Q. I am a local government/municipal reporter at a mid-sized daily (50,000 circ.).
The newspaper shed about a quarter of its reporters over the past 10 months -- my length of service. The editors are stressed and have shoveled more work onto fewer bodies because the company is in a general hiring freeze. The paper's single topical beat was eliminated and opportunity to advance or try something different (general assignment, sports, etc.) appears nonexistent.
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One of my editors even said I'd need to find another paper to work a different type of beat.
The demands are more than I can meet every day and still enjoy my work while producing good, well- reported and written stories. My byline count and A1 count are healthy, but I feel pushed and pressured instead of coached and communicated with.
I want my work to be fun again.
Will a short stint here (a year?) damage my ability to find a better job, maybe a general assignment, topical or sports writing position elsewhere?
And if I move to, say, sports, will that prohibit a move back into news in the future?
P.S. -- An opening in the sports department has been silently denied to me. I talked to my editors and to the managing editor about it and they encouraged me to apply, even told me that I had earned the right to. I have tried to communicate with the sports editor, but from what I have heard on the rumor bush -- I work in a satellite bureau -- my editors have told him that I am off limits.
Ten MonthsA. You can safely start to look for a job. In fact, it may be dangerous not to. You are starting to get
frayed, and there is little to be gained from hanging around if there is a better job to be had. You have just 10 months in, but it seems you started in December, so your resume is already going to have parts of two calendar years on it. Plus, I think we can figure that a successful job search in this climate is going to need a few months, so get started.
Your editors are making a mistake in declaring you to be off limits for other good opportunities. That is a good way for the paper to lose you altogether.
Coming Thursday: This student is getting some interest from small weeklies in small places, but wonders how such jobs will sit with editors down the road.
I have often heard people say that they thought their...
