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Thoughts on the changing field of journalism from a recent graduate lucky enough to earn his diploma in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Have You Been Injured in a Car Accident or by Taking Bad Medicine?

Or do you want to go to some technical school?

As an unemployed person, I now have a lot of free time between updating my resume and writing cover letters to watch daytime TV. It really makes me feel that we as a country and society are doomed to a horrible demise. However, I loves me some baby mama drama, for the sheer hilarity of it all. I shouldn't take pleasure in the pathos of others, but Schadenfreude is a very tricky thing.

Regardless, I decided yesterday that the reason that nobody is banging down my door is because I don't have a meth lab in my basement very good resume. I entreated some of my online compatriots to look it over and one totally reformatted it and made it look much, much better. I hope that this resume facelift makes me more attractive to prospective employers; I feel that my work experience and accomplishments can stand on their own, but if nobody is getting far enough in my resume to see said awesomeness, then what difference does it make? 

For all you cub reporters still in school, make regular pilgrimages to your school's career office. I built my first resume around their suggestions, but I never went back. I feel if I had constantly been in there slogging through resume samples and cover letter examples I might be slogging away at a newspaper or television station by now. C'est la vie.

I think some of my issues stem from a longtime lack of self-esteem. My therapist is working with me to turn my fears and doubts into productive outlets, and I certainly feel more assertive than I did six weeks ago. I think a personal goal I should set for myself is to do stand up comedy in the near future, but I do not know how to get started apart from "1: Be funny." If anyone has any pointers or helpful advice in that respect, please do not hesitate to enlighten me.

Today, I sent my revamped resume and a nice shiny cover letter to TimeWarner. Hopefully it wows someone up in New York City and I get a phone call before long. In the meantime, I'd better start writing down some jokes!

-Justin

2 comments:

  1. Open mike night at one of the local comedy clubs would be a great place to start, I think. Start doing some research and see when/where these take place...but have some material prepared!

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  2. Love the title. Looks like we watch a lot of the same shows!! Two things. Would you like me to have Brett's wife and/or my friend Sue look at your resume? They have expertise at that. Secondly, would you like to talk to Tommy about the stand-up stuff?? Good luck!!!

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