post on biggloriousmess.wordpress.com

If it wasn't for that damn green card thing, I'd be all over this.

 

This might help for the interview portion of your job search:

http://dev.fyicenter.com/Interview-Questions/Sixty-Four/index.html

 

Is there any more life in setting up a discussion of the Richard Bolles book What Color Is Your Parachute?

I still believe it would be extremely helpful to many posters here, and I would be willing to participate.

 

Just beware of the places that want you to pay them. If it's not a company that is getting paid by the company that hires you, it's a colossal waste of your time.

 

I've posted a <a href="http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/63834/">new poll</a> on Anything Goes about emergency savings. Hopefully it will spawn some good discussion about creating an emergency fund and how to use it if you find yourself without income.

 

I just read through this and there's a lot of good stuff. Thank you everyone for what you've shared.