Returning to Journalism Takes Finesse

By: Randy Dotinga When the pay becomes unbearable and the workload intolerable, many a reporter will dream a little dream about a perfect job in public relations. In the magical land of P.R., it seems, everybody works 9-5 and nobody makes less than $50K a year.

But then reality hits. Once you leave journalism, can you ever return? Or do the tickets to the outside world just go one way?

It's not a silly question. The eyebrows of hiring editors do shoot up when they hear from applicants who left journalism for the "Dark Side" but now want to come back. Journalists who abandoned newspaper jobs for teaching or freelancing may face similar skepticism.

But there are some ways push those wiggling eyebrows back down to where they belong. Here's how:

* Be flexible: If you've been in another career for a while, don't expect to waltz in and get the same type of newsroom job you had before. Show that you're ready to pay your dues again.

"What I want to know is, are you really committed? How committed are you to making this work?" said Reginald Stuart, corporate recruiter for Knight Ridder. "Are you willing to go to a smaller newspaper to kind of relaunch, or do you want to start at a big paper?"

Some applicants turn off recruiters by coming across as demanding and stubborn, Stuart said. "They get picky about where they go, they get picky about the money, thinking about 'Where do I come in -- night cops or City Hall reporter?'"

Accept the fact that you may not get the same position or pay level you had when you left the profession. The bright side is that it might not take too long to get back to where you were.

* Admit your potential conflicts: Be up front about your work outside the news business, especially if it involved sensitive areas of business or government.

Steve Wiegand, a reporter at The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, worked for several months in public relations after a stint at the San Francisco Chronicle. When he applied at the Bee, he discussed his work for trial lawyers and a gubernatorial candidate.

"I was a little tainted from that point of view," Wiegand said. But extensive talks with the Bee's editor resolved that issue. Wiegand simply didn't go near state politics on the job.

* Accentuate the positive: brag about what you learned on the job. Maybe freelancing taught you to hustle, or teaching reignited your passion for the profession.

This approach worked for journalist Lisa Marie Gomez. She turned to teaching after working at small Texas newspapers, and then got a job as a spokeswoman for a zoo. She eventually decided to return to journalism and played up her work history during job interviews at the San Antonio Express-News, where she now works as a reporter.

"It makes a reporter more well rounded when you can say that you have real-life experience, that you've taken a break from (journalism) and tried something else," Gomez said. "It helps you ask better questions too. If you've been on the other side, you know what to ask."

* Don't wait too long to return to the newsroom: Get out before you reach what Gomez calls your "expiration date."

"There's an unwritten rule that if you've been out of the business for five years, you expire and can't come back," she said. "That's just the way it is."

Barry Jagoda, director of communications at the University of California at San Diego, has a slightly different take. Former journalists who work in a field that is "arguably anti-journalism," like public relations or politics, may wish to spend a few years in yet another career before venturing back into a newsroom, he said.

Jagoda worked in television news and at Texas Monthly magazine before becoming an adviser on television affairs to presidential candidate Jimmy Carter. "I think it was definitely a negative," he said. "After the White House, there wasn't a great clamor to get me back, even though I'd done well (in TV journalism) and had won awards. "

Eventually, however, Jagoda was able to return to journalism and got a job as a reporter at The Washington Times. "It takes people's being willing to get into these matters case-by-case," he said.

The passage of several years clearly contributed to his successful return to journalism, he added. Assumptions about his decision to work for a Democrat faded along with memories of the Carter administration.

"Time," he said, "heals many stereotypes."

COMING NEXT WEEK: Whether you work in the executive offices or in the classified ad department, there's plenty of temptation to work long hours. How do you know when you've crossed the line from dedicated employee to workaholic? Is there such a thing as addiction to work?