Tough time to find a new job

I feel for all you guys. Definitely makes my situation sound a lot better.

My wife just graduated last year. I managed to put her through school on my shitty journalism salary, now she's working in the medical field.

Going back to school in the fall. I'd love to make a go of it in newspapers, but as a friend of mine said - you can take the crappy environment and crappy pay, but you can't take not having a job.

 

I know it's pretty tough finding a job right now, but really, it's not as tough as everyone is making it sound. It's VERY tough in this industry, but I have a few friends that just graduated college who picked up great jobs within a couple weeks of classes being over. It's not impossible to find a job if you are actually qualified for it. Problem is, none of us with these worthless journalism degrees are qualified to do anything.

 

So what kind of great jobs did your friends pick up?

 

This is the worst job market since 1982 and one of the worst in US history. Two friends straight out of college aren't an accurate sample size.

Would you care to elaborate on your friends' degrees, new careers and how they got those jobs? Did they intern at these places? Do they know someone who works there? Are these jobs in direct correlation with their degrees? (Ex. Business finance degree = financial advisor) What's their situation?

I don't have a journalism degree. I've got a media and public communications degree (BA '07). I studied marketing, pr, project presentation, and did tons of research, analysis and writing. Everything I learned in journalism came from part-time work experience during college. I've got work experience in sales and some marketing, along with 18 and counting full-time months at a newspaper.

I've researched tons of jobs, types of resumes and cover letters, gotten feedback on said documents, and went to a career counselor for advice/critiquing. I've toned my resumes to specific career fields and jobs in those career fields.

I'm very good with people and every job interview I've ever had, I've nailed and gotten the job.

Don't tell me it's "not that hard" to find a new job in this economy. That's bullshit.

 

Just got an e-mail from the state confirming someone else got the job I applied for. That's two state jobs I interviewed for that went to someone else.

Applied this week for a third one, and there's a media job I applied for last month that I haven't heard anything on yet. Got my fingers crossed.

Yes, it's a tough time to find a new job. It has been for the entire nine months I've been looking.

 

I would say apply for the reporter opening in International Falls, but it was just filled.

 

Just found out the person doing the hiring for the other job I interviewed for is going on vacation after next week and might not make a hire until the end of the month. The waiting continues.

 

Sorry If I struck a nerve, I'm just trying to shed some positive light amongst all this 'doom and gloom' bullshit that everybody else wants to write about all the time. OK?

I am sorry if it didn't quite come off that way. I'm not saying it's not difficult, I know it's difficult. But you know what, I happen to think that the friends I have who just got jobs are a pretty good sample size, because I don't happen to personally know thousands of people looking for jobs. Of those that I do know, they're having success. My bad again, I guess.

First off, no, they did not intern at those places. One of them up and moved across the country, started looking once they were there, and found a good job in 2 weeks. Another moved a considerable distance away as well. Yes, their jobs directly correlate to their degrees, which gets to the point I was trying to make. Journalism degrees equate to journalism jobs and not much more. Those who were smart enough to pursue degrees in marketing, education, healthcare (basically anything NOT media related) seem to be having success, at least those that I know.

But overall, what I was trying to get across is this: THERE'S HOPE. I'm going back to grad school to try and rectify the biggest mistake of my life, which was getting a J degree. One of my friends (and again, sorry that I don't have thousands to reference here) got a job in marketing. I am going to get an MBA with an emphasis in marketing. Sorry that the fact that she got a great job so quickly gives me hope.

I honestly am not trying to offend anyone. I have to find a new job when I return to grad school and I expect it to be tough. Then again, I'm not qualified to do anything other than this, so what should I expect? I guess that's my point. But when I go get a real degree, I will be qualified and am quite confident I will find a job. I have hope.

Hopefully others can maintain hope as well.

 

One thing I've learned (or, I've been reminded of) is being able to persuade someone you can do the job is perhaps as important, maybe more, than being able to do the job. To get to prove you can do it, you've got to be damn good at selling yourself. You have to be your own marketing person, your own PR person.

The hardest part in this job market is the selling. Doing the job is far less difficult to navigate.

Still looking, by the way.

 

I've convinced myself (rightly or wrongly) that you're going to be qualified for the vast majority of jobs you apply for... within reason. Jobs in general just aren't that difficult. They're time consuming, can be trying at times, all that... but you can pretty much perform what you need to perform regardless.

It's a matter of overcoming whatever weaknesses employer X sees in your resume. I'm not being a cocky dick or anything, but coming out of college I could have launched into a major market and done a bang-up job, and I'm assuming I wasn't alone. But you've got to flash some kind of persuasive skill on the interview because whether its warranted or not, you're not getting the job over an old-timer. Not usually anyway. Just have to do enough to get your ass in the interview.

 

There is truth in what you say, potato.

Listen up, old-timers: You're going to have to go through me for the next job!

;D

 

I thought about this thread this weekend, when I got the call telling me I didn't get the job I interviewed for in another state late last week.

Tough time, indeed. I've had seven serious interviews in 11 months. Two were with state agencies that hired people with experience working in P.R. One was with a small Southeast Texas paper whose sports editor said he'd call me back a week after our phone interview, and he never did. I read about the hiring a week later on here. One was with another Southeast Texas paper that contacted me about an opening, interviewed me (on my own travel dime) on May 21, replied to my June 4 e-mail by telling me it would take a little longer for a decision, replied to my July 4 e-mail by saying the same, and then hired someone last week and never contacted me until I asked today if I'd heard correctly that the job had been filled.

It's people like that who don't deserve the jobs they have. You say you're going to let me know? Then let me know. You approach me about a job and interview me? Please have the courtesy to let me know I didn't get it three months later. Act like a professional.

In July I applied for one of the more high-profile jobs in the country. In August I did the same. In both cases, I was one of three to interview. Both places were professional, thorough, courteous, paid my expenses, treated me with respect and called me soon after making the offer, letting me know quickly I wasn't hired. It wasn't fun to learn I didn't get the jobs, but it was nice to be treated the right way. I didn't have a problem honoring their request to keep the bad news under wraps until everyone was told, because I knew I wouldn't want to hear about it on SportsJournalists.com or through the grapevine. I have a lot of respect for those who make the extra effort to do it the right way.

The seventh interview was a phoner for a job that's still open. Since applying for that one a few weeks ago, I have applied for 10 others. Almost a year of unemployment has taught me to take nothing for granted.

Good luck to everyone who's looking, and congratulations to the freshly hired.