I have worked as a reporter at a big-city newspaper for a few years. I am job hunting because I do not like the city and I have had a difficult time moving up at the newspaper because there are too many qualified applicants internally for every position. I have a few questions:
ASK JOE A QUESTION
|
To get your question answered on this page, send it to Joe. Please include your full name in your message. If you prefer that your surname not be published, please indicate that. Sign up to receive Ask The Recruiter by e-mail:
* Click here (sent Monday-Friday at 8 a.m.) |
|
- Since most large newspapers are not hiring, will it hurt my career in the long run if I go to work for an online publication or the Newseum? Will it be tough to return to newspapers later, should I want to?
- If I decide to go to a smaller newspaper as a reporter or an editor, will that hurt my chances of working at a larger newspaper in the future? Will I find a different quality of editing at a smaller newspaper?
- I have thought about applying for jobs at small newspapers in capital cities so I could have the experience of covering a state legislature -- an opportunity I can't get at a large newspaper yet. How would this move look on my resume?
Thanks,
Contemplating
I prefer options one and three. They show forward movement.
Option two sounds like a retreat.
Working in online journalism could be very smart. Droves of journalists are trying to do more online as they see their companies follow whole markets in that direction. You'd learn some new skills, enhance the security of your career, and you would be learning. With option three, you are making a move to be a bigger fish in a small pond and working to get closer to a type of journalism that calls to you.
In either case, you'll have a good answer down the road when someone asks, "Why did you do it?" You might even find an interesting new trail on your career path.
Coming Monday: He'd like to leave the States for a job in Canada and come back a few years later, but he wonders how hard that will be.
