To ex-journalists who have made career changes...

Draw on your ability to research, fact-check and compile even more than you think about your writing skills. Those research talents will help you re-brand your resume, etc.

 

I made the switch a few years ago from the sports desk after 10 years in writing/editing/pagination.

The good thing about the sports desk is that, being nights, you have lots of ways to build on your experience dayside. Not that it's fun, but gaining experience elsewhere can help build the resume with non journalism activities and also help get your foot in the door at a company that will then recognize which of your skills play in their industry.

Sensing that it might be time to switch careers, the last two years I was on the desk I also temp'd during the day. It was hard - sometimes the company needed a full time temp so it was 16 hour work days plus commuting time. But out of it I landed a data analyst role. I had always incorporated sabermetrics in my writing but did not have any influential studies out there that would otherwise indicate to a company that I would fit there. Getting to know me though, they saw first hand what I could do and I learned their business enough that they didn't have to take long on training me.

I occasionally recruit journos to apply for positions at my shop. None have landed yet for what I see as two main reasons: 1) most are looking for communications roles which are hyper competitive like reporter jobs. Our last one attracted nearly 150 resumes for a 700 person company in a mid sized city. 2) Feedback has been that when we screen candidates, many of the journalists don't position their strengths well for the job they're applying for. Instead it sounds like they're applying for the job they already have. My advice - talk to someone who has already made the switch that you trust. Don't ask for a job, but ask what they would look for in a resume and an interview. Show them your resume and ask for advice. Be open to suggestion and not defensive. They can help you figure out what companies are looking for and how it lines up with what you have. And generally, having made the switch, they'll be sympathetic to what you're trying to do.

And if you don't have someone you trust to ask, message me. I won't know everything about everything but I know the struggle.

 

It seems crazy, but I got out 8-years ago. I loved the job, but I met my soon "to-be" wife and knew that it probably wouldn't work. I went back to school and became a teacher. It was the best decision I've made in my life. After the grind of sports journalism, teaching really is a nice alternative if you like kids. If you don't, do something else. after five years of just teaching English, I went to a new school where I teach Journalism. Next year, I'm adding a sports journalism class. It's funny how things come full circle.