Job stuff !! Need some advice and energy info, please

[FirstLight]

So, since my little meltdown at work last month I have been put on probation and hours cut, etc...been hard and depressing to just make ends meet - that's part of my freaking out factor
Got reccomended by my HUD worker for another program, that will help with on the job training and career incentives for me to get a boost...( they will either pay my way to get back through some schooling or offer a company who is willing to give me training and a position some compensation for helping me out...)

So the biggest thing I have only and EVER wanted to do is get back into working for the local newspaper. I started out as an editorial grunt right after getting my AA, moved up to staff writer, but couldn't get farther because of the BA (or lack thereof)
fast forward 10 years - I am freelancing for the paper still, filling in for reporters on vacay, and bailing them out when they are short handed. I am ready to learn how to be an editor, learn the career of news, and develop stories more actively, just need the position to happen... and this company has small town papers in Oregon, Colorado and Nevada, so I could be set for life.

they just had some of the "blocking" people leave the compay in the last 6 months...new Publisher, and a Managing Editor who I didn't know. So I got the Program Intro from the state and gave them a cover letter and my resume and stopped by to wish merry Cmas to my buddies in the front office and drop it off on the 19th...
I just found out that the MG Ed position was given to the one city editor who always calls me to do assigments! It is NO secret that I LOVE the paper and the newsroom, in fact the last gig I did was right as I had heard about this program and I had even mentioned it to her!

This could be the development that gets me back in the door... but I am SO afraid to get my hopes up. it is my DREAM job...
Gonna go back this week and touch base, give them some references, etc...see if they want an interview anytime soon....

My Bday is New Years ( 1/1/1970 at 15 seconds after midnight actually!), and my horoscope seems to be saying this is a year for me to be the comeback kid
anyone get any vibes on this? Prayers are welcome too!
I need something to sink my teeth into and feel good about myself and my future....

*crosses fingers*

[FirstLight]

1. well, first things first today...

called my good friend and energy worker to get some body work and clear out the negative thought forms, etc - hopefuly tomorrow!
THEN I may actually be ready to take this task on ! :scared:

[MagickMuffin]

2. I certainly know how you feel, about having anxiety attacks

I made my living in the graphics arts (before computers took over) and no degree. I have spent over 10 years with the computer desktop programs, but I still haven't mastered the programs.

Now, whenever I look for work outside my home I've found that companies want you to know Desk Top Publishing (Quark/InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, Flash, along with web based programs i.e. HTML/CSS.

The Photoshop/Illustrator programs are always for the newest versions, which I don't own.



My suggestion for you would be to keep yourself grounded. Before, during and after your interview. Project confidence in yourself and your abilities. Surround yourself with positive energy and project it outwards to the interviewer.

Have a "cheatsheet" of ALL the articles you have written/helped work on for the paper.

If that fails keep in mind there are always other avenues out there for the line of work you are wanting to get into. Some of it can be from home. Keep checking CraigsLists for the job YOU want. There seems to be a lot of those kind of jobs available.

I will send Good Vibes your way. Be sure to post when you get a one on one interview so we can send you Energy before the interview.

Good Luck, Journalgrrl :hug:

[FirstLight]

3. I went ahead and sent a "congratulations" email to her

...just a quick note wishing her a happy new year and saying I amlooking forward to hearningfrom her soon...no mention of the resume, etc...I know she knows...I'll follow up next week, and so will the state worker.

Yes, I know quark, a little photoshop, dreamweaver, publisher, etc...and they know that since they trained me on some of it...
Craigslist I haven't checked lately, but I don't want peicemal stuff anymore, I just want a career position that I can relax into...I am tired of beating the bushes and never knowing where the next check is coming from.

this is about stability for me - I can't take much more freelancing... it is just a nice way of saying "starving artist"!!! lol

[Sienna86]

4. Good luck Journalgrrl

Sending light to you. Keep us posted.

[FirstLight]

5. Hey! WELCOME Sunflower!

I never get a chance to say that to new posters! thanks for the Light
:hug:

[LiberalEsto]

6. I hear you, JG

I worked as a newspaper reporter from 1972 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1997. It's all I ever wanted to do. I started my career at age 15 in 1967, writing a high school column in our community paper for 25 cents per column inch of copy.

Of the six papers I worked for, five have gone out of business. The only remaining one is the Newark Star-Ledger, which is New Jersey's largest paper. It recently forced 40% of its employees to take buyouts under the threat that the paper would otherwise be sold. I left it in 1990 when our family moved to Maryland. Every year there are fewer and fewer newspapers, and fewer journalism jobs.

Since I reached the top of the Newspaper Guild salary scale, no big paper can afford to hire me. They can hire two or more young, energetic reporters with masters' degrees in my place.

At 56, I am essentially obsolete. I've been working part time as a marketing writer for a small PR firm since 2000, but this past year my earnings were only 1/10th of what they were 3 years earlier, due to the economy. I did a little freelance work as well, but there are an awful lot of out-of-work journalists around the country who are snapping up what work is available. I have fibromyalgia and there are days when I can barely move due to the pain, so I don't have the energy to compete in a full time job any more.

Now I'm getting really despondent. My husband got laid off last week, and I don't know what we're going to do. I'm terrified that if he doesn't find something, we could lose our house. Our health insurance expires at the end of March. He's an Oracle database administrator and usually has no trouble finding work, but with the economy shrinking, I am worried sick.

Wishing you good luck in your career, JG. One bit of advice. I did a huge stupid thing as a reporter. Two papers asked me to move up to the copy desk, and both times I was fool enough to turn them down because I loved working on the front lines. I might still be employed somewhere if I'd accepted. Don't pass up any opportunity to learn a new set of skills.

[FirstLight]

7. wow, a truly amazing career, eh?

I am So sorry to hear about your hubby and your difficulty...many of us are just hanging on by a thread and hoping that things will turn around as soon as the Inauguration hapens...I know that I am holding my breath for that change in the tides, too. I wil kep you in prayer.

Funny, when I was in high school, I remember teling my counselor I wanted to be a writer and she said "get a REAL job"...I went for years before I even KNEW journalism was an option, but once the bug bit, I was hooked. I did 3 quarters as an intern for the PR director of our local water district, she was my mentor and had a MA in Journalism, from there I was PR commissioner for our college student council, and used that relationship with the paper in our little town to get my foot in the dor as an Ed assittant (meaning gopher!) eventually I got some writing responsibilities, but never had my own beat....I learned layout and such, did stocks & weather, and even won some Nevada Press Assoc awards my rookie year. I enjoyed the conections I made with the community, also racked up my own sources, some of which are still here in town.

Part of this program was not only taking career tests...but having to do market research for what I wanted to do. Journalism in my state has only a 3% growth rate to 2010...whereas Editor positions have 39% growth. I figured it was safer to shoot for city or copy editor...also because it would give me more of a chance to do columns and develop bigger, more encompassing stories with reporters.

It is hard being an idealist in that biz - but I feel it gives me a different edge. Most reporters and editors are SO cyinical, thinking the worst in people and failing to see that a really good story CAN maken a difference in the way the community deals with an issue. I hope to make a difference...And I enjoy being a bigger fish in a smaller pond, our population is only 20K

The paper has been downsized so much it is really crippled, in the 90's there were 7 reporters and 4 editors, now only 3 reporrters and 2 editors...I don't understand the reason for the failure of the genre. I don't believe that print is dead, and television can't give the depth or time that a written story can. It is a sad state of affairs. I contacted the Reno University Journalism school and asked if my years of experience could be given some credit towards the degree and they told me that everything was geared to PR and video now, that my print experience was essentialy worthless. very sad

again, I am sending light and hope your way for a job for your husband and your situation to turn around quickly. I hope that all of us have a shot for a better situation in the coming months!!!
:hug:

[Why Syzygy]

9. Can you sell ads?

Maybe you could start your own paper or magazine. If no one else is interested in print, maybe the market will be left wanting. Just speculation. I bring home lots of printed material, but rarely take the time to read it. I do most of my reading online. You could do something online maybe. I know about beating the streets selling print ads. I suck at it. Web advertising is completely different, I'm sure.

I never wanted to do anything but write. I was on a large high school paper in Tucson when a junior. We had moved from Texas, and nothing could console my homesickness. So, I left home and moved in with a family in Texas. The hs journalism instructor was very angry that I would choose to leave his paper! The school I moved to was much smaller, and though I was on the paper staff, it was nothing like the larger school. That's where my journalism career ended. Before it got started.

I don't know what to tell you about career opportunities. There are lots of writers around here though. Best wishes.

[LiberalEsto]

10. I wish you the same.

Newspapers are dying for a variety of reasons. The cost of newsprint is extremely high. There's also the bottom line factor -- where providing dividends to stockholders becomes more important than any other aspect of the newspaper business, including public service, integrity and responsible journalism. This has killed plenty of other businesses in recent years.

And more people get their news from the Internet and from TV because it's faster and more convenient for them. Couples have to have two or more jobs to survive, and there's barely enough time for their kids -- there's no time for newspapers or social life.

When I took some journalism classes at college in the early 1970s, our professors predicted newspapers would be dead within 10 years. That was more than 30 years ago.

Check out Thomas Edison State College at www.tesc.edu. It's part of the New Jersey state college and university system and has been around for decades. My husband got his associates' degree from there. They assign credit for prior work experience. It might be a way for you to pull together a degree. You can take classes anywhere and do not have to be a NJ resident, although I think the cost is a bit higher if you're from out of state.

blessings to you and everyone else struggling in the wreckage created by the B*sh misadministration.

[MorningGlow]

8. Hey JG

Happy Early Birthday! (Did we know our birthdays are also twin-like? I forget. Mine's on the 2nd!) :hug:

Anyway, I'm afraid I don't have any advice regarding jobs, except that when you're supposed to be in a job, things just kind of "click". I've learned not to get too despondent over not getting a job I thought I wanted, and sure enough, I always found out later that the place/job sucked or the business was going under.

So with that in mind, I'll send you white light to be applied for the best possible outcome, for the good of all and the free will of all. So Mote It Be! :hi:

P.S.: I hear you about this being "our" year. I'm looking forward to it too. I realize some of these transformations could be uncomfortable or ugly (to say the least), so I'm bearing in mind that to make an omelet, you gotta break a few eggs.
:rofl:

[FirstLight]

11. *snort* there goes my keyboard!

...break a few eggs....

you know I have been called an egghead many times! :rofl: bwahahahaa!

I am going to try viualizing myself "there" every morning as I run my energy, we'l see what unfolds...
AND I have to be open to the possibility that the Universe has many other ideas for me too, I may not see the whole picture, so continue to poke here & there & tweek the program till it works :freak:

ps-meant to send you another PM, but been too busy to really focus for long... (ha, too busy AVOIDING my desk! lol)