Charlotte AP job

People like yourself appreciate the opportunity more and usually have a better work ethic than college grads that come out with the "I'm educated, world!" and expect the contract offers to just POUR in. So don't feel bad about your rant. Just next time, throw something at the nearest glass object you can find. That works good too. My therapist is right. ;D

 

perhaps my rant was more than it should have been, but atleast okie has the proper interpretation. If someone is one of the type of grads that he spoke of just remember this, please, there are those of us who have been doing the grinder work for a long time and for what ever reason we don't get the break or catch the eye of the editor, but we are still just as capable and as knowledgeable and we do really know what we are doing...maybe if you move into a position such as one that will afford you the chance to make the judgement that decides who gets a position, keep in mind that grinder experince is just as important. And the glass objects are too expensive for what i make, so i'll have to settle for brittle plastic ha ha

 

Here is some free advice. I try hard to adhere to it.
It doesn't matter how many times someone tells you know about a job. You only need ONE to tell you yes.

 

Perhaps a stupid question for another topic, but how can you e-mail clips if your paper's crappy Web site has no archive section?
Also, do you need to take the AP test for this opening?

 

How many big time columnists started out with crappy prep jobs vs. a college beat right out of school?

 

Also, do you need to take the AP test for this opening?
Yup.

 

how many big-time columnists started out with crappy prep jobs vs. a college beat right out of school?

at least one ... bill plaschke. he may be the only one, but i think he covered shuffleboard.

live the dream ...

 

Yes, there are college grads from noteworthy J-schools who have a nauseating and dangerous sense of entitlement. But you come off as sounding just as entitled when you say you're "just as capable and as knowledgeable" as people whose experience is far deeper and more varied than yours.

Sure, there are probably a few people in your position who are good enough and have simply not received the right breaks. But generally speaking, most folks who are stuck in Podunk for 10 years need to look in the mirror instead of claiming they've been cheated or unfairly overlooked.

Of course the grinder experience is important. But most people who have advanced to major beats went through that grinder in high school or college. Sorry to break this to you, but 10 years in the grinder tends to stand out on a resume ... and not in a good way.

 

Yes, Chris Jenkins is the full-time guy in Milwaukee. He's been there since late last year. Colin Fly is the part-timer, to my knowledge. Or at least part time doing sports.

 

That's a judgement call. Let's say the spouse has a better job than you, the kids like their school, the town seems a fit so you're willing to hang around. You get a few opportunities to move up; they seem more dysfunctional than you'd prefer, so you stay. Risk? Certainly. But does it mean that a guy or girl at one place NOT a major metro is shit? Hardly. Some of the bottom-feeding papers size-wise have some of the best writing coaches in the business. Hell, you have to at this point. You're coaching interns....or old-timers.

 

There's obviously bias in hiring in this business, as there is in every business, but the point about family is key. I've worked with a couple writers who were extremely talented, and I have no doubt they would prosper at any major metro daily. But family kept them at smaller papers, and those papers benefit greatly.

 

I went through "the grinder" in college, and I'm going through "the grinder" now as a professional -- by choice. My fiancee has a nice job here. All my family is here. All her family is here.

And, thus, I continue to bust my ass in Podunk until I get my act together, go to school and switch careers.

Don't label all of us at community newspapers as miserable no-talent hacks. Some of us enjoy covering our communities, enjoy having some semblance of a normal working schedule and don't really give a shit if the editor at the downtown metro daily isn't discovering us.