Looking for some advice from you guys

Take a good, hard look at the mother fucking boat.

 

i can't believe people are being this kind.

you say you think you'd loathe working for a newspaper and yet you're considering taking an interview for a newspaper job. i'd be mad as hell if i was the hiring editor and found out i wasted my time on an applicant like you.

you say you don't want to sound like a spoiled brat but that's exactly what you sound like. throw in arrogant, too, since you brought it up.

don't blame the newspaper industry. it's not like the current problems have been hidden from you the last four years. you had all that time to move in a different direction and didn't do it.

call me ann asshole all you like but i hope you don't get another interview in newspapers.

 

There's no reason why, if you're hired, you can't take the gig and keep looking for a 9-5 job. It may only be a couple of months before you get hired, and at least you'll get a few extra clips out of it.

 

Sounds to me as though you don't really want this job, so do yourself a favor and find a line of work you'll enjoy.

Getting up and hating what you have to do for eight hours that day is no way to go through life.

 

Being fat and stupid is no way to go through life. You need a job. Right now, you're not in a position to get a dream job. If the job is offered, take it but keep your eyes open for other ventures that will bring in more loot.

 

It must be tough growing up with a name like Ann Asshole.

(I agree with your point, btw.)

 

I agree with trifectarich. Don't do it.

Some Guy, too, has a point. I was never told about the shape of the industry, either. I should've been smarter about it but I sure as hell didn't get any help from the advisors and professors I trusted for nearly five years.

I don't want this to sound like my sob tale or something, but I figured if I'm straight up then maybe it'll add another perspective to this thread, which has a ton of good advice.

I'm 26 and have been full-time at a paper for 18 months and I'm so ready to get out. I've been looking for jobs for about six months in PR, marketing, paralegal and even as an office assistant. I barely make more than you do and I can hardly live on it. Don't expect to get a raise. Don't expect to get treated worth a shit by publishers and the suits. You'll work shit hours - evenings, late nights, weekends - and not get rewarded for it, especially if you're on salary. Hey, you might even get a pay cut (like all of us here did).

Unless you're desperate for money...

STAY. THE. HELL. OUT. OF. NEWSPAPERS.

 

I would assume I would loathe working for an insurance company or doing PR or somesuch, but I don't know because I can't even get an interview.

Anyway, I can deal with loathing a 9-5 job.

Future of newspapers aside, I can't see someone being the slightest bit successful at a small paper where you have to put your heart into it.

 

For how long? A week? A month? Then you start to watch the clock and look to take every shortcut you can, and no one benefits. You can't give your best effort when your heart's not in it, so my advice is not to put yourself in that position to begin with.

 

I think I'd hate sitting along cleaning the house and watching soap operas more, though, once the reaper comes.

Maybe not, though.

 

Rookie,

It really all depends what you want out of life NOW. Not 10 years from now. Today.

But understand that at most small newspapers, you will covering high school and little league, maybe a small college, depending on where you are located. And probably shooting photos and laying out pages as well. It can be a fun job and a good way to get a lot of experience, if that is what you want. There's a certain good feeling about being the big reporter in a tiny town, balanced by the crap from all the parents' nasty phone calls and emails.

Again, it depends what is important to you. If it's important to make a lot of money, own a lot of material possessions, have nights and weekends free, then maybe another route would be more preferable.

And, as others have said, there's nothing wrong with giving it a try. You're not required to stay forever. BUT, I will say, if you DO accept the job, be prepared to give it a whole-hearted commitment for at least, say, six months. Hiring someone is a big commitment and not something employers relish doing over and over and over. If someone respects you enough to entrust you with a job, respect them enough to give a worthwhile effort.

 

I never get used to this. It's weird. Everybody knows who I am and wants to talk local sports with me. And I'm really bad with names and faces, so it's hard to tell if I should know them or not.