Q: I have two questions.
1) My first job out of college was at a 21,000-circulation daily, and I planned to take three months to backpack through Europe after just over a year there. I was hired as a sports reporter on a four-person sports staff and eventually became sports editor, by default, since the sports editor left and they didn't immediately find someone to replace him. Since I didn't want to put the newspaper in a difficult situation, I gave them more than two months of notice that I was planning to leave. The managing editor said I was welcome to come back and write news when I returned from Europe, until I found another job.
About two weeks later, the paper ran into financial difficulties and that same editor laid me off, saying she never would have laid me off if I weren't leaving anyway. She also said it was a "temporary layoff," and that I'm welcome to come back. Honestly, I have no interest in returning to that paper. I was acting as sports editor without a raise or title to go with it, and they threw me to the curb without any warning or compensation.
My question is, how will it look on my résumé to have this month-long gap between my last job and my European travel? And since I won't have a job immediately upon my return, will I appear immature and undirected?
2) I've been writing about sports since high school, but want to move to news. How can I highlight my experience in sports to find a position in news without having to start all over again at a small-town paper?
E.H.
A: Well, I don't think I'd go back to that paper, either, though I don't know how much compensation should be due to a one-year employee who has already turned in her notice. It sure sounds as though someone else would have gotten the ax if you hadn't served notice, though, so that seems unfair.
1) This extra month-long gap will not materially affect the impression made by your backpacking trip, so you would face the same issue whether you were laid off or not. Certainly, it is risky in this economy to leave a job with nothing to go to. Some editors might well ask about your seriousness and direction. Reassure them that you have always been serious about journalism -- and exploration -- and that the completion of your travels has freed you to focus on your journalism. Now, go have some fun.
2) Ideally, you should be able to switch departments and move to a larger paper. It will take a persuasive cover letter and interview, well-chosen clips that reflect your news-reporting abilities and a transitional objective line on your résumé.
