Q. Thanks so much for your excellent column.
I'm a young reporter, a few years out of college. I've worked for the last 18 months at an alternative five-day daily in a metropolitan market, and I've been offered a job by a prestigious local competitor -- an online-only publication that consistently breaks our city's most significant government and business news. The job and the business/government beat I would take sound excellent.
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My main concern stems from the fact that this online publication is geared toward leaders in government and business, and charges a hefty subscription fee to access content. Its readers are influential, but there are fewer than 2,000 of them. While working at this publication would be respected locally, I'll be moving to a new city in two or three years after my wife finishes her graduate degree. We have no way of knowing whether she'll be offered a residency nearby or in a big or small town anywhere else in the country.
I'm worried that having this small online publication on my resume wouldn't do much to help me get a new job in a different town. But on the other hand, this business is changing fast, and niche reporting experience in a large market might be more valued than diverse clips from an alternative daily. I love journalism and reporting, and want to do everything I can to make myself employable in a new town. It took me a year to break into my current market, and I cringe at the thought of wasting that time again.
Do you have any thoughts for me?
Thanks very much. Your column is a wonderful resource.
PonderingA. I like the way you think. It is far wiser to try to form a career strategy in light of where we are headed than where we have been.
If your long-term goal is to work for a large, general-interest publication, this move seems to take you in the wrong direction. If, however, you are open to working in publications similar to the one you're contemplating, this could be a good bridge.
Considerations:
- Breaking news online is more important all the time.
- If the subject matter of this publication is compatible with subjects you want to cover, that's a plus.
- Affiliated publications in other markets could be more likely to hire you in two or three years and extend benefits like seniority if you get in the company now.
- Is there a better, third alternative -- something that would be challenging and fun but with a higher profile?
From what you have written, it sounds as though you are excited about this opportunity from a purely here-and-now perspective. That is significant.
Coming Tuesday: After a break of several years, Fran would like to resume freelancing. But the network has dried up and Fran is concerned about editors who might steal ideas.
