Career suicide?

Let's say an SE at a smallish daily is looking to move on by the end of the calendar year due to horrible circumstances and 50+ hour weeks with no OT. Would going to a much larger paper as a part-timer who works about 40 hours with no benefits be a horrible idea? Or would moving laterally to another 15,000-type paper be a better move? Or is joining the circus the best choice altogether?

 

OK, Carl, let's take your points in order. 50+ hour weeks and no OT is standard for an SE, no matter what size the paper. I was in your shoes back in the day. And today my SE regularly puts in extra time. It goes with the turf when you're the boss.

The part-time position at the much larger paper would only be an option if you had health benefits from another source, like a spouse. Or if the paper had a history of promoting part-timers to full-time and promised you a shot at the next opening. However, some papers have two tracks, full-time and part-time, and never the twain shall meet. Caveat emptor.

Moving to a similar size paper. I wouldn't unless you would be SE and there is something about that makes it more than a lateral. Better gigs to cover, an extra week of vacation, bigger staff, better living conditions. Something that makes it better. Because all places have their warts.

Joining the circus? Unh-unh. Think Siegfried and Roy.

 

I think you should start your own gopher-control service.

 

I bet gopher control pays better anyway, and you get to work outside.

 

And you get to listen to cool music!

 

Gopher jokes aside, if you've got kids, don't even *think* about taking a job without benefits.

 

Kids? That implies that I've come even remotely close to impregnating someone lately. Not so much.

 

TMI ... stick with the gophers ...

 

what you do and how you do it carry more weight than where you're doing it...and screw what the resume looks like if the clips are golden... trust your gut, put yourself in a position to do your best work and have a little faith that things will work out in the end. they always do.

 

Not golfers.. GOPHERS! the furry little rodents!

 

carl - why don't you do the obvious and look for an SE job at a paper with a circ. of 20-25 thousand?

 

Because I hate being an SE. It was a promotion from within I did it out of obligation to keep our operation running as smoothly as possible when it happened many months ago. I just want to write. If that was all I had to worry about, I don't think I'd care about how much I worked at all.