A Little Ditty About an Out-of-Work Sportswriter

This is a great perspective, and, I've found, one usually not gained until after the break is made. So, I think you're in a good place no matter what happens in the future. It's where I've come from since losing my last journalism job, landing at Walmart, and, beyond all expectations, actually liking it.

I think I'd still take a better, more white-collar type job if I could get one (if and after I felt like actually looking for one again, of course), but I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now, and so, not really being prompted to look too hard at this point.

 

Have the same exact problem. Nobody will hire someone who's been on a copy desk for 15 years. You have to have clips. All mine from my reporting days are long gone. Reporters do get all the PR jobs, usually from the organizations they've been covering.

 

Our desk's "missions" can be summarized as "Make deadline" and "Don't screw anything up." The goal is to be "good enough" -- obviously not the same as striving to be truly good. Not a lot of emphasis on lively page designs and creative headlines, although most of my co-workers are quite capable of producing them. It does get to the point, sometimes, where you feel like you're installing widgets on an assembly line.

 

Trust me Write, I did not come to this way of thinking overnight or easily. It's taken painstaking years of watching the industry change and decline. It's taken a plan that included saving back money for what I had no idea when I would need it or how I would use it. It's also taken a lot of heartbreak as I watch my own job crumble into meaningless "assembly line production" as SFIND so appropriately put it. The whole profession has just eroded and decayed over the past decade and with it, so has my love for it.

But, yes, I'm in a good place just waiting for that axe -- that I know will inevitably come -- to fall and lop off me head (sic intentional for humor when spoken with a British accent).

 

I like that phrase: production line work. With fewer people on staff, I spend more than half my week on desk, but I'm not a desker or a section editor. But we've redently switched to central desk, so I'm just moving copy down the production line to a designer a state away. Production line is a superb way to describe it.

 

Do you have any interest in technology? Tech companies need implementation specialists, project managers, and technical writers -- all of which suit a desker's ethos very well. (Sense of urgency, precision, and ability to make deadlines and communicate well.)

Also, teaching.

 

Several former co-workers of mine have gone into teaching and have done well. A few of them were copy editors.

In fact, back in the day, one of my favorite high school English teachers had been a copy editor at one of the daily newspapers on the fringes of the Chicago area -- I think it was either Waukegan or Aurora.

 

We have at least four desk people who teach part-time --- at universities. How on earth do they get these jobs?

 

I know I've been lucky in a lot of ways, but my advice to all would be to explore trade journalism and b2b media. There's so much more out there than newspapers and these jobs are going to pay more with other perks and regular hours. After a bad day as a sports editor for a small, and rapidly declining, daily, I applied to Penton and a hotel trade magazine about 8 or 9 years ago. Worked there for almost six, moved to magazines covering the restaurant world and foodservice and now in marketing for a hotel technology company. Those b2b brands are happy to hire "real" journalists, because of their ability to report, write and meet deadlines. Then you learn a new skill, a new industry and make lots of connections and there's another world of opportunity out there in content marketing. At Content Marketing World, there are entire sessions on why you should hire a journalist and how to find one. Sure, many of these jobs are for contract work, but it pays more than stringing games and opens a door. Knowledge of those industries certainly helps, but it's not necessarily required. Not saying it's easy, but there are better jobs out there you are qualified for.

And yes, if you talk to those in b2b media, those companies and jobs are in decline, suck, etc., but not like at newspapers. And once you learn an industry, there are more opportunities out there. Check out ASPBE, the Neal Awards, companies like Penton, Vendome, Questex, Crain's, Winsight, Advancestar and many more that have 20, 50, 100 media brands and events. And at some of them, there's even good writing and journalism going on.

 

I've actually thought of that but some circumstances have thrown a few monkey wrenches into those plans, not the least of which is my most recent college holding my transcripts hostages (long story). I'm still holding out hope on that, though.

 

Exactly what is "B2b." I see that a lot of companies putting "so and so years of b2b experience" but I'm not quite sure what it means.

 

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