[BasketofPuppies]

I have lost all interest in my work.

I want to be a newspaper reporter.

Now all I need to know is how to get started.

First, undergraduate or graduate school? I already have a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication, but only because my major, Advertising, was in my university's journalism school. The only journalism courses I took were the required ones, which were minimal and entry-level. Am I better off going to graduate school or starting over, and what are the advantages and disadvatages of both?

Second, how do I gain experience? I assume it would be difficult to get an internship at my age (26). Add to that most journalists get their starts in small towns and I live within walking distance of the headquarters of the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, which do not hire people without years of experience, I have a problem. Do I need to move to a small town or is there another option? I do not think I could survive outside a big city; Des Moines, Iowa was difficult enough for me.

Finally, any other advice? As you might be able to tell, I am at the very beginning of trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. I appreciate any help anyone can offer.

[khufuu]

Originally Posted by BasketofPuppies

I have lost all interest in my work.

I want to be a newspaper reporter.

Now all I need to know is how to get started.

First, undergraduate or graduate school? I already have a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication, but only because my major, Advertising, was in my university's journalism school. The only journalism courses I took were the required ones, which were minimal and entry-level. Am I better off going to graduate school or starting over, and what are the advantages and disadvatages of both?

Second, how do I gain experience? I assume it would be difficult to get an internship at my age (26). Add to that most journalists get their starts in small towns and I live within walking distance of the headquarters of the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, which do not hire people without years of experience, I have a problem. Do I need to move to a small town or is there another option? I do not think I could survive outside a big city; Des Moines, Iowa was difficult enough for me.

Finally, any other advice? As you might be able to tell, I am at the very beginning of trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. I appreciate any help anyone can offer.

Are you serious?

Um... talk to supervisors/managers in your target job market. Find out what they want. Have very candid conversations with them. Tell them where you've been and where you want to go. They may even throw you a bone (ie: entry level position somewhere) depending on if they take a liking to you. Personality, commitment and persistence can take you a long way. You already have a J-school degree so I'd assume you're most of the way there.

Good luck.

[BasketofPuppies]

Indeed I am serious.

I know there are a few journalists here--isn't Randman a wire reporter?--and surely others here have done the career change and/or returning to school thing in the past, so I thought I might be able to get some suggestions on how to go about starting this here.

[KeriVit]

Just do it! Go back to school, play it by ear. No one should be miserable at work if they can do something about it. Not an expert on the field, but sounds like grad school is the way to go. Good luck.

[ASIMO]

Start honing your eulogy-writing skills.

[BasketofPuppies]

I guess I have to start somewhere.

I knew a news/reporting major in college who worked for a newspaper writing obituaries. Is it possible to advance from that position or is it a--pardon the expression--dead-end job?

Because writing obituaries doesn't sound much more interesting that what I'm doing now.

[Randman]

Yes, I'm a journalist. I prefer design but I also write and have been an editor and am working on a book right now when I'm not post-whoring.

Well, you have a J degree, so that helps somewhat. I'd say forget about it if you didn't.

Now, are you talking about being a reporter? Have you done any writing before? Not blogging but writing, even back in uni? If you have, pull some samples together.

If you haven't, keep your day job and do some freelance work. Contact some of the smaller papers in your area or local magazines and see if you can contribute some work. You may not get paid for it or you may get paid little but you'll have something to stick in a resume and writing samples to offer a prospective employer as well as getting a feel for it.

Forget about the likes of the Trib. You need to make your bones before trying at the majors.

What area? Tech? Features? Sports? Have a plan in mind and go for. If there's any weekly newspapers or neighborhood newspapers in your area, see if you can write for them. Be prepared and be willing to work. You'll have to do some catching up.

Also, make sure you can write. Spelling, grammar, quickness, ability to type cleanly and coherence of thought are valued commodities.

Consider taking another J class at a uni near you. It'll help hone your skills and you can make some contacts with the professors. It'll also give you a chance to do some writing for the school newspaper.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

1. Graduate School
2. Internship

why would theyy not have you as an intern just because you're old! just be qualified. go to graduate school first and then worry later

[Chuckit]

What Randman said.

I definitely wouldn't go to grad school for journalism unless what you want to do is teach journalism. The time you spend there will be a lot less useful to you as a reporter than just going out there and writing, if you ask me. (I'm all for education, but grad school for journalism just isn't that useful as far as being a reporter goes.)

And 26 is not too old to start. I know plenty of people who have gotten started at your age, whether as stringers or interns.

[Randman]

Graduate school is good if you want to teach or if you want to go to law school. In the real world, experience trumps education when you get to that point.

[Eynstyn]

Originally Posted by BasketofPuppies

I guess I have to start somewhere.

I knew a news/reporting major in college who worked for a newspaper writing obituaries. Is it possible to advance from that position or is it a--pardon the expression--dead-end job?

Because writing obituaries doesn't sound much more interesting that what I'm doing now.

Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond said she liked reading the obits in the NYT because she felt, after having read about these peoples lives, like she knew and cared about them.

If you can find the drama, the mystery, the humor, the inspiration and the beauty of a person you never knew and will never know, then you will be able to make a City Council meeting seem interesting.

Legendary editor Tina Brown has that ability, or at least she has the ability to find writers with the talent to make ANY subject seem interesting. I subscribed to the ill-fated TALK magazine (a victim of their own editorial liberal slant as well as being a casualty of 9/11) because even story subjects I had NO interest in reading wound up seducing me before the next issue. In 4 weeks I had read EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE IN MOST EVERY ISSUE.

That's saying something.

If you can write obits well, a good smart editor (who has the job partly because he/she has a knack for spotting brilliance and nurturing it on behalf of his employer and not letting that talent go to a competitor) will take your wringing hands and find something else for them to do.

IMHO.

One more thing.

If I told you an editor in Cherokee Falls, OK had read your posts and on the basis of your writing talent was offering you a reporting job with a twelve month employment contract guaranteeing you a livable wage and decent working conditions starting as soon as you can get there and get settled, would you take the job or not? By the way, you have exactly 60 minutes to decide or the offer will be withdrawn and you'll be back where you are now.

Do you take the job or not?

If you say no, then you don't really want to be a reporter.

If you say yes, then the issue of living in a small town isn't as important as you thought it was.

Follow your passion.

If you CAN be deterred from your passion then you SHOULD be deterred.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by BasketofPuppies

I guess I have to start somewhere.

I knew a news/reporting major in college who worked for a newspaper writing obituaries. Is it possible to advance from that position or is it a--pardon the expression--dead-end job?

Because writing obituaries doesn't sound much more interesting that what I'm doing now.

A lot of what you'll do as a reporter will be tedious, boring work. You'll have to sit though five-hour city council meetings, three hours of which consist mainly of people repeating the same facts about some unimportant issue over and over. You'll have to look through long-ass agendas and packets to figure out what's going on, picking out the little details that really matter. You'll have to keep pestering the most annoying, irrational people to get back to you even if you'd really like nothing better than never to have to talk to them again. It can still be great fun if you're into it, but don't get into journalism — especially newspaper journalism — if you want a glamour job.

That said, no decent reporter would be stuck writing obits forever, and no good reporter would want to, either. I just think a lot of people don't realize exactly how mundane reporting can be, so I want to make sure you understand before you make a huge career jump.

[Randman]

Writing obits is an intern job or clerical, for the most part. Do yourself a favor and forget breaking into the business that way.

Do you know sports? Try doing some freelance writing. Helping cover high school football games for a smaller paper would be a good way to get clips, professional experience and having working journalists tell you if you're worth a damn or not.

[Randman]

Originally Posted by Eynstyn

If I told you an editor in Cherokee Falls, OK had read your posts and on the basis of your writing talent was offering you a reporting job with a twelve month employment contract guaranteeing you a livable wage and decent working conditions starting as soon as you can get there and get settled, would you take the job or not? By the way, you have exactly 60 minutes to decide or the offer will be withdrawn and you'll be back where you are now.

NO. NO. NO.

a) any editor who would do that sucks and wouldn't be worth working for.

b) a 12-month gig is the same as an extended internship. Let them hire you, then can your butt after 12 months if they feel you're not up to it.

c) any offer with a time deadline on that would be crap. If they do that now, how would they treat you when you're actually working?

d) taking the wrong job can be worse than taking no job. Don't get into a bad situation at first unless the money is too good or it'll open doors for you. You'll be unhappy and learn bad habits. Both are killers.

BASKET: If you have any writing samples, you can email them to me if you wish and I'll give you my opinion.

[Eynstyn]

Originally Posted by Randman

NO. NO. NO.

a) any editor who would do that sucks and wouldn't be worth working for.

b) a 12-month gig is the same as an extended internship. Let them hire you, then can your butt after 12 months if they feel you're not up to it.

c) any offer with a time deadline on that would be crap. If they do that now, how would they treat you when you're actually working?

d) taking the wrong job can be worse than taking no job. Don't get into a bad situation at first unless the money is too good or it'll open doors for you. You'll be unhappy and learn bad habits. Both are killers.

BASKET: If you have any writing samples, you can email them to me if you wish and I'll give you my opinion.

I used hypotheticals to help BoP examine his own truths about the small town thing and how unimportant it was if he really wanted to become a reporter.

On the other hand, you took those made up scenarios and commented on them like they could possibly be real. I guess that means the scoundrel Editor/Publisher stereotype in "His Girl Friday," Walter Burns, may not be very far from the truth. Which says a great deal about the current state of journalistic affairs and why a network news organization has to tout it's "fainess" in it's slogan (that's like Apple having to advertise it's products as being real computers) and a news magazine had to back away from an important story after lives were lost as a result of people's reaction to what was an unsubstantiated news report.

I thought I was throwing out a scenario so unlikely that most anyone would escape most any temptation to deal with these implausibilities literally. But I guess not.

You were quite accurate in pointing out the shortcomings of such an outlandish offer.

But you missed the point. (Or, you tried so hard to ignore or negate my point that you opened yourself up to criticism.)

Ladies and gentlemen, this is an example of ACCURACY getting in the way of the truth.

Journalists.

Ya gotta love em.

May God help us all.

[Randman]

Whatever. Someone asks for help and you turn this into a diatribe.

No class.

[Eynstyn]

Originally Posted by Randman

Whatever. Someone asks for help and you turn this into a diatribe.

No class.

You're just sore because you got thrown out tryin to stretch a double into a triple.

Now, tackle that analogy. (And please don't fall for the mixed metaphor trap.)

[AssassyN]

I'd honestly recommend AGAINST doing what you're considering. Stick with your current job, OR, use your current degree to find another job elsewhere. Going back to school is exactly a "greener grass" type situation that'll only eat more of your money, waste more of your time, and eat away crucial years of your life where you're working to GET money, whereas now you're already getting it.

Bite the bullet, change jobs but don't re-enter college.