"Getting out of the business" resource thread

He could work for free. There have been people on the freelance help wanted board looking for that.

 

Some of that, though is that they don't have to pay managers overtime. They save on paying regular employees extra for the extra work.

 

You'd think that would be the case, but no. You won't find these people working nights and weekends. These are cushy 8-, 9-6 jobs filled with meetings, naval gazing and looking at the big "metrics" board all day. And figuring out who will be the next to go during the inevitable round of layoffs in the coming months.

 

I wouldn't say I'm necessarily getting out of the business, but I'm getting out of the traditional newspaper business.

I start a new job as Digital Editor of a weekly legal publication next week. Definitely getting a nice bump in pay, no longer an hourly employee too. I have my reservations about getting out of sports journalism full-time for a little while, but I am looking forward to the opportunity to gain some valuable experience on the web side in an editorial role under my belt. I'm still planning to do some freelance sports writing on the side, along with starting a blog and YouTube channel in the future, but I feel like perhaps this will be a great chance for me to transition into a better position down the road.

 

What a Kansas professor learned after interviewing a 'lost generation' of journalists

 

"An organizational depression." Yup.

 

It has been far too long sine I last posted here, but much has happened in the last year.
I went from sports reporter to managing editor to out of the business altogether. It has been arguably the most stressful and depressing 14 months of my life, and that is saying something. I am now in the stage of "I don't have a clue what is next for me." My journalism career came to an end on Aug. 5 and I have been rudderless since. My career ended with a lot of anger, frustration and disrespect. For the first time in my life I was seeing a therapist. I spent my 14 years in the business going out of my way to treat co-workers and employees with fairness and respect, and then spent the last year basically getting shit on.
In many respects I am happy to be out and leaving all of the BS behind. I will never work for another paper again, not because I couldn't but because I can never again reconcile the hours, the stress, the isolation and the low pay that the job entails. But I still love writing, I still believe in the power of journalism, I just can't do it anymore.
The problem is I still do not know what is next. My wife and I are having to move because of my loss of income and the current economy in Alberta, particularly my region of Alberta, does not leave me many opportunities to do much of anything here. So we are off to the Edmonton area where hopefully there are a few more opportunities. I know something will eventually come along, even if it means I become a sandwich artist (thank god my wife has a job as well, but still need a way to make ends meet).
What I do know is whatever I do next I refuse to live to work, I must work to live.

 

Sorry to hear it. Brighter days are ahead.

 

What I admire is that you reached out to a professional who's a neutral party. It's been very helpful for me, especially when I do my weekly bitch session about SJ. (Not really.) This business sucks the marrow out of you, and it's emotionally draining at times. Getting that out is important and refreshing. Good luck, Beef. If what everyone else says is true, you'll regret not doing it earlier.

 

Here's a nuts-and-bolts question: What is an easy way to present a portfolio of page designs, infographics and photos online?

My position as a page designer is going away and I need a method to quickly show a portfolio of work to perspective employers. My web design experience is limited to GoLive pages that I built more than a decade ago. While I hope update my online skills as part of the next job I take, my recent online duties were pretty much limited to pushing content to a fairly large online system run by a staff of IT folks.

I would also appreciate any suggestions about how to promote those visual communications skills to other careers (public and media relations, advertising, etc.)

 

I would get a mix of things that are available via work -- your old GoLive pages, some infographics and examples of what pages look like now that you contribute to.

If you want to show off more than cookie cutter design you are stuck in now, can you start a blog and do some more creative stuff and use that to include in your portfolio.

When we have interviewed "communications" people for a corporate role, we were happy if they showed up with any examples of their work. That may not be the case for some marketing, ad, PR type roles, though.