Transitioning to new job/career

[Jay Sherman]

I know we've had a lot of threads similar to this, so my apologies if this gets a lot of old responses. This thread is directed toward people who have left the business (voluntarily or involuntarily).

I'm worried because I'm soon-to-be 23 years old. I thought it would be an easy transition because I've got a good skill set, but all of the jobs I'm browsing require at least 2-3 years of experience. I have 8 months of "professional experience" as I graduated in June.

I don't want to take a job that requires nothing more than a GED (no offense to anyone), because I put in a lot of work to break into an industry/career I thought I'd be in forever.

Did I pigeonhole myself by having so many sports internships/work experiences rather than a more well-rounded resume? Is it even possible to pigeonhole yourself at 23 years old?

Help. I'm getting nervous. :-\

 

[FileNotFound]

A bunch of sentences with no transitions:

Don't worry about pigeonholing yourself at 23.

Don't worry about jobs requiring x years of experience. If you can impress an interviewer, you can get past just about any requirement. (And I know it's hard to get past that step sometimes -- have been there. But your writing skill can help you produce a cover letter that will intrigue a hiring manager despite whatever "limitations" you might think you have.)

Think about what else you're passionate about, and pursue opportunities there.

You might have to take a "bridge" job in a field you're less passionate about to keep the bills paid.

Be prepared to relocate if necessary.

 

[Flash]

See the stickied resource thread, started by Cadet, at the top of the page. Lots of great help up there.

 

[Jay Sherman]

Don't worry about jobs requiring x years of experience. If you can impress an interviewer, you can get past just about any requirement. (And I know it's hard to get past that step sometimes -- have been there. But your writing skill can help you produce a cover letter that will intrigue a hiring manager despite whatever "limitations" you might think you have.)

I'm just thinking if I send a resume, I'll get overlooked when they see I graduated in May 2008, you know? If it requires 2-3 years of experience, they might just toss my resume out when they see I have 0-1 years of experience.

Flash, I've seen it. Plenty of good stuff in there. I don't know, I'm just getting worried.

 

[JackReacher]

A bunch of sentences with no transitions:

Don't worry about pigeonholing yourself at 23.

Don't worry about jobs requiring x years of experience. If you can impress an interviewer, you can get past just about any requirement. (And I know it's hard to get past that step sometimes -- have been there. But your writing skill can help you produce a cover letter that will intrigue a hiring manager despite whatever "limitations" you might think you have.)

Think about what else you're passionate about, and pursue opportunities there.

You might have to take a "bridge" job in a field you're less passionate about to keep the bills paid.

Be prepared to relocate if necessary.

What he said.

 

[lone star scribe]

Jay, If you have college experience as a free-lancer, stringer, etc., or time on the student paper, play that up in your resume and cover letter to get around the 2-3 years of experience thing. Employers usually use that to weed out the people looking for their first gig.

 

[Jay Sherman]

Yeah, I was a contributor to a national college recruiting site for 13 months. I put "contributor" there instead of staff writer, because I wasn't full-time, but I did gather a good arsenal of clips.

 

[WS]

Many times, employers put three years of experience because they don't want to get resumes from mechanics, etc., who think they can do the job because they love football.

I got my current job at age 22, about eight months after graduation. I had worked for a Web site for a few months and done an internship, and of course the college thing. The advertisement was for three years of experience, but I later found out that number was to weed out people like I described above.

 

[Ace]

Ironically, the mechanics are now glad their sports writer resumes were tossed in the garbage.

 

[I Digress]

Yeah, I was a contributor to a national college recruiting site for 13 months. I put "contributor" there instead of staff writer, because I wasn't full-time, but I did gather a good arsenal of clips.

Rewrite it. Make yourself a freelance journalist for umpty squat months... that should fill the time element.

 

[forever_town]

Jay, If you have college experience as a free-lancer, stringer, etc., or time on the student paper, play that up in your resume and cover letter to get around the 2-3 years of experience thing. Employers usually use that to weed out the people looking for their first gig.

I used to think I was fudging to get to five years of "professional" experience in my resume after my last gig.

When I showed my resume to a career counselor at the local one-stop career center and told her about my background in college, I found out I could actually comfortably say I have 10 years of experience without fudging.

If you've had writing internships or you've written for some outlet as a freelancer, you have solid experience.

 

[Jay Sherman]

f_t, I just added four years of experience to my resume by writing "freelance writer, various publications" for my college years. That gives me six years of "professional experience", if that counts.

BTW, has anybody had any success with job fairs?

 

[zebracoy]

f_t, I just added four years of experience to my resume by writing "freelance writer, various publications" for my college years. That gives me six years of "professional experience", if that counts.

BTW, has anybody had any success with job fairs?

No, but Renaissance Faires are a doozy.

 

[Mark2010]

Lost ya here, mate. Are you looking for a journalism job? Or looking to move FROM journalism into something else?

As for experience, I put everything, including volunteer stuff, which was sometimes more impressive than actual paid jobs.

When I was that age, I listed working as press box volunteer help, stringing for TV broadcasts, freelance writing, whatever you got. As you get older, you can always drop off stuff you don't think as highly of.

 

[Jay Sherman]

I'm looking to move into a non-sports job, I guess. Something with better pay and better hours.

 

[Mark2010]

Hmmmm... got my first post-collegiate job just a few days short of my 23rd birthday. I remember the ME flipping out when she found out I was 22 and had me go see human resources for some reason (child labor laws?). Made $14,500 per year. The again, gas was less than a buck a gallon. Aw, the good ole days.

Seriously, if you are looking for a non-sports job you are probably in better position than those of us who have many years of sports media specific stuff on our resumes. You can tailor your resume to highlight personal qualities (motivated self-starter, goal oriented, team player and other vague bull****) and broad-based experience (good communication and organizational skills, etc.) that will translate well to a multitude of fields.

 

[Ace]

I'm looking to move into a non-sports job, I guess. Something with better pay and better hours.

That doesn't narrow it down much.

 

[Jay Sherman]

I'm unemployed. I'm not being picky. I just want something that involves writing. PR/advertising/marketing/media relations/technical writing/copywriting/copy editing... something.

 

[Ace]

I'm unemployed. I'm not being picky. I just want something that involves writing. PR/advertising/marketing/media relations/technical writing/copywriting/copy editing... something.

Are you finding many openings? I see some of those, but about one for every 30 nursing or IT jobs.

 

[Stitch]

I'm unemployed. I'm not being picky. I just want something that involves writing. PR/advertising/marketing/media relations/technical writing/copywriting/copy editing... something.

Are you finding many openings? I see some of those, but about one for every 30 nursing or IT jobs.

A lot of those media relations jobs are nothing more than marketing jobs. Too many companies misuse the term public relations. Pay is not great for those jobs either and the hours stink if the organization does stuff in the community, so you could be manning a table at the county's Daffy Wacky Day.

Right now, I would either go back to school for a different degree or try to find another newspaper job to tide you over until the economy turns around.