Quality help available?

Not sure that was a threadjack, RH.

What you say is definitely all related to what's going on.

And to answer the specific question of the thread, part of the problem, as I see it, is that there are getting to be more and more really technical aspects of the job(s). Whether they involve reporting, shooting, layout/design, or what have you, many of the people in the business right now may have started out before all this technology really became of part of the picture.

Not everyone is totally prepared, i.e., they are unqualified, in at least one or two respects, with regard to the requirements listed in almost every job ad these days.

For the most part, we're creative people, who want to write, or have an artistic bent in terms of design. But the modern, transitional period we're in is compelling us to become something foreign -- techies -- something we first have to decide that we actually want, because we might not, given our natural leanings and talents.

My point is, there's always something, something that probably knocks out a good portion of applicants, if a paper/company is going to stick stringently to what they're saying they want in a job applicant. And this may even keep people from applying at all in the first place, even if they are otherwise interested in a position.

In this ever-changing, fast-moving, and now, pretty technologically advanced, field, it might help papers immensely if they were more willing to train on the job. Especially if they really like and believe in a candidate despite what might be considered a somewhat key shortcoming.

I believe this is also what is sending many reporters, at least, out of the business. They're afraid that, unless they want to be videographers -- in many cases something they never planned on or trained for -- that there will soon be no place for them in the business.

What we're having to do and learn goes against many journalists' natural inclinations and real strengths, and it detracts from them, too.

The business is losing out by not addressing this need for more training among people who are currently in it.

 

Right now, it's not a "great" job for anybody. Scary times in this business.

But he's right about one day, you'll have different priorities. Even if you're single with "no" responsibilities -- get a few more post-college years under your belt, and you'll feel it. You don't even have to have a family to feel it.

 

This kind of made me want to cry. :'(

 

Couldn't agree with you more. Papers will train their employees themselves when it's absolutely necessary (i.e., chaning operating systems or publishing software), but if I want to learn more about Flash or Photoshop or Dreamweaver, I have to go do that on my own time with my own money. Sorry, I don't have a whole lot of either, and neither does anyone else. It's ridiculous, and papers are hurting themselves for it.

 

And that would explain the number of 20-something applicants we've been getting and the lack of 30-somethings, 40-somethings and maybe even 50-somethings.

I do believe in "adapt or die," so in that regards, lately I've been all about playing with Dreamweaver in my spare time and that Canon 20D I have for a hobby may soon be utilized for company purposes. I've expressed my openness to all media, the only condition being that it be part of a bigger plan and not just a random attempt at "New Media." I'll blog only if the blog is part of a broader online strategy (or if they order me to to blog, which they haven't yet).

Meanwhile, I want to communicate every step along the way that it's still the writing and the professional art that will attract readers, solidify circulation and make advertising viable. People aren't going to pay for hack-work copy by some guy who is at your employ more because he knows how to update his crap online by himself. They aren't going to pay for a blur of little Johnny playing football because you were too cheap to staff it with trained photographers. You can train a non-photog to be a photog, but you can't make that non-photog as good as what he does as the professional.

If you communicate all that without willingly going along with what they want at the same time, you are a malcontent and a target of the next cut. The smart play for me, as a 30-something, is adapt, but continue to advocate the things I know will make the paper better and — this is important in this climate — a more marketable product.