Q. I'm a fairly new addition to the journalism job force. I've been working at a 30,000 daily newspaper for about a year and a half and I'm considering what my next move could be. I've always thought I would stay in newspapers. I would continue to build clips as I continually moved up the circulation ladder.
I have recently, however, applied for a job at my alma mater writing news for its Web site. It got me thinking: Would a move to a field other than print journalism, even though I would still be writing "news," make it that much harder for me to re-enter the print world in a larger market? How do employers in, say, a 60,000 to 80,000 daily market look at applicants who have taken this side road? Would I be cutting off all chances to move up the daily newspaper ladder?
P.S. I love the column. I read it religiously –- it’s a great resource.
Kelly
A. You are at the beginning of a 40-year career, and print newsrooms are going through some radical transformations. You need to have a more agile job plan than spending the next 40 years in newsrooms as they exist today. It is just not realistic or safe.
Watch and listen as journalism is reinvented -- help if you can -- and try to visualize the best role for you down the road. It could be writing, videography, producing, audience engagement and many other things yet to be invented. It will not necessarily be at a newspaper and may be in some other form of journalism. Maybe you will help invent one of the new forms.
Use your time away from traditional journalism to master skills that will help you return later if that is still what you want to do. I expect some people will ask why you left in the first place. Let learning be your answer.
This is no time to freeze-dry your skills and hope to thaw them out at a later date so that you can pick up where you left off. Where you are leaving off is leaving off, too.
Coming Wednesday: He is preparing an application and has two references at a former paper -- one took a buyout and one is still there. Should he avoid the bought-out boss?
