During a time when the news industry is frantically searching for solutions and new directions, journalists' lives have been disrupted by cutbacks and job changes. Poynter Online wants to help by sharing stories of success seekers. We are offering how-they-did-it snapshots from people who faced employment challenges and found some measure of success.
BRIAN HLAVATY
Age: A boomer and proud of it.
New jobs: I'm the journalism internship director at Oakland University, supervising dozens of journalism students each semester. I teach news writing, too. I'm also adviser to Saginaw Valley State University's student newspaper. And I do freelance writing and editing, plus work on Web sites.
Old job: News editor in charge of the copy desk at The Saginaw (Mich.) News. I started as a reporter with a five-year plan and spent 33 years there.
Biggest change so far: My newspaper career was focused on words, computers and the copy desk. It was quite isolated from the outside world. My life now is all about interacting with people as I teach, supervise and advise college students. In addition, I monitor internships with on-site consultations. Talk about a change.
I left because: Newspapers are feeling the same pain nowadays. It was our turn. I took a buyout.
I was out of work for: July and August.
This new life is: Let's break down this answer.
Financially: My 401 (k) tanked as my job disappeared with retirement just over the horizon and two kids in
college. I can't find a financial planner who puts a cheerful spin on that.
The job picture: For all my good fortune, not one of our jobs is full time. My wife and I have seven part-time jobs between us. Is a seven-legged stool secure?
Personally: Having your life ripped apart and rearranged is not necessarily a bad thing. I feel an enthusiasm and a freshness each day that I had not expected. Admittedly, I can say this because I'm working. Many of my former colleagues would paint a bleaker picture.
Going from a supervisory job at a newspaper to a substantially more fragmented life is a bit of an adjustment. I do sleep better.
One thing I miss about my old job is: Anyone who has left a job will understand this answer: the people. The jokes, the laughs, the fun, the thrill of working on deadline with professionals.
One thing I don't miss is: Getting up in the middle of the night to go to work.
One surprise about my new job is: The energy of two college campuses. It's invigorating. Both universities I work for are gems.
I'm lucky that: Things have turned out as well as they have. This is Michigan. The collapse of the auto industry has devastated workers, families and communities. If you live here, you understand. So many of my friends -- successful people I've known for decades -- are deeply hurting.
The hardest part: I'm new to teaching and assemble lesson plans with the speed of the ape pondering those bones in "2001." My wife, the teacher, is ever-ready with a helpful, "I could have done that in 10 minutes."
I learned that: Nothing is secure. Everything will change.
My advice: Have a Plan B.
(Hlavaty and Grimm teach in adjacent classrooms at Oakland University this semester.)In Tuesday's "Ask the Recruiter": Born in Brazil, this journalist would like to break into the New York media market, but feels there is a long list of strikes against her.
