Lots of skills, but no money in news
Hello there, I' m a 27-year-old professional journalist in Washington State who has a lot of education and experience (listed below). I have 5 years of college, all of them at community colleges. I have an AA, and three 2-year degrees in: graphic design, graphic illustration, and multimedia production (web design) all high honors. I worked 2 years in college paid as the college newsppaer' s graphics editor, web editor and finally editor in chief. I' ve worked for a weekly newspaper above Seattle, WA for the last three years. I am the Online Editor (built them a whole new website fully loaded with a searchable news database, color PDF issues, etc.), thier paginator (I build all of thier newspaper pages in Indesign every week), videographer (I shoot and edit videos for the Web site), and also a reporter/photographer. I' ve also performed copy editing and computer/phone/internet technical management for them. I MAKE $14/HOUR I get nothing over 40 hours a week (anything over 40 is considered comp hours I can use later). No overtime, my paycheck always stays the same unless I work less hours and get paid less. I get one 20-MINUTE break a day. They put nothing into my 401K, I do it all on my own. I can' t affort to live anywhere, so I' ve been living with my parents. I started out as a reporter there three years ago for $12/hour and now I find out the rookie reporters that have been working there for a year are making $15.50/HOUR!!! I have had numerous job offers from other weekly newspapers but they all want to pay me $12-$15/hour. Should I be doing better? If so, what job/field can I step into with all of these skills and make a good living? Ok, here' s some stuff you probably don' t want to hear... I think you' ve made a few tactical errors. The first is journalism isn' t a field you go into for the big bucks. You go into it for the love of the topic. Are there journalism related jobs that pay better? Yes, however, (tactical error number 2), I don' t think you can get them without a BA. Actually, I' m impressed you' ve had any sort of journalism related job without one. Spending 5 years in college and not coming out with the all mighty Bachelors? That just seems insane. So, what can you do now? You do have a lot of skills, but I' m not sure you have "unique" skills. You need to give some thought to what things you can do that others can' t. Find a gap and fill it kind of thing. What makes you special to an employer? Then give some thought to what you want to do. See the career counselor at your college. They can do a bunch of testing to identify your skills, abilities and interests as well as to show you related careers you may not have considered. Also look into what you can do to create a BA degree. Many colleges have programs that would allow you to consolidate your credits, supplement with some additional night/weekend/on-line courses, take some tests, etc. and get your BA in a short period of time. It would absolutely be worth it and is definitely holding you back employment-wise. Here' s an example of the sort of program I' m talking about, it is very important that the program be very reputable.
Do you have a blog? If you don't, pick a topic you are passionate about, and invest some time in a blog. The return won't be immediate, but if you pick a good topic and do it right, you can expand your network, get some exposure and who knows, maybe even make some money off of it. A couple more lucrative ways you can use the skills you have: -- PR (journalists often go to the other side and find more regular hours and more substantial paychecks) -- Copywriting Perhaps going into another part of publishing. Magazines may pay more. And trade publications tend to pay the best. I agree with the person that said PR. A major newspaper in my city (a major US city) has been laying off and offering buyouts over the past few years. Nearly everyone switched over to PR and they are doing very well. Many have moved into government and political PR, since they knew all the agencies and politicians from the reporter side already. Aside from having the writing skills, journalists are desirable because they have press contacts--ie their friends. The better your Rolodex, the higher your pay will be. Aside from that, public-sector PR is much more laid back than reporting. I wouldn't say easy, but you usually go home by 6pm and you don't have the same pressure to file. Since you are a journalist, you must have contacts. Ask them if they want a flack. | |
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