"Getting out of the business" resource thread

Piece of advice for all of you: Please play up your versatility. I’ve been on calls/Zooms lately where people are talking in two different “languages” and can’t understand what the other party is trying to say or accomplish. As journalists we learned things on the fly, and we “translated” for our audiences. I recently had a half-hour Zoom that if it were just me on there it would’ve lasted 10 minutes. One person didn’t understand file sizes, another person didn’t understand how much file storage space was needed to host all the media elements, a third person didn’t understand that if we cut file sizes we were going to need to drastically change the role we play for our clients.

(Doubt this gets back to my employer... but it’s not a criticism. I love my colleagues. It just shows that most people don’t have to travel through as many realms as we do every day.)

 

I’ve been a contractor at my gig for a little over a year now. This week they brought me on full-time. (They use contractors, it seems, as a way of seeing who they’ll keep and who they won’t.)

I don’t have a ton of wonderful skills, but now I’m:

— Making almost $10k a year more than my last year in journalism, and that included the occasional OT shift and differential pay
— Working much better hours, without giving up a dime
— Much better working conditions
— Working in a supportive environment where it’s not always every person for themselves

My advice to the 99 percent: Get out. Now. You’d be better off driving a UPS truck than falling into the drink with the runt of this racket.

 

I'm sorry I missed this earlier a couple weeks ago when you first posted it. But I'm so glad and happy for you that this has worked out well, because I remember your uncertainty and concern when it all started. I am not, however, surprised.

 

Be patient. You are infinitely more skilled, far more able to turn around an assignment on a deadline than someone who's never worked in a newsroom, and far more adept at far more things than you might realize.

I spent eight months on the unemployment line after being let go during the pandemic, only to get a job last month which pays 30 per cent more to start than the job I had for nearly two decades.

I got the job because I came into the interview with a vision for where they might need the position to go, they bought in, and we made a match because of it.

I lost several jobs because I'd been pigeonholed into the role of "the sports guy" and no matter what I said about how I can do literally anything, nobody believed me.

As several people on this thread have mentioned, it just takes one employer to give you the in you need for a new career. Now that I'm getting experience, I'm on the inside instead of the outside looking in.

It was worth the wait.

 

Not gonna disagree with Get Out, but not too sure about better off driving a UPS truck. Never did it, but know several who did or still do.

 

UPS drivers are Teamsters and can make low six figures.

 

Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in!

I haven't covered high school football in a decade. Straight up, my last season in the newspaper business was 2011.
The main guy at a local web outlet reached out to me and asked if I'd cover a game tonight. I thought for a minute, figured I like the guy and was willing to help him out, didn't have anything else going on, and he offered me money.
I can't say being on deadline was something I enjoyed, but writing the story was the proverbial just like riding a bike.
I was seemingly out of place keeping stats and a play chart on paper while the guy who now has my old job at the paper did it on a phone app connected to his laptop. That was foreign to me.
The strangest thing by far was the reception I got by other media members, fans, and referees: "Hey, you covering the game tonight?" like I had just been there last week or in a deep freeze somewhere.

IN CASE OF FOOTBALL, BREAK GLASS! GRAY BEARD INSIDE.

 

If I could cover one or two games a year, that’d hit the sweet spot.

Last night I was at the breweries near my house and I was thinking about how Fridays were long occupied by newsroom drama and on-the-field drama. Can’t say I miss it.

 

I graduated high school in May of 2000. the next day I started as a part-timer in our local sports department designing our daily agate page. I put my two weeks in at my current shop today. Nearly 22 years later, I'm out on my own terms.

 

When it’s time for something new, sometimes inertia can prevent you from pulling the trigger.

Good for you, Bumpy! And good luck with whatever comes next.

 

Congrats. You’ll find life is much healthier on the outside.

 

After being laid off three years ago, I took a job driving rental cars that I hoped would be a stopgap for a few months until I found something else.

Hundreds and resumes and a handful of interviews later, looking at jobs like copywriting. PR, content marketing and the like. I’m still driving rental cars. It’s a little disheartening to think it’s the best I can do, but it seems like I may need to accept that.

Am I at a point where the amount of time since I’ve been laid off from the full-time newspaper job without finding something is a red flag or liability?