Getting a band-aid/filler job

For those of you who've made the decision to get out of the newspaper business...

For whatever reason (don't want to relocate, bad hiring times, beat out by another candidate, etc.), are you having trouble finding a job in that new career field you've targeted? Or maybe you're not certain where to make the career move but you know you're ready to leave newspapers?

Given this, have you considered taking a new job, one that doesn't fit what you're looking to get into, but will give you that schedule stability and better pay/benefits than your current gig at the newspaper? Maybe you'll stick at this filler job for a year or two until, for example, that local PR job or a teaching job opens up?

 

What else'cha gonna du?

 

Right. But I'm not saying you have to get out right now. There's nothing forcing you at at this moment. You aren't desperate, but you know the times are only going to get worse and you know raises aren't coming, hours aren't getting any better, etc. Are you thinking about taking that filler job for a year or so until you figure out the career field you want to jump into or are waiting for that 'right job' in that new career field to open up?

 

I got lucky and got a copywriting job ... getting my sportswriting fix by covering preps at night for the local paper.

 

What exactly does copywriting entice?

Also, what type of job are you waiting on to open up?

 

What exactly does copywriting entice?

writing copy.

Hoping a sportswriter/sports PR job comes up soon

 

Ha! Sounds simple enough. I was looking for more of if you were working for a biz or agency or something.

PR seems like a good way to go because there are a lot of similarities.

Anyone else thinking about working getting out of the biz, working something else for a year or so until that new career opens up?

 

also, when did "entice" start to mean "entail?"

 

yeah, very much so. It's easier said than done when you've done basically one thing since before you finished university. Most everything else I would look at as "long term" (teaching, legal, etc.) would require additional schooling, and not just a few months. Sadly, I don't have the resources for that at present.

As to a band-aid job, I'm honestly not sure what that would be. I'm in a medium-sized city that isn't exactly home to a host of Fortune 500 companies. Almost nothing in PR, corporate communications, etc. I sure don't want to go retail or something like that. So, yeah, I feel stuck.

Would be interested to read what others are doing.

 

There are going to be plenty of sportswriting jobs in the future. Unfortunately they'll be part time jobs at 8 dollars an hour. There will be a need for copy and this will be the solution. Gannett started this citizen journalist thing. Think of the headaches the suits are going to have with these "fans" covering games. If I were a pro team I would interview all part time employees of papers in the future before I issued a credential to a citizen journalist/part time employee of a paper.

 

Under your plan, there would be a lot of $8 an hour folks added on to the publicity offices of pro teams to weed out all the $8 an hour citizens trying to get credentials to cover the games.

 

I'm in the same shoes. At my paper, looking for a job until I find something else that I want. My heart isn't in it right now, though, and I'm having a tough, tough time being qualified for anything outside of sports.

I just got a 'thanks but no thanks' from a company that was looking for an entry-level technical writer with 0-1 years of experience