Unemployment...

[mcollar]

Maybe there are other people in my position...I've been a local sports reporter and editor for 25 years in my area. Two years ago I got laid off and haven't been able to find work. I feel it could be my age...60....and not up to the social media skills...I look for openings at newspapers in an area I feel qualified but can't get a reply..Any suggestions..I thought about starting a local sports blog or website but being unemployed I need to make money...Thanks

 

[Starman]

There are a lot of people in your position, and many more may be in the future.

Unfortunately we're all part of a shrinking, dying industry run by people who measure success by the number of workers they can cut off the payroll.

The best advice seems to be to widen your horizons and look beyond your previous areas of specialization.

Doing a local sports blog might be one idea, but unless you can make it pay, it might be more of a drain on your energies and time.

I'm close to your age, and more and more I think we're just going to go through a decade or two of what our grandparents went through. Up until now our generation has had it pretty easy. I guess that's all over.

 

[podunk press]

I know somebody in a similar spot.

He's freelancing and applying for jobs, but nobody's touching him because of his age.

I'd try to switch careers?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I know somebody in a similar spot.

He's freelancing and applying for jobs, but nobody's touching him because of his age.

I'd try to switch careers?

One problem with switching careers is finding something in a similar skill set. Otherwise, employers will have two red flags about him: His age, and his experience level in the new career.

 

[Point of Order]

Don't volunteer your age.

 

[nmmetsfan]

Even if you don't volunteer your age, when you show so many years of experience employers can put two and two together.

I do some hiring for my little corner of podunk on occasion, and I must admit that when I see someone with that kind of experience applying for a job with our circulation size (and pay offered) it raises red flags. Not that I won't at least investigate if their clips sing, but it does plant the seed of doubt.

 

[nyspts]

It's especially difficult for some older men to get back into the jobs they love when ...

- they wear sweatpants to an interview.
- they take every line of their "areas of expertise" on their resume from insidejobs.com. Line by line.
- they post their resume online so everyone can see they plagiarized parts of it.
- they claim to have been a sports editor for 10+ consecutive years even though they were fired, then rehired a few years later, but as a reporter.

 

[mcollar]

When I got laid off..I didn't think it would be two years before I'd still be looking for work...I've accepted there are younger and more talented candidates out there...the part that upsets me is that EMPLOYERS don't have the courtesy to even reply or anything...I know it's an employers world but come on....It's been two years and very little work...I've always wanted to do a local sports blog and get advertising but that's a risk...So we take one day at a time...

 

[Freelance Hack]

mcollar,

You may not have a job, but how good is your network of sources? Could you start a blog that would be competitive in news gathering with other news sources in your area?

Have any connections with account execs in the same boat as you? If so, you could start a partnership. You write and edit the blog, they market it and sell advertising. Split the proceeds. You'd then have your new media backgroud.

Not a perfect situation, but then again, considering the times, it's better than nothing.

Good luck.

 

[mcollar]

I have a decent network among my colleagues...but that doesn't work..I just moved to another city so I really don't know anyone yet..and that hurts especially in the advertising game..I don't feel I can offer readers something different or unique ...in over two years of unemployment you lose a certain amount of energy, confidence and who knows what else...

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

Be patient, be open-minded, be persistent.

Don't let them have your honor/self-worth. That's yours to keep.

 

[mcollar]

Could someone please explain that part about a resume..Sorry I'm a little slow...My resume was done professionally three times just to make certain it was done right..Any other suggestions...

 

[nyspts]

Could someone please explain that part about a resume..Sorry I'm a little slow...My resume was done professionally three times just to make certain it was done right..Any other suggestions...

I can explain it all to you, without outing you, I hope. You and I have been together on event coverage many times in the last decade so I've heard all your stories of hiring and firing and assorted woe.

I also know you have a resume posted on a newspaper association website.

If you copy some of the sections of your resume into Google or Yahoo, you'll see where it matches, word for word, job sites. So you plagiarized your own resume, basically. In your unemployment, you couldn't even write an original resume?

Your resume also indicates that you were a sports editor for 11 years. But you weren't. You've regaled lots of us with stories about how they dumped you a few years into that sports editor role and then begged you back but didn't make you sports editor again for a few years. If you're applying to all the usual suspects around here, don't you think the sports editors have heard that story, too?

And personal appearance counts in an interview. Don't think it doesn't. It also counts when people you might interview with see you covering an event. I'm not allowed to cover even a baseball game in sweatpants and a dirty T-shirt, who should you?

So back to your original post, not that you actually asked for suggestions, but I would start with not copying your resume from elsewhere, being honest on it, and dressing appropriately on the job and in interviews.

 

[secretariat]

 

[mcollar]

Hey Nyspts
I give up..We've worked together so send me a message telling me who you are...I don't know anything about copying resumes or telling lies or whatever you're talking about...My resume was done by three professionals..I thought maybe a different version would help but obviously it didn't..An official from the NY Press Association suggested I send a resume to them so I did...To my knowledge, I've never stretched the truth or anything and most people in the area know me...and these sweatpants remarks are way off the wall...If you want to talk, please message me..I only wondered how many people out there are going through my experiences..that's all.
Thanks

 

[WriteThinking]

Even if you don't volunteer your age, when you show so many years of experience employers can put two and two together.

I do some hiring for my little corner of podunk on occasion, and I must admit that when I see someone with that kind of experience applying for a job with our circulation size (and pay offered) it raises red flags. Not that I won't at least investigate if their clips sing, but it does plant the seed of doubt.

I am curious: What kind of a seed of doubt does it plant?

This is a legitimate question for many in similar positions. A filled-in resume, from a person with good experience, who has shown he can do the work, and who, obviously, still has a desire and need to still work, and...

What kind of red flags does that raise?

As far as the size or circulation of a paper, why not leave it to the prospective employee to decide whether he or she is up for that, or not?

In my humble opinion, there is often way more effort that goes into trying to "figure out" things, and people, than there ought to be in most instances, too much attempt at mind-reading and putting thoughts/words into people's minds and mouths.

 

[nmmetsfan]

Even if you don't volunteer your age, when you show so many years of experience employers can put two and two together.

I do some hiring for my little corner of podunk on occasion, and I must admit that when I see someone with that kind of experience applying for a job with our circulation size (and pay offered) it raises red flags. Not that I won't at least investigate if their clips sing, but it does plant the seed of doubt.

I am curious: What kind of a seed of doubt does it plant?

This is a legitimate question for many in similar positions. A filled-in resume, from a person with good experience, who has shown he can do the work, and who, obviously, still has a desire and need to still work, and...

What kind of red flags does that raise?

As far as the size or circulation of a paper, why not leave it to the prospective employee to decide whether he or she is up for that, or not?

In my humble opinion, there is often way more effort that goes into trying to "figure out" things, and people, than there ought to be in most instances, too much attempt at mind-reading and putting thoughts/words into people's minds and mouths.

As I said, I'll give a guy a chance if the clips warrant (assuming I know nothing about an applicant going in). The big question is why would a person with 10 years experience and good clips want to work in podunk for 25K? The real answer to that question is what I'm after, and it's not always pretty.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Even if you don't volunteer your age, when you show so many years of experience employers can put two and two together.

I do some hiring for my little corner of podunk on occasion, and I must admit that when I see someone with that kind of experience applying for a job with our circulation size (and pay offered) it raises red flags. Not that I won't at least investigate if their clips sing, but it does plant the seed of doubt.

I am curious: What kind of a seed of doubt does it plant?

This is a legitimate question for many in similar positions. A filled-in resume, from a person with good experience, who has shown he can do the work, and who, obviously, still has a desire and need to still work, and...

What kind of red flags does that raise?

As far as the size or circulation of a paper, why not leave it to the prospective employee to decide whether he or she is up for that, or not?

In my humble opinion, there is often way more effort that goes into trying to "figure out" things, and people, than there ought to be in most instances, too much attempt at mind-reading and putting thoughts/words into people's minds and mouths.

I'd think it would be the red flag that the older journalist is so used to the larger paycheck that they will bolt at the first opportunity, leaving the paper looking for someone again a lot sooner than they'd want to.

Not that I'd blame them for leaving.

 

[Buck]

If a person has experience to indicate that he/she is overqualified for a job, that causes the person doing the hiring to wonder: Is this job candidate good? Is he/she moving to smaller papers because he/she isn't as good as the resume seems to indicate? If this person is really this good, how long will he/she stay around?

 

[WriteThinking]

Even if you don't volunteer your age, when you show so many years of experience employers can put two and two together.

I do some hiring for my little corner of podunk on occasion, and I must admit that when I see someone with that kind of experience applying for a job with our circulation size (and pay offered) it raises red flags. Not that I won't at least investigate if their clips sing, but it does plant the seed of doubt.

I am curious: What kind of a seed of doubt does it plant?

This is a legitimate question for many in similar positions. A filled-in resume, from a person with good experience, who has shown he can do the work, and who, obviously, still has a desire and need to still work, and...

What kind of red flags does that raise?

As far as the size or circulation of a paper, why not leave it to the prospective employee to decide whether he or she is up for that, or not?

In my humble opinion, there is often way more effort that goes into trying to "figure out" things, and people, than there ought to be in most instances, too much attempt at mind-reading and putting thoughts/words into people's minds and mouths.

I'd think it would be the red flag that the older journalist is so used to the larger paycheck that they will bolt at the first opportunity, leaving the paper looking for someone again a lot sooner than they'd want to.

Not that I'd blame them for leaving.

Sure, maybe that could happen.

I'm not sure leaving after a brief stay because of a perceived better offer is really the perview of the older writer, though. Especially now, when moving up, as quickly as possible, seems prudent to job-seekers and perfectly fine and prevalent among employers (see Sun-Sentinel job thread).

My argument against an older person necessarily bolting that quickly would be that someone who really has ever made way more than they might at some smaller paper really would probably never apply there in the first place. I would think there would be limits, on how much lower someone might be willing to go, and that if they're willing to go to a certain level, well, then that person probably never made very much, relatively speaking, to begin with, even if they did happen to work at a much-larger paper at one time.

This industry --being the generally low-paying thing that it is, anyway -- often has relatively low-paid people even at larger papers.

People who have never worked at larger papers may not realize this, and thus, think that they couldn't possibly offer a salary within, say, $5,000 of what the person maybe used to make.

But they'd be wrong, at least in some instances.

And someone who really has ever been a big name, at a big paper, for a much-larger salary, probably really wouldn't apply.