How long is too long to be out of the business?

[reportergirl]

I have ten years plus of broadcast experience, most recently working in a Top 30 market until nearly two years ago. While I've done some marketing and PR work, I've mostly been a stay at home mom up until now, and I'm worried about the large gap in my employment. Do you think someone will seriously consider me with such an old resume tape? I'm proud of its content, but worry about how marketable I am at this point.

[Produce man]

I don't see why not. It's just like riding a bike, to use an old cliche.

[The Mockingbird]

Or a News Director, if you're hot.

[writer2]

A couple of years? In my opinion, that's nothing. Go for it.

[reportergirl]

Thanks... you guys make me feel a lot better! I can't get broadcast journalism out of my blood and wouldn't be happy doing anything else. I appreciate the feedback.

[Clubbeat]

Should not be a problem getting a job although the money sucks more now than when you were in the game before.

I understand the in your blood thing. I work in a J-school with state of the art facilities and eager students but i still miss it!

[Gil]

Only one thing matters - the quality of your work.

[Roy Hobbs]

I got back in after over 16 years but beware...the bar has been lowered even in the last two years since I did that...chances of you getting back in at your same market level are low.

Most want younger and cheaper, and even in markets where they ARE DESPERATE for someone who looks JUST LIKE YOU, a young or insecure ND may blow you off thinking you're too expensive or too independent minded.

[The Mockingbird]

How long is too long to be out of the business?

There is no such thing.

Every day out of the business is a blessing.

[MichaelPS]

The question, you may find, is not whether the business will take you back, but whether you will take the business back.

I've been out of daily news reporting for about four years now. I still have contacts and very good friends in the biz, and from time to time I think of making a few calls and exploring my options. I'm realistic, mind you. When I left, I was in a top 30, and assume I'd drop quite a few markets and quite a few dollars to get back in. OK, fair is fair.

But even after two years, you might want to ask yourself how badly you really want it, why you got out, and if anything changes.

Remember, getting back into tv news is like getting back together with (in your case) a boyfriend you dumped. None of the things that ticked you off have changed, only now you will be apr to notice those things a lot quicker. You will still be called in on a Saturday and Sunday. More likely, your work week will not be Monday through Friday. If you so much as raise an eyebrow at staying late to cover one more meeting, or an extra hour to cut a vosot for the ten, you will be marked as high maintenance. Even after two years, you will very much be out of the habit of having to create something from scratch every day. Several somethings from scratch every day. You will notice the overt raunchiness in the average newsroom and the very young ages of people entrusted with major decisions in a way you may not have before. And on payday, that check will seem very, very small relative to everything you are asked to accept to earn that check.

don't get me wrong, I will always have a soft spot for news. LIke I said, I think about getting back in from time to time. But except for a very few people (mostly those fortunate enough to get to a market where there is a modicum, although no guarantee, of security), it's a game for people in their twenties who don't know what it's like for their time to be respected. Yes, the tradeoff for not being in news is having to be more answerable to a boss and to have a lot more meetings than you would prefer, but the grass on the tv side of the fence might not be as green as you remember.

[Lazlo Toth]

Originally posted by Mockingbird Peeps:
How long is too long to be out of the business?

There is no such thing.

Every day out of the business is a blessing.And even that wouldn't be long enough.

[gdiamante]

I wouldn't consider two years to be much of a gap at all; I was out for eleven.

A good tape is a good tape; I won't know when the stories happened unless you shot a standup next to the World Trade Center. As long as your look hasn't changed drastically, an old tape isn't really a problem to this news director.