Job(s) Scenario: What Would You Do?

I would go for the full-time gig. You can get pigeon holed as a freelancer. And if that's not what you want to do your whole life, I wouldn't let a full-time opportunity go by.

You can always go back to freelancing.

 

Friend of mine lived the life of a freelancer for 20 years at our paper. He liked the freedom, was able to manage his schedule, spend the time he needed to with his son while his wife had the better job. No benefits however. He got sick and passed away very quickly earlier this year.
He had no benefits and, due to a previous health condition, no insurance when he went looking for it a few years ago. We had to hold fund raisers to help the family.
Apply for the job and take it if it comes up.

 

Sexy bylines? I don't think freelance bylines are sexy. It all depends on your work. If all you do is write gamers, it will be hard to jump somewhere big, but a full-time job gives you the chance to write "enterprise" stories, even if tons of editors don't really know what that term means.

 

Interesting variety of opinions. Thanks for the contribution.

 

If you are given a chance to interview for the full-time job, take it. If, out of that, you are given an offer of a job, take that.

Are you living on your own, with rent/mortgage and a full month's cycle of bills to pay each month? Are you freelancing enough to cover all that, or confident that you could if you had to do so?

Because, right now, you sound like a kid out of school who's not really that worried about that kind of stuff yet, and it makes a difference.

Unless you don't need that level of freelancing, or are so good and well-known and confident enough that you can generate work and freelance, long-term, at that level and intensity, well, then freelancing will eventually get old. Or else, it will just not be enough to live on on a long-term basis.

Also, freelancing on the periodic pro game, or writing features on a pro player here or there is not the same as being a consistently good, strong beat/enterprise writer on a topic, school or sport, etc. And even a lower-level, less-glamorized college beat is still a college beat.

There is something to be said for good work done on that, and at good newspapers, that is what they will be looking for first and foremost -- your ability to find, analyze and execute work on hard news, and to excel at feature and news-feature angles, and provide interesting takes on things, and write all of it well.

These are the assignments your garden-variety freelancer does not usually get, because they will usually go to the staffers -- sometimes even if/when you come up with the ideas, or if/when a story is found by you. My advice would be to approach and treat a small-college beat or area like a big-time one. It will show, and people will see it.

One other thing: Although freelancing is becoming widespread, and more acceptable and opportunistic because of that, editors also know that there is a reason this happening. That is, a lot of people are out of regular work, and if you freelancing too long, and it is not at a very continuously high level, the perception will be, probably correctly, that you are freelancing because you can't get a regular job, not because you love to do it and are freelancing by choice.

 

Personally speaking, I prefer covering "only" the prep sports as opposed to big colleges or the pros. Over the years I've noticed there's a tendency of those at big dailies (or who dream of being at a big daily) to look down upon small shops like weeklies, as if they are a place for lower class citizens or something. I could be far off, but that's something I've observed over the years.
I say go for the job at the smaller paper, and if you get a job there treat it like an opportunity, not a sentence where you "only" cover smaller events. I've been fortunate enough to cover events like D-1 college football and big races like the Indy 500 over the years, but I actually prefer covering the local stuff. You might, too.

 

Number one, I wouldn't even be in the business to begin with considering the current climate.

But of your two options, I'd pursue the full-time opening. You earn the big boy clips by doing well at the clips you get at the smaller papers.

 

I recently came across a sort of similar situation. I interviewed and was offered a full time desk job with a paper, while a website I had been freelancing for offered me a paid, part time writing position. Writing is my passion, not layout and agate, and I took the part time one with the hopes of building up some solid clips I can use to either advance on the site or put under my belt when I apply for a full time beat somewhere else.

I gotta say its weird to have two offers in a couples weeks, after nothing for months following graduation. It does feel a bit strange turning down a part time job but I think (and hope) I made the right call. I have fairly low expenses and a few side jobs I can use to help churn up some extra cash.

 

If you like where you're at, I'd seriously think about staying there and trying to climb a non-traditional ladder.
Certainly, apply for the job, and if you really think it'll open doors, take it if it's offered. But remember this: Newspaper journalism these days is like a game of musical chairs. And the chairs are getting pulled fast.
Not just that, but the chairs that are getting pulled are the ones in the middle. There are still a few really high-end jobs out there, and a pile of low-paying entry-level gigs. But it's getting harder and harder to climb from entry-level to high-end, because the middle's disappearing. The risk you run in going to a small market is getting stuck there.
But, if you're in a bigger market, covering pros or major colleges even as a stringer, there are opportunities outside newspaper biz: websites, magazines, etc. You'll meet people and gain experience. And if you're good and lucky, those gigs can launch you to something better. If you're not, it may be better to learn that young and move on.
Yes, a steady paycheck and health insurance are great. But don't paint yourself into a corner hoping to climb a ladder that's getting weaker all the time.