The job search - aaaaagghhhh!

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
I want to be a reporter for a newspaper. I just graduated college and have pretty much zero experience.

I finally got my first break I was very excited about. A small-town newspaper around needs a beat reporter - a perfect place to start and move my way up. The interview went great and it sounds like I'm going to get the job... and then the editor told me that starting pay there is about $12/hour, which he stressed to me is pretty much the industry standard for a paper that size. Aggh! Is that really true? I really want to work in journalism, and I have to start somewhere, but that's half of what I sometimes make while waiting tables.

Is that really standard paper? After a year or two when I move on to a bigger paper, will my pay be noticeably higher? Is it going to take me a decade to make as much as I did at my college job?

modestmickey, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:20 (eighteen years ago)

hahahaha mickey in "waiting tables pays more than journalism" shocker

ghost rider, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:21 (eighteen years ago)

It's not always just about the money, you know. If it's what you really want to do (did you study or contribute to anything vaguely relevant at college, btw, or is this just a whim that's presenting itself to you right now as a glamorous alternative to your current office hell?) then you'll fit your lifestyle round it.

(getting the sensible answer in before everyone goes "ho ho Mickey, but you're a felon/racist/idiot/whatever")

ailsa, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:25 (eighteen years ago)

ailsa, I had a couple articles published in medium to large sized papers my university paper. I know this is something I want to try. The pay terrifies me though.

modestmickey, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:27 (eighteen years ago)

i thought everyone knew that journalism paid peanuts!

lex pretend, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:27 (eighteen years ago)

you could always continue to freelance instead of taking a full time job. or take the job and continue to wait tables for extra $$

Ms Misery, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:28 (eighteen years ago)

i, too, am searching for a job. except i will make more money than you. sorry!

homosexual II, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:28 (eighteen years ago)

re-reading my first post, christ, I have to work the typos before I get paid to write

modestmickey, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:28 (eighteen years ago)

sorry, should've put glamorous in scare quotes, btw, because it won't be glamorous at all, I would imagine, more interviewing little old ladies about their prize-winning artichokes and whatever.

xpost - yeah, that's why subs get paid more

ailsa, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:29 (eighteen years ago)

is there a good resource for finding out about salaries? I can deal with pay this low for a while as long as it'll get better later. I just want an idea of exactly how long that'll take, and how much better it'll be.

modestmickey, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:29 (eighteen years ago)

also, yeah, what Mandee said :-) I had thought I might want to be a journalist at one point (just out of university with ridiculous sense of self-importance), but, nah, pay's shite and only the fortunate few get to do anything good and exciting and interesting with it.

ailsa, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:30 (eighteen years ago)

i've found all the resources on the net about salaries are very much skewed to the upper end of the salary range. just a warnin'.

homosexual II, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:31 (eighteen years ago)

after a week, i can already tell you my future ain't in corporate copy editing. what's an english major to do?

modestmickey, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:33 (eighteen years ago)

You all can suck a big twelve-dollar dick, for all I'm concerned.

</radio_producer>

Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:35 (eighteen years ago)

xp - Go to law school.

Jenny, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:35 (eighteen years ago)

give up on your dreams.

(I was an english major, too, now I'm a big coke-sniffing corporate FUCK!)

homosexual II, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:36 (eighteen years ago)

mandee, where does one find these high paying, coke-sniffing jobs? email me please.

modestmickey, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:41 (eighteen years ago)

Um, why not with the copy-editing? It'll give you transferrable skills which might gain you more money off a newspaper? Also, y'know, ONE WEEK? Give it some time!

ailsa, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:42 (eighteen years ago)

ailsa, yea, i'm staying until something new comes up, but it's just a temp position anyways. but this shit SUCKS. after the temp job is up, i will not take a permanent position for sure. i mean, i want money, but this is soul sucking.

modestmickey, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:45 (eighteen years ago)

get a subbing job. pay is way better than actual writing.

Ronan, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:48 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, that's the sort of positive attitude that'll open doors for you. Your references, I'm sure, will be ideal (don't forget, your corporate soul-suckers are copyeditors and therefore will know other "proper" journos too and word'll get around) and you'll need to get really good at convincing people in interviews that you aren't just leaving because you think you're better than every job you've ever been in.

xpost, aye, Ronan's right. but you're dismissing it offhand already. All my sub friends are right rich bastards (oh, and really nice too, hello guys!)

ailsa, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:51 (eighteen years ago)

$12/hour sucks, for sure, but in 10 years who knows where you'll be if you do your job well, and keep your ear to the ground. I'm 31 and I have been waiting tables forever because I didn't want to take a shitty-paying job doing some of the various things I was really interested in (floral design, writing, photography). I made WAY better money waiting tables and I actually like a lot of things about it, but now I'm realizing that I have squandered years and years that I should have been using doing things I cared about.

Jesse, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 16:59 (eighteen years ago)

in ten years his paper will be out of business

ghost rider, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 17:03 (eighteen years ago)

ailsa, I know, I know. you are entirely right about my attitude, and you are completely OTM. i'm just getting disillusioned with after-college life.

modestmickey, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 17:04 (eighteen years ago)

No, it's easily done. I speak from experience!

ailsa, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 17:05 (eighteen years ago)

mickey,

I was an English major and have spent most of my 11+ years out of college being a web developer. For a three year period in there I taught middle school English. I've also done freelance writing off and on and plan to write more in the future.

</what an English major can do>

Ms Misery, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 17:13 (eighteen years ago)

I'm a philosophy graduate and I am now, erm, a careers adviser. Make enough stupid mistakes and you can learn from them! And then get paid for telling other people not to do the same things!

(this is not a career path I recommend, btw)

ailsa, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 17:18 (eighteen years ago)

$12 an hour is better than quite a few papers i can think of, btw.

the schef (adam schefter ha ha), Tuesday, 3 April 2007 17:21 (eighteen years ago)

i worked at a paper 6 years ago and made $9.50/hr.

homosexual II, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 17:30 (eighteen years ago)

i should also note my first job out of college (5 yrs ago) i made $11.50/hr. i think a lot of college grads expect to graduate and make bank right away.

homosexual II, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 17:31 (eighteen years ago)

i really don't expect to make bank. just. y'know. more than the no-experience-required, we-hire-high-school-students part time job i did during college.

modestmickey, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 17:57 (eighteen years ago)

haha college

TOMBOT, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:01 (eighteen years ago)

But you *don't* have any experience. A high school student *could* train on the job to do it. Seriously, why *should* you get more?

ailsa, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:02 (eighteen years ago)

[/quote]The Defense Information School has a long-standing tradition of producing outstanding Public Affairs and Visual Information personnel for the U.S. Department of Defense. We are a field activity of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs).
Mission

Grow and sustain a corps of professional organizational communicators* who fulfill the communication needs of the military and government leaders and audiences.*
Vision

DINFOS is a recognized national asset for organizational communication success.
Goals

1. Deliver total professional development support to organizational communicators throughout their careers, whenever and wherever needed.
2. Sustain DINFOS as a premier accredited military/government training center and optimum career assignment for faculty and staff.
3. Be the DoD and Interagency center of excellence for organizational communication.

*Organizational communication encompasses the entire professional community supported by DINFOS, including public affairs, visual information and related fields.[/quote]

TOMBOT, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:03 (eighteen years ago)

No matter which end of a job search you look at, the employer's or the job hunter's, it is mostly an irrational process designed to drive everyone around the bend. Since it sounds like this would be your first job in the career of your choice, I say take it. Then you will have some bona fides to carry you into the next job, proving to your next prospective employer that you are not a cipher, but an honest-to-god certified journalist. Furthermore, it shall reassure him or her that he or she would not be the first person making the mistake of hiring you, which fact said employer will find unaccountably soothing..

Aimless, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:10 (eighteen years ago)

I want to be a reporter for a newspaper.

I finally got my first break I was very excited about.

^@^, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:16 (eighteen years ago)

Take it from an old man, it's far better to be poor and disappointed with your compensation right out of college than to face being in that situation while your peers are starting to hit careers that you would like to start breaking into.

Jesse, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:19 (eighteen years ago)

not journalism but broadcasting, natural talent or lucky break ?

forget the job application she was talent Spotted

Student DJ offered BBC 6 Music job
http://tinyurl.com/2b4e5g

A student DJ has landed a radio presenting job on the BBC.

Philippa Treverton-Jones, 21, will take over the BBC 6 Music chart show this Sunday.

She is in the third year of a politics degree at Nottingham University.

djmartian, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 18:23 (eighteen years ago)

set yourself a time frame. attack this for that time frame, not giving up

when the time frame comes to an end, you will either a) have made it to where you want to be, b) can see it in reach, c) know its not going to happen, you gave it a good shot, drop the idea totally got to plan b

600, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 19:02 (eighteen years ago)

six years pass...

I'm going to revive this thread b/c I'm looking for part-time work for the next 9 months or so. i'm a grad student, finishing up a PhD. up til now i've been teaching part-time. for whatever reason the teaching positions dried up for the fall, and may do so in the spring as well. whatever I do, it'll probably been a steep pay cut since other teaching jobs are few and far between and I don't have specialized skills to do much other professional work. i have zero desire to switch careers, i just need to pay the rent for the school year, just like a lot of other grad students.

i haven't been on the "market" for 8 years so I'm pretty rusty. and frankly i was never that good at finding jobs. most of the jobs I've had came because I was in the right place at the right time and/or knew somebody with an inside connection. i've only ever gotten one job simply by applying and then having an interview and then being hired (and that was the best-paid job i ever had, and I was stupid enough to quit it after a year because I was bored).

my biggest problem is that I just can't work up much visible enthusiasm for doing shit work for a while and am the worst liar--I can't pretend that I'm looking to switch careers, that I _really_ _really_ want to work your crappy office job, and that I'm looking to stay in the job for more than 9-12 months.

one question is, is it customary for employers not to even acknowledge receipt of an application? i've sent out like 10 applications over the past week+one half and have only received a reply from one potential employer.

any tips, commiseration, etc. much welcomed.

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, 8 August 2013 04:12 (eleven years ago)

it is the norm. if you really care, call them up and bug them about it, perhaps repeatedly given what they say.

also, a week is not very long, at least given that some employers may dawdle for months before getting around to finishing a hiring process.

sign up with temp agencies if you're willing to do office work.

be ready to do multiple interviews.

if your applications are sent anywhere with anything like professional hr people, be sure to modify them to match the stated qualifications as literally as possible. they have so many applications to go through, just at the triage stage, let alone when they're trying to make decisions for interviews, etc., that they'll exclude anything that doesn't skill-match without a second thought.

also be ready to fail for a prolonged period of time.

j., Thursday, 8 August 2013 04:39 (eleven years ago)

(the skill-matching may even be done, or be facilitated by, a piece of software at the earlier stages of the process, so you can't much count on a human being looking over your application and being struck by your badly fitting but otherwise remarkable qualifications.)

(consider also that anything normally requiring a bachelor's degree, or previous experience in any field, will have the same kind of standards applied to it, so if you literally fail to match some basic criterion, all your experience and education are likely to go unconsidered.)

j., Thursday, 8 August 2013 04:43 (eleven years ago)

it really, really, really, really, really, really sucks out there. the hardest part is keeping up your will to smash you head against the wall again and again, but if you can keep torturing yourself, it's possible

Nhex, Thursday, 8 August 2013 04:44 (eleven years ago)

oh yeah, i know about the experience stuff. i don't bother applying if the job requires some basic skill or training or degree I don't have. and I not only tailor my cover letters to the specific position but I often make subtle revisions/additions to my resume as well (not false ones, just emphasizing different things).

i wish i knew more software packages. i could try to start remedying that, but i don't know if the time investment would be worth it given how many conceivable programs jobs might want you to know. my MS office/video editing knowledge is pretty ace, but any specialized administrative software, forget it. and my HTML knowledge dates back to the late 90s.

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, 8 August 2013 06:00 (eleven years ago)

when i got canned last year i hadn't been in an interview sitch for five years, so i was reeeeeally rusty once i started getting interviews again. i found interview practice with a friend in the industry was really helpful - the usually have a good grasp of what you're likely to get asked.

'SPIRIT OF TRUCK' (haitch), Thursday, 8 August 2013 07:13 (eleven years ago)

if your applications are sent anywhere with anything like professional hr people, be sure to modify them to match the stated qualifications as literally as possible. they have so many applications to go through, just at the triage stage, let alone when they're trying to make decisions for interviews, etc., that they'll exclude anything that doesn't skill-match without a second thought.

would second this. You might have to literally copy the person specifiction stuff to your CV/application.
Fake enthusiasm as much as you can in interview (without seeming crazy obv).

kinder, Thursday, 8 August 2013 07:48 (eleven years ago)

They'll often use software to filter out applications that don't have key words from the JD, rather than having an actual human look at them.

Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Thursday, 8 August 2013 07:51 (eleven years ago)

this is good advice. it hadn't even occurred to me that a human wouldn't be looking at my letter.

i'm a writer, so I mistakenly strive to make my application cover letters well-written and not jargon-y. but it strikes me that a lot of the folks i'm sending these to are probably not that bright, and are caught up in jargon like "strategic goals" etc. so maybe I should include some meaningless corporate catchphrases in my letters?

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, 8 August 2013 08:51 (eleven years ago)

also hard to strike a balance b/t rattling off all of your relevant skills and experience and making the damn letter concise

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, 8 August 2013 08:52 (eleven years ago)

also, any tips as to where (online) to look for jobs? i've been looking at all the educational institutions, temp agencies, and a little on monster.com. (and a few other more specific employers around here.)

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, 8 August 2013 12:44 (eleven years ago)

Are you on LinkedIn?

Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Thursday, 8 August 2013 12:55 (eleven years ago)

no, should I be? I don't want random people knowing my life history and contact info.

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, 8 August 2013 13:01 (eleven years ago)

You can put as much information as you like on there, and make it private i think. You can sign up for alerts in areas you're interested in. A small, but increasing, number of employers are doing 100% of their recruitment through it now.

Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Thursday, 8 August 2013 13:06 (eleven years ago)

look at your state employment services, too.

educational institutions are among the slower ones i was thinking of above.

j., Thursday, 8 August 2013 14:55 (eleven years ago)

goddamn i finally make a new resume and the laptop it is on dies. back to it. bcz i am not working in a thrift store 4 life.

arby's, Thursday, 8 August 2013 15:00 (eleven years ago)

Recently I found a job I'd applied to previously - and not got, even though I could match everything on the job description, right down to the type of degree I had - advertised again. I thought, hmm, here's a bit of a chance. So I emailed them my CV again and made a cute comment about how I was applying again because I really wanted the job, and could they give my CV a second look? Thought that could only make me look keen.

I got a curt email back saying that candidates needed this one piece of experience, which I didn't have, and ... which wasn't mentioned at all on the advert.

So fuck them. They'd obviously not found anyone and there I was, for once a real plum of a candidate, held back by a hidden requirement.

cardamon, Thursday, 8 August 2013 20:55 (eleven years ago)

at least they emailed you.

ctrl-f riaa 0 of 0 hits. ;_:

maven with rockabilly glasses (Matt P), Thursday, 8 August 2013 20:58 (eleven years ago)

yeah the not-getting-back thing is frustrating. it's frustrating in general when people don't reply to emails, esp. when a job plays into it. really, it wouldn't take very long to copy/paste a brief "Thank you for your application. BLAH BLAH BLAH" note into a reply and hit "send." It's a small task for a significant kindness. But a lot of employers say they don't have time to do that. Fuck them.

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Friday, 9 August 2013 00:05 (eleven years ago)

how soon after applying should I send a brief follow-up? two weeks?

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Friday, 9 August 2013 00:06 (eleven years ago)

One to two weeks seems right to me?

cardamon, Friday, 9 August 2013 13:21 (eleven years ago)

any job interview tips?

i'm guessing the environment is a bit relaxed (so I can probably get away with not wearing a tie), and I feel confident that I have the experience/skills required. so I'm not quaking with fear. but I also haven't been in a proper job interview situation (at least one for a decent job) in 13 years.

should I be ready with some statements of why I want the job, etc. or just be ready to answer questions? etc.

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 00:58 (eleven years ago)

i've got one interview tomorrow (the job I'm hoping to get), and another on Monday (a decent job, but nothing too interesting)

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 00:59 (eleven years ago)

both, definitely imo?

read and re-read the job spec etc if there was an ad, have an answer for each point on it- that's the bare minimum iirc

dmacation problem (darraghmac), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 01:00 (eleven years ago)

Have an example to back up each answer too. Like, if the job spec says 'target orientated' or 'customer focused' or something, have a little story you can roll out about a time when you really demonstrated those qualities.

Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 05:27 (eleven years ago)

To add a little to that, lots of employers are using "behaviour-based interviews" that require you to back up any statements you make with examples. They work on what's called a SAR model - the example should outline the situation you were in, the action that you took and the result that came out of it.

For example, if you were asked 'can you work with minimal supervision?' you could point to a time when you had a project to work on but your manager was tied up with something else or away, or something, outline how you went about tackling that task on your own and detail the successful outcome. It can be quite mechanical because HR departments like to have clear numerical scores they can track and, in theory, justify - so you might be marked out of five for each question with one point given for clearly outlining the scenario, two for detailing the action, etc.

Of course they might take another approach but it's something to have in your pocket should they go that route.

Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 07:29 (eleven years ago)

thanks gals/guys! i wrote down a lot of little stories as you suggested (or rather, wrote down a few words that would jog my memory about the stories)... but I didn't end up needing more than one or two.

the first interview ended up being fairly informal (I mean, we were sitting across a table and all that, but the interviewer didn't fire a million difficult questions at me and her attitude seemed positive and relaxed). i was interviewed by the boss rather than HR folks. and i got the job, before the interview was even over... although my acceptance is pending a final confirmation of how much they can pay me. and i'm paranoid that something will happen in the next week to sabotage it, because I'm like that.

i'm still doing the other interviews just because I won't assume I have a job until I've signed on the dotted line, but hopefully my search (at least for the next or so) is over.

flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, 22 August 2013 07:15 (eleven years ago)

Congratulations!

Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Thursday, 22 August 2013 07:30 (eleven years ago)

nice work
behavioral interviewing is allthe talk around me. "tell me about a time when you..." hard to be ready to roll off a story on the spot, but in the people i counsel, practising (like above) helps a ton. nothing word for word, just a half dozen outlines you can fit to the question.

anky, Thursday, 22 August 2013 08:06 (eleven years ago)

well done amateurist!

TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 22 August 2013 11:01 (eleven years ago)

one month passes...

Submitting resume online for consideration for a temp research job, not even a full-time permanent gig! And they want the most incredibly detailed self-review of your performance at previous jobs! This is ridiculous. Do I just lie and say, I was awesome at everything?? They can't make you impugn yourself, surely!

Tottenham Heelspur (in orbit), Thursday, 3 October 2013 18:11 (eleven years ago)

Oh, they'll have some horribly precise requirements - you need to be X% positive abt yrself to Y% negative, be one out of ratio either way and they won't have it.

Maybe.

cardamon, Saturday, 5 October 2013 00:55 (eleven years ago)

I just chose neutral responses--it's not that one has to "lie," it's that your performance on a previous job is not necessarily a prediction of your performance at the next one, depending on a lot of things. Also, it's their manager's and HR department's job to decide whether you're right for them, not yours to potentially disqualify yourself so that they can weed out their stack of applicants for things that may not even be relevant.

Tottenham Heelspur (in orbit), Saturday, 5 October 2013 01:07 (eleven years ago)

The whole process of fitting applicants to jobs is a nightmare of inefficency and irrationality - for everyone. No one knows yet how to make it any better, but HR departments keep flailing around looking for magical answers, and dodgy consultants are happy to provide them with as many magical answers as the market will bear.

Good luck. My heart goes out to anyone caught in the job-search wringer.

Aimless, Saturday, 5 October 2013 01:18 (eleven years ago)

Btway, anyone have any experience of going into warehouse work, as an adult, having not done it before?

cardamon, Saturday, 5 October 2013 02:53 (eleven years ago)

ten months pass...

fuck this shit X-(

out here like a flopson (tpp), Wednesday, 3 September 2014 18:01 (ten years ago)

i have a 'job' now, should be searching still but barely have the time or energy to search anyway. kind of feels worse than not having a job. at least there was some dignity in that.

j., Wednesday, 3 September 2014 19:25 (ten years ago)

two months pass...

If anyone is looking for a customer-services type job in central London, or knows someone who is, send me an ILX-mail. There's a role going in my department. Not exactly entry level but not something you need 5 years of experience for. Not a call centre or anything like that. idk what the pay would be but it's not likely to be amazing. Would be a good foot in the door at a very good company though.

Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Friday, 28 November 2014 15:51 (ten years ago)

five months pass...

idk if there's anyone with a background in international student recruitment, a good understanding of SE Asia and a burning desire to work in KL, Singapore, London or Melbourne on ilx but if there is, hit me up.

Petite Lamela (ShariVari), Friday, 1 May 2015 10:45 (ten years ago)

imagine if racoon tanuki was that person

an absolute feast of hardcore fanboy LOLs surrounding (imago), Friday, 1 May 2015 10:47 (ten years ago)

also imagine I could spell raccoon

an absolute feast of hardcore fanboy LOLs surrounding (imago), Friday, 1 May 2015 10:48 (ten years ago)

lj.vn?

LMAO. GOLD Chrisso. regards, REB (nakhchivan), Friday, 1 May 2015 23:23 (ten years ago)

proven record of module delivery including recruitment of children to postcolonial studies graduate programmes

LMAO. GOLD Chrisso. regards, REB (nakhchivan), Friday, 1 May 2015 23:26 (ten years ago)

five years pass...

I highly recommend listening to this series if you are in the clutches of job search:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsyd467-JCE

If you just want money you can avoid the unpleasantness of a job search altogether and just live the remainder of your life as a crusty cyber beggar collecting funds for a non-existent child's terminal case of rickets

... or if you need background meditation music. It's pretty droney.

Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 25 August 2020 21:14 (four years ago)


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.