Q. I wrote to you about a year and a half ago with a sorry tale: I had managed to move from an entry-level position to a deputy editor position at an ethnic weekly and was having an impossible time finding another job. It was my first job out of college and I thought the title was throwing people off. Your advice was to stick it out and use the editorial experience to my advantage, which I appreciated.
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For just over a year, I have been the editor/writer for a chamber of commerce. My job is to write and edit a newspaper about business and politics. I have no regular contributors and write about 90 percent of it.
There has been some good -- it is a very dynamic chamber and does a lot in the way of economic development and advocacy. I have gotten a thorough education on city and state politics and policy, including having been privy to information that most journalists would kill for. I'm mostly writing features that prominently profile our members. While I think I am writing them well, it is not something I feel good about. This place is, at the end of the day, a membership organization. Businesses pay dues for support and promotion in the form of glowing stories and well-placed quotes in my newspaper.
As for breaking back into the real world, I imagine the answer is to start freelancing. I have made solid connections with reporters, editors and some publishers at dailies and weeklies across the city. Some of them have already said the door is open for assignments when I am ready.
However, because of my position and the information I have access to, I feel it is a conflict of interest to touch anything the chamber has its hands in, which is pretty much everything that is of any interest to me or local editors.
Am I just being too pious? Is freelancing even the best course of action? I feel my circumstances are such that I can't do both while I am in this position. I know leaving a full-time job is a risk, but my husband has steady work and we don't have any children to support in the foreseeable future. Any clarity you can shed on this situation?
Trapped Like a Canary in an Aviary
A.You seem to be strongly inclined to take this opportunity to restart your career. You say you are relatively new at this, that you have few obligations and that you might be able to give up steady
paychecks for a little while because your husband is getting them. This makes sense to me.
You also sound very unhappy with the nature of the work you are doing.
Are you being too pious? Absolutely not. You are wise to keep a bright line between your work and journalism. Your reputation is one of your greatest assets, and you do not want to jeopardize it with anyone.
Look at your finances carefully one more time before you take the plunge. That is the only drawback. If you can afford it, no time will be better than now to try to move your career back into journalism.
Coming Friday: He is looking forward to a summer internship and wants to ensure that it goes as well as possible. What should he do?
