Career suicide?

carl - then apply at for the obvious step up as a writer. why settle for something less just to save you 30-90 days at your current job? get you resume and clips together and make your cover letter sing.

don't give up before you even try.

 

If you are concerned about working 50 hours a week and getting no overtime GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS.

 

Ditto. It only gets worse as you move up. If you want to write, and cover a beat, get ready to put in more than 40 -- sometimes way more -- without being asked, or paid.

 

Oh, sorry ... I saw the topic and naturally thought this thread was about me. My bad.



Carry on.

 

50 with no overtime is a light week

(my editor is good about comp time, though -- too generous to certain staff members)

 

It's not all about you, da man.

I echo lone star. No benefits gig could be a possibility if you are single and healthy (or covered some other way) and it looks like a real good shot at a full-time position.

By the way, I do not think it is legal for a company to work you more than 30 hours a week on a regular basis and deny you benefits, so be wary. It may be that you work 40 hours for 4-5 months then are cut way back or are "laid off" till the next busy time comes.

 

At a "smallish" daily, 50 hours a week is the bare minimum the SE should be working. I'm a preps reporter at a 40K daily, and if I don't work 50 hrs in a week, I'm probably not doing my job.

Not to offend the deskers on the site, but the hours for those positions seem more normalized and require less off-the-books time. Maybe you should look into taking a desk-only job at a bigger paper. If you want to be in management or on a beat, you can't punch a clock.

 

I worked 75 hours last week, 75 hours the week before. Granted, I'm a one-man gig here, but it's part of the biz. There are plenty of writing jobs out there. I need a part-timer (I could pay up to $300 a week) but there aren't benefits.

Anyway, you'll find something.

 

recently, my weeks have been 60-hours plus with hardly any writing. I've had similar thoughts of downsizing and moving on. Benefits are huge. so is being able to eat. the biggest question is whether you can afford it.

 

Why not?

 

Plus you can come up with a new hybrid grass that will allow you to play 36 holes on it during the day and get stoned to the bajeezus that night.

CANNONBALL!!!!!!!!