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A Little Ditty About an Out-of-Work Sportswriter

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Riptide, Nov 15, 2015.

  1. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    I don't know what your job actually is so I am speaking here in generalities. But if someone like Bradley applied to write preps at a small suburban newspaper I don't think he would get an interview. He would be "overqualified". There would be a concern that all he wanted to do is write features every two weeks, even if Bradley swore in the interview that is not true.

    It is very hard to get a job when your professional achievements exceed those of your potential supervisor, in any field. Supervisor's do not like feeling threatened. I have seen it.
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2015
  2. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member


    I totally get what you're saying and I'm 100 percent sure there is truth and validity to it. I just don't think he's trying that hard to get a job if he's settling for cleaning the toilets and bathrooms at a private country club.

    FWIW, I don't cover high schools. I do college athletics. And he still strikes me as one to turn his nose up at my job. Not enough glamour or money in what I do for him. That's how it comes across to me.
     
  3. Bradley Guire

    Bradley Guire Well-Known Member

    He hasn't truly lived until he's typed multiple girls basketball boxes with scores like 57-12 four nights a week for months on end.
     
  4. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    Doc respect your posts and usually am on the same page with whatever you post, but in this case not so sure. You may have a point in that I don't think he would take a 25k a year job covering prep soccer, field hockey cross country etc. But I definitely do not think that means he turns his nose up at your job. You know who his brothers are right? One used to coach the US men's soccer team and the other was an MLB catcher for a few years who coaches Princeton. I would think he could land a decent job if asked either of them to make a few calls. But it seems he is looking for a job based off his resume, which IMHO is pretty damn solid. That he hasn't found something makes me think print journalism isn't a great field to be in at this time.
     
  5. fossywriter8

    fossywriter8 Well-Known Member

    Don't forget the JV. They work just as hard! </JV parent>
     
  6. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    Cjericho, totally agree with what you're saying here, it's just all in how you look at it.

    Yes, he is looking for a job based off his resume ... And he's not going to find a gig like that very easily. Most of those gigs are long gone and never coming back. He will, however, turn his nose up at a $10/hour UPS job. Well, there's a lot of journalism jobs out there paying less, some that pay the same and some that pay more. If he really wants in journalism, then he'll need to quit basing his job search on what his resume says he's qualified for and look for something more reasonable.

    I suspect he's looking for something that would equate to about $60K or more a year, which would be right around $30 an hour. That doesn't seem realistic if he really wants to work in journalism.

    I suppose I could be way off base though as I know I'm prone to be wrong occasionally. That's what the board is for: discussion, and the sharing of ideas and opinions.

    And you're totally correct in that journalism isn't a great field to be in at this time. It's as dead as it's ever been.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2015
  7. Twirling Time

    Twirling Time Well-Known Member

    Too bad all the Taste-Freezes are shut.

    (My local one, which is shockingly still open today, was more for playing pinball and Pac-Man than dribbling off Bobby Brooks.)
     
  8. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    Doc, the thing is a lot of papers won't even call back somebody with experience for an "entry-level" job.
     
  9. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    Yeah, I know there's a lot of folks out there that won't even give them a call, and I get that. But do you know why they won't call? Because the guys like him that are applying won't take the job when it comes down to it. And, if they do take it, they'll be there about a month and they're out the door after finding something better.

    What I'm saying is he needs to apply for jobs that are not entry level but aren't senior level either. Something that's in the middle of the periscope that says he's interested enough to do it longer than a month or two because the job actually has some meat on the bone and can be challenging for good coverage. I doubt he's applying at the Corpus Christi Caller Times, Des Moines Register or Roanoke Times.

    Why is this so hard to believe? Either he wants to work in journalism at a decent job or he'd rather clean bathrooms for $15 an hour. It's obvious what he has chosen to do. He doesn't want to work journalism if the job isn't on the cushy side.
     
  10. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    Maybe, maybe not. Even big papers higher new grads for jobs because they are cheaper.

    The Des Moines Register probably gets 150 applications for their mid-level jobs. I don't find it hard to believe that they might pass on potentially great when they have a stack of very good resumes they assume will work for $20K less.
     
  11. JayFarrar

    JayFarrar Well-Known Member

    Sometimes I think the people who post here are all performance artists.

    Anyway, if you're this guy and you have a wife, who has a job, and kids in the school system and a house that's on the backend of being paid off along with numerous connections in the industry and in the community you live.
    Do you:
    A) make do until something comes along
    B) throw away everything you've built to pursue a job two time zones away where you don't have any family connections or support system? Oh, and the job will pay half of what you made before

    For what it is worth, I have a buddy who works at a local country club. Clubhouse attendant and shoe shine guy, with tips he claims to make somewhere in the $50K range. That plus the free golf and the catering business he has going, he's probably he's making low six figures annually.

    What's Des Moines paying nowadays for an overqualified entry level reporter? Maybe low 30s.
     
  12. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    The thing is, your departure/ouster from journalism can be a release, and very freeing, and that's something you usually can't/won't realize until you are out for a while. You realize there are other worlds out there, other things, other jobs, more to life, and those things don't demand 24-hour and constantly immediate attention with relatively little reciprocal return.

    The longer you are away from it, the easier it is to stay away from it. It gives you a chance, and the perspective, that you otherwise wouldn't have, to perhaps even realize that you don't actually really want to work in journalism all that much anymore, and certainly not enough to want to chase after it very hard.

    That's what I think is happening here.
     
    cjericho likes this.
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