Getting out ... just to get out

As long as your name isn't Larry, Darryl or Darryl.

 

Xan, that's an awesome story. And I'm in full agreement that a journalist's skills can be applied to many different fields, even in day-to-day life. You know how to read people, how to get a hold of information quickly, how to effectively communicate your thoughts, etc. In our field, a lot of it is being able to deal with people well and communicate well. Those traits should go a long way.

 

Depends on who's hiring. I've been turned down by some close-minded folks who have told me that my skills and experience won't help me outside of media, and that I should just stick to newspapers. Idiotic management isn't exclusive to media companies.

 

Bad managers seem to want to kill your entrepreneurial spirit and just make you conform to something bland and risk-free. In a creative field, that's suffocating and totally frustrating.

Two of my former papers just want to make deadline anymore. That's all that counts, and it shows. They both were conspicuously missing this year from the APSE award lists, and last year, too. They both used to clean up in multiple categories, but no more. It's sad to see.

 

I would like to add counseling/mental health to that list. I have been slowly easing my way out of the business over the last couple of months while building a client base in what is basically being a life coach while I am in school for my masters to become a licensed counselor. I will tell you, the skills to be a counselor are pretty much what we use all the time, really listening to what a source is saying, understanding the nonverbal body language that can give hints to things beneath the surface. Plus, you get to really help a population of the people who really need it. Right now, I am working with kids and it's amazingly fulfilling teaching them skills that may help them not be angry anymore or relax when they are about to throw a tantrum. If you can deal with the stress of deadline, you can play with kids for an hour and teach them life skills and deal with the stress of that.

 

This is true. When I was looking for work, I got a lot of, "Wow, what an interesting background!" But then they couldn't understand how my skills could help them.

There was this one place I interviewed for, where they asked me my strengths. I listed how I could take a lot of pressure, because I was used to deadlines. They looked at me, and said, "Well, we have a more relaxed atmosphere here." Didn't get the job.

 

Yep. I hear people in other careers who complain about their jobs just as much.

 

My mother has told me that when she interviews people (she's in social work), she interprets "I work well under pressure" as "I don't work well without pressure," particularly with regards to deadline pressure. In other words, saying you work well under deadline pressure can also mean you're the kind of person who leaves things until the last minute. Double-edged sword.

 

Baron's line likely wasn't the deciding factor in getting the job, either.

 

Bull. Saying you work well under deadline pressure means just that. If an interviewer interprets something different, they are making a huge mistake. Some people, such as myself, enjoy and welcome deadline pressure. It gives me a rush and when the task is completed, a sense of accomplishment.

 

True. They had said they were interviewing about 20 people. I always gave it some context, such as that I had the deadline every night and that nearly every night in sports, there were things that couldn't be started until right before deadline hit.

 

It could mean different things to different interviewers, though. Perception is reality.

When I returned from Peace Corps, I interviewed for a job that fit my skill set perfectly. The interviewer, who would have been the direct supervisor, verbalized the same thing. We had a great rapport.

But he kept looking down at my resume, and up to me. Finally he said, "I don't understand it. You've been around the world. Why would you want *this* job?"

He was serious. The job was amazing, paid well and in my hometown -- and, by his own admission, I was a perfect fit. But he was unable to accept that I would be happy there. (The job was not remotely related to journalism.)

It's hard to get past people's perceptions. It's not the first time I interviewed for something I felt would be an excellent fit but had the interviewer wrongly feel otherwise.

It's tough to make would-be employers understand how skills transfer into the positions they're trying to fill.