Needing Advice: First Job

[Bullwinkle]

If one of you dinosaurs would just quit already, c. smith could take YOUR job.

Sacrifice yourself for the youngster. You'll feel good about it.

 

[GBNF]

Yeah but yu get no benefits, there's no future in freelance dude.

I'm expecting checks of $1000 and $900 from ESPN and and another magazine this month, in addition to the roughly $2000 I make with the major metro per month. I'm stringing for the AJC and others later this month, for another $300 or so. Not trying to be a ****, but that ain't bad.

 

[Wenders]

Yeah but yu get no benefits, there's no future in freelance dude.

It also gets you experience and helpls you make contacts, therefore possibly opening up the door in the future to a more permanent position.

To the OP - don't lose hope. I didn't get my first interview until a week before graduation and less than a month later, I was moving across the country.

I second what the other posters said - go and talk to your former editors and see if they can put in a good word for you somewhere where there's an opening. Just keep applying and then, call back around a week later to ensure that they got your application. That way, they have a voice to put with the resume.

Also, you'll have a six-month grace period to pay off your student loans, and there are ways to postpone them if the grace period passes and you haven't found a job yet. Also, if you find that you're making less than you thought you were, you can apply for an income contingent repayment, so it'll only be a fraction of your salary.

 

[User 1019]

Go get an MBA.

Yes, MBA or law school are always great advice even if it's the last possible thing he wants to do with his life...go deeper into debt, spend more time getting another degree you don't need and still not be able to find a suitable job.
Great freaking advice.

Worked out pretty well for the Mrs. and me.

And I don't think I need to point out all the threads on this board concerning journalism jobs being whacked.

Did you get a law degree or an MBA? If you have either, why are you in the military?

Poorly worded response on my part. Let me clarify. Mrs. tbf has the MBA and I am currently working on one.

And why the military? My branch of the Army, the Medical Service Corps, offers endless opportunity for continued education in a number of administrative and clinical professions for senior officers (after my flying days are done, in my case) -- from hospital information systems or hospital administration (the big one) to phds in clinical psychology to pharmacy. Well, you get the picture.

I figured, why not go ahead and get the MBA now, and who knows, it may be Dr. t_b_f one of these days.

And I chose my undergraduate degrees (accounting, managerial finance) because I knew that if I got out of the Army any time soon, I wouldn't have trouble finding a good job. And the speed with which Mrs. tbf has been able to find accounting jobs has proven that it was definitely a wise decision.