Breaking English rules to please your boss

Steak Snabler · Feb 12, 2010

Mustang, you'll never grow your career with an attitude like that ...

mustangj17 · Feb 12, 2010

crusoes said:

It was blocked at your old job?
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No but they block everything here. Like, well, Facebook and the sites of pornographic nature. (not that I've tried)

mustangj17 · Feb 12, 2010

J-School Blue said:

They technically call me a "consultant." Auditor/report-writer probably best describes what I do, however. I'm surprised at how many of my j-skills carried over pretty painlessly. The mortgage stuff can be learned like the stuff in any industry, the math is nothing more complicated than what I did in eighth-grade. Interviewing and getting information out of difficult sources (borrowers, employers, etc.) is a key part of what they want us to do, as if stuff like Internet research and sifting through county records (I did a hitch as county government reporter back in my j-days). The ability to analyze lots of information and boil it into something coherent is the big thing that I think has helped me do well-enough at it.

I actually found the place through JournalismJobs.com, as reporters were one of the specific sectors they were recruiting from. It's a pure-commission job (I technically have no salary) which is stressful in a very different way than reporting was stressful and is still pretty demanding in terms of time, so it's not for everyone. Right now I feel lucky to have landed it, however. The company's stopped hiring but I've heard through the grapevine they might want to start adding folks again in June (anyone interested can PM me for more info about this specific company, and I'll keep an eye on J-Jobs if they angle for employees there again.)

I do think journalists tend to undersell their skills. The job is very demanding and things like the ability to write clearly, analyze information quickly, and the expectation of a certain level of ethics are actually very desired in other industries. Hiring managers don't often understand everything a reporter does, but if you can find a way to explain it to them it can be fairly impressive.
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I was amazed how much the journalism skills carried over. I'm constantly interviewing people because they will send me advertisements and say "redo this but put in a portion about general liability coverage."

Well that's great, I can write anything you want, but I'm not an underwriter so, how about you have your underwriter tell me what to put on the page and I'll make it look like a grown up wrote it and not a fourth-grader.

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Breaking English rules to please your boss

Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

mustangj17 Active Member

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Breaking English rules to please your boss

Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

mustangj17 Active Member

mustangj17 Active Member

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