Foster manages to get through an entire post about young writers [sic] in New York without mentioning how many days it’s been since he’s had time off.If these girls want to be writers so bad why don’t they, oh I don’t know, try and write something. At no point in the article did I find any mention of them attempting to demonstrate any ability to do the jobs their looking to fill. Since the only thing they’ve demonstrated is the ability to attend classes and memorize things.
They mention thinking of starting a blog as an afterthought, which they should have been doing years ago if their profession of choice was journalism. The fact that they don’t already have some online portfolio of writing samples is a testament to why they’re jobless. They have no concept of what it would take for them to get the few jobs that are available in this ultra-thin market.
How about networking? I saw no mention of them going to any events where they would encounter people who work at companies that would potentially hire people. It’s not difficult to find these on Meetup.com, for example. It’s far more likely they would make an impression face to face rather than another unremarkable resume among a heaving pile of unremarkable resumes.
I have little sympathy for these girls because they don’t seem to be making a serious effort to show they’re qualified or have an understanding for what makes someone looking for jobs like these marketable. They seem to think the world owes them something.
There’s also this part of the article:
They had had a meeting with Deadspin, a sports blog, but no real jobs there, just the suggestion to join an Australian football team and write about it.
If those two had any brains at all, they’d write a post or two for Deadspin for free about anything. If they want to be sportswriters, that’s the best possible exposure they could get to people who work in the industry and might be in a position to hire them. None of the Gawker jobs are ideal on a permanent basis, but they’re basically free marketing for the next gig (provided you’re not a terrible writer) because every editor in town reads them. If you can get real estate on any one of them, it’s more effective than any amount of cold resume dropping or applying for jobs through media websites. Especially if you’re young and don’t have any real clips or experience.
haven’t even read this article yet and I’m already annoyed.
