"Getting out of the business" resource thread

Most PR jobs, especially those as a SID, would consider journalism work as experience.

Sometimes you just have to get lucky and find a hiring manager who respects the skills that journalists have. I had so many interviews where they couldn't have given half a shit about anything I had done and then finally, at a really big company, the hiring manager said, "Journalism, I love it. It will be nice to have someone who won't be scared by deadlines."

I hope everybody finds a person like that. I'd be embarrassed to list the jobs I was turned down for before I got my current gig, which I love and where I've been for almost four years.

No bullshit, I was on the verge of becoming a TSA agent before I got my current gig. The economy was that bad and I was that desperate.

 

Digging up this thread because I'm pretty close to calling it quits. I've been doing this since my teens, and it's hard to imagine walking away, but I need to.

I recently got turned down for a few jobs that would've kept me in the business longer, so now I'm realizing it's time to go. I'm in my 30s and I've plateaued in my current realm -- I'm in a good spot, but I'm not moving upward. I have to talk myself into going into work every night, and it's been that way for a while.

Thing is, I really don't know what to do. I don't want to go back to school. I'm not in a financial situation where I can afford to up and quit. Bills have piled up. I'm lost in general, and the job is a big part of it. I feel like I have the aforementioned journalism PTSD.

 

I feel ya, wicked. I've considered just quitting. Completely. When I get to work on Wednesday (I'm off Monday and Tuesday), I start to tear up.

I've applied for a handful of jobs over the past year only to learn after the fact that they all know my boss. I don't think he's sandbagging me but after no fewer than five in a row, I start to wonder. But, even if he's not, I get nervous that they may inquire about me, causing negative feelings from my boss, leading to an even-more unhappy environment.

 

It's really hard to walk away without getting pushed out the door. That's why I have so much respect for people like Dick, who walked away on his own and went to law school.

The cliche is that it's easier to find a job when you have a job. I'm not completely sure that's 100 percent if you're in journalism and trying to find a job outside of journalism.

The problem that people who were in journalism find when they hit the open job market is that most employers assume you'll eventually go back to journalism because they have some crazy romanticized idea that it's the perfect job.

Don't quit unless you have something else lined up. That might be another job, that might be school, but don't walk away on your own without something else lined up. I know a couple people who got themselves fired intentionally so they could get unemployment. Both were successful in doing it and still being able to collect unemployment (one was smart about it, one was incredibly stupid) but if you do something obvious and they fight it, you might not get it.

 

I didn't find it hard to walk away. At all.

 

This.

I left six months ago. I miss it, but not enough to go back.
I work for a Chamber of Commerce and EDA. Love it.
I'm also told many of the skills possessed by journalism folks - liberal arts skills; critical thinking, problem solving, working in a group/teamwork setting - are in demand among corporate folks.

 

The problem is that if you know how to sell yourself, you can make a pretty strong case that the tools in your toolbox work every bit as well for, say, PR or marketing as they do for print journalism. But a) it's tough to sell yourself successfully, and b) even if you can, you're often going up against people who don't have to work as hard to make the case because they have the specific experience you're trying to replicate with abstractions. Your journalism background translates well to media relations and crisis communications? Great! Our last three interviewees have media relations jobs for tobacco companies and the oil industry!

As for the cliche itself: I think it's more a matter of not feeling pressure in finding a job when you have one than it is actual success in finding it. When you have a job, if you get another job, it's gravy, and if you don't, well, at least you're still employed. If you don't have a job, every failure is magnified because you have all the time in the world to focus on that (and your stack of past-due bills and your dwindling accounts).

 

It's interesting... I am frequently told by people still in the business that I was better off getting let go and having my hand forced into finding a new career.

I don't know if this is the case or not. As someone who was let go with a pregnant wife I would have liked to have not dealt with the stresses that come with that, but that doesn't make me any different from hundreds of other people who lost their gigs under less than ideal timing.

But I have several friends who have been talking endlessly for six years about how badly they want out of the business, but are still in the business.

I also know others, who were super close to getting out around 2008-09, but they rode it out and are better off as a result.

 

In theory, it's a good thing to have your hand forced into a new career, but that requires a career being there, or working out.

I was laid off near the end of 2008 and went 18 months before finally finding a job in corporate communications, one that soured within a few weeks and ended up leaving me unemployed again after another 18 months. Six months of unemployment on top of that, I'm back in newspapers, where I've been for the past two years. I told myself that it was a far better thing to rip the bandage off and suffer the indignities of joblessness for the long-term goal of a more stable career. Except it never happened. From the end of 2008 to the middle of 2012, there was a two-month period where I felt confident that I'd have a job one year from that moment.

Ultimately, your immediate needs outstrip the 50,000-foot view. When I lost my most recent job, I made a good faith effort to look for more stable, sane corporate communications/marketing/media relations-type jobs. But when the newspaper offered me a position, I didn't waste a lot of time thinking about the future of the industry. The only future you care about at that point is whenever your next paycheck hits your checking account.

 

I'm still trying to get out. At the time of my last post (December), I was considering doing so but thought some more interviews I had might come through with an offer. None of them did. I couldn't even get seasonal part-time work for the local MiLB team, and I decided once that didn't work, I needed to give it up and walk away.

The real kicker, of course, was a new hire getting the hours I wanted (I have been with my current company for four years and my current team a little over a year; the new hire has worked there less than six months) because he is getting married and needed accommodations for all his wedding appointments. And he continues to say he needs time off, and of course, who is asked constantly to take his shifts? Coupled with the fact that one of my other colleagues has a kid and can never work late, as well as that no one can ever seem to cover for me when I want time off, I've decided to look elsewhere.

I'm trying to job search now but was turned down from a communications job at a college alumni office a couple months ago and never heard back from a similar job at a hospital. I did manage to find some time for a volunteer social media gig, and I've considered a social media career, but not sure if that's much better than journalism. Sounds like a growing field, though, and I like the volunteering so far.

I want out for real, as I just want a normal lifestyle. I get down watching my friends do things like go to hockey games, go out to dinner in groups and not even invite me along because of my crazy schedule. They all seem to have time I don't and my social life is lacking as a result. I used to be OK with working evenings and things because I thought it would lead somewhere, and now I will be 29 next month and it hasn't paid off at all. Sadly, this is the only thing I've ever wanted...to eventually get in with a sports team, or to even have better hours at my current position. Now it's just not happening and I don't know what to do next.

 

I know what you mean. Eventually I would tell people I was married to my job because my job would never screw around on me.

Oh, how wrong that was.

What I'm trying to do now is find outlets away from traditional journalism. I tried for a job at the university where I graduated in corporate communications. Not selected for an interview. Tried for an athletic communications job at one of our state universities. Nothing.

I've learned to branch out in terms of where to look. I want to try and move on eventually (unless where I am at now a position magically opens up), but so far no dice. This despite 20 years of experience in the business.

 

This is what I'm doing. I applied for a position at my current place that I've always wanted to have. Interviews haven't even started, so I'm not sure how much of a shot I have at it (I've been told there are plenty of internal candidates) and I don't know what kind of hours I'll have to work. I mean evenings are obviously a possibility, but some people in this position do mornings/afternoons too. We'll see.

I can't relate to the 20 years of experience label, but I met another ex-newspaper guy who was in the same boat. Tons of experience, won awards for his coverage and when it came time for job cuts and finding something new, none of it mattered. He eventually found some freelance work and was fortunate that his wife had good-paying work with benefits.