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Getting back to my roots: another job interview

March 30th, 2012 at 02:08 pm

I've lined up yet another job interview for this Tuesday with the publisher of a local weekly newspaper covering about 10 towns in my area.

It would definitely be getting back to my roots, because newspaper reporting is what I did for the first three years after I graduated college. But it was very low paying, even then, so I later went on to law school and better paying jobs in marketing.

However, I look back fondly on my newspaper days. I met a lot of people and knew a lot about what was going on in the towns I was covering. These were local papers, not those with a national audience, so I wrote a lot of special interest features and attended lots of late night planning and zoning meetings, always toting a camera.

It was a difficult job at times for me to do because I'm your basic introvert and sometimes dislike having to go up and talk to strangers about not always so pleasant topics, like, so, you're getting sued, how do you feel about that?

Well, I exaggerate a little, but you get the idea.

The job also often entailed late night meetings with early morning deadlines and lots of running around on the weekends to various events. For a single 20-something, it was ok, but doing that now full-time? I'm not sure.

So I saw the ad in a paper here and it actually said you could call about the job. So I applied on Friday and decided to call today to follow up. I got patched right through to the publisher and had a brief conversation with him. It's a family-owned newspaper and they actually have two openings: one for a full-time reporter covering one town with blue-collar roots, and another for a part-time reporter (who can work up to 40 hours) covering a different town that's more upscale and is known as an antiques town, has various horse farms, etc. I presume the f/t job has benefits.

Both towns would be a good half-hour drive, although the newspaper office is about 15 minutes away.

I expect the pay for etiher will be EXTREMELY low, quite possibly too low for me to consider f/t, but it could possibly make sense to take the p/t one to supplement my current p/t job and freelance.

So sometime this weekend I will once again assemble a portfolio, this time dragging out old newspaper clips that I'd otherwise be embarrassed to ever show, but which I feel would be important to include just to prove I did in fact work at two other newspapers. Both newspapers have since gone under.

I'm not necessarily expecting much becus it probably won't pay enough to even be worthwhile, but it's worth exploring and these days, I'm leaving no stone unturned. I consider it an "exploratory" interview.

4 Responses to “Getting back to my roots: another job interview”

  1. CB in the City Says:
    1333117130

    What a trooper you are! Good luck!

  2. Ima saver Says:
    1333131635

    I wish you well!!

  3. frugalgirl Says:
    1333139790

    You never know....some strange assignment from the newpaper gig could lead you to meet someone with a better job opportunity... Good luck! I admire your stick-to-itiveness

  4. Jerry Says:
    1333230516

    I appreciate and laud the fact that you are considering everything, even the PT job without insurance benefits, and jobs with low pay. For one thing, those options can lead to others, and for another, it beats sitting around doing nothing! Wink Good luck!
    Jerry

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