Is it what you know or who you know?

couldnt say it better

 

lono,

I think you have an interesting answer. Did you do this? Did anyone you know do this?

 

That has to be a trick question.

 

Awesome post. I gotta copy and paste that into my files.

 

Some time back, I was out of work in a new town because we moved for my wife's job. The local economy was horrible.

I didn't have a lot of experience — maybe five years or so of newspaper work, all at Podunk shops.

Hungry for work, I contacted the editor of a weekly metro newspaper and basically begged him for an interview. I then offered to write any story of his choosing, completely on spec. And I made him this offer: If it wasn't the best story in that edition he didn't have to pay for it.

He e-mailed back that he didn't think I'd ever be good enough to work for him.

So I contacted a competing newspaper in town. Yes, they had those back in the day.

I cold-called the managing editor and talked my way into an interview.

The day before my interview, the M.E. called me back and said don't bother, that he'd just been laid off and so had a couple of reporters.

Crestfallen, I called the editor and said that I'd heard about the layoffs at his shop, but could I come in anyway and see him?

He reiterated that he didn't have any work, but he was always open to meeting young people interested in newspapers.

The next day, we met.

In the first two minutes of the meeting, he said, "Look, I don't have any real work, but I need somebody to do some research for a special publication. I can pay you $7 an hour and can give you work for the next two weeks. Beyond that, no guarantees."

Eighteen months later, I was editor of the paper.

I ended up staying 12 years with that company and in all humility, ended up doing fairly well for myself.

All I needed was a chance to show that I was the right guy, that I could get it done.

But the chance wasn't going to find me.

I had to find it.

And once I got the chance, I had to walk the walk.

Even in these dark times, opportunities exist. Good ones. But you have to go get them. You have to be the agent of opportunity.

No one is going to take care of you unless you take care of yourself first.

 

Anyone know a timeline on the hiring process?

 

Great story. But you have to tell us - what happened next time you bumped into that other editor who had so casually dismissed you?

 

He was fired within a year.

Obviously that had nothing to do with me, but the reality is, he was a crappy editor.