This is how a shitty job is shoved back up your ass.

I've quit before: jobs, relationships, school, etc. But it's been some time since the ending of a relationship of any sort has been initiated by the other side of an association.

I was left flabbergasted and mouth agape as my boss told me over the phone that my services would not be needed for a few weeks and that it "would be a good idea to look for a new job" as I stood shivering in this New York winter. Good thing I hadn't bought those plane tickets I was contemplating or made any other exorbitant purchases.

So here I am back at square one (really square 0.5--I didn't trade time zones to continue waiting tables) looking for a job that challenges me and interests me; the difference being I don't have the luxury of ANY job. I have no income save for my two meager paychecks that remain to be collected/paid.

What's an unskilled college graduate to do?!

Starting today, I hit the job market with an unparalleled (when measured against my prior standards and levels of dedication to the job hunt) drive to hunt down a job. Not necessarily the job, in that it's my dream job, I don't plan on finding that for some time. How could I realistically, at that? I'm at such a precarious position right now with trying to find my way and my niche, I likely wouldn't be able to identify it, let alone be prepared for said occupation.

The hard part I've found is overtaking the hurdles I've encountered seemingly every leg of this race toward the pretty finish line where all the happy and financially secure professionals and semi-professionals reside:*

-Little to no actual published work/experience at an actual paper.
-Little to no experience with programs and tools necessary for online editions of media


I thought there'd be more when this piece came to mind but those are the only stumbling blocks I've encountered. Which, in my estimation, amount to little. Those are both easily nullified deficiencies with a willingness to allow on-site learning coupled with an eagerness to master said deficiencies. But before I let this piece devolve even more so into a spiral of self-pity and bitching, I'll proceed to my point and ruminations.

As (hopefully) evident in my brief spot regarding my deficiencies, the current world of journalism, and media as a collective, is moving frantically toward an internet-centric format. With these ideologic (timeliness > factuality), resource-related (tech-focused materials), and personnel (smaller, less specialized staffs) shifts rapidly approaching and occurring every day, what is to happen to the media?

I am usually opposed to specialization in most cases. This practice in business usually leads to industry crippling inabilities for self-reliance. Niches are OK when
it comes to music and the arts--but not business. If you're only able to perform one highly specialized task, chances are you're not really valuable as an employee and rightfully so.

But the media I believe exists at a nebulous spot between art and business. It's certainly a business, and it inches closer to that side of the relationship daily**. But the artistry inherent to journalism (especially print) is what keeps it, for the time being, from shifting all the way over to the business side of things and relatively connected to the arts. This connection, albeit a loose one, is why I still maintain that specialization (not an egregious, factory line-esque sort) within the field of journalism and media is still important and vital for its future.

Do you want a page designer/layout expert as your editor-in-chief? Do you want your arts person covering sports (or vice-versa***)? Should the reporter in charge of public affairs be the food critic? While I'm well aware that an of these people could ostensibly complete the fictional requirements mentioned, it also doesn't make sense to make things more difficult than they need be or square peg a round hole. Assign the right task to the right person. Watch how things run more productively and with superior results.

Now I know this is all hypothetical and that a reason for much of this job condensing is shrinking budgets. But there are different, more proactive methods to account for fewer bucks in the bank than forcing someone to undertake a task they're not fit to tackle in the first place.

It's a slap to the face of the profession and art of journalism AND the population its (we're) supposed to be informing and protecting.









*I know that was redundant; but it looks and sounds nice if you don't think about the redundancy, so shut up and enjoy my mediocre metaphor.
**The same can be said for music and many other artist movements.
***I was the sports guy covering the Arts Beat at the last place I worked at. Never judge a book by its cover, right? Moppy hair and snug clothing=/=arts-y.