Q: My fiancé and I, who have been together for two years, work at the same paper.
The problem is that he's been here for four years, now, and is really ready to get out. But for me, this creates a problem. This is only my second job. I stayed at my first job for a year and a half. And I've only been in this job for six months. I
I'm just as eager to leave as he is -- neither of us like the location where we live, to the point that it's making us unhappy. But I have some major concerns.
The first is that I worry I might look flighty if I start sending out applications only six months into a new job. The second is that I know how difficult it can be for two journalists to find jobs in the same city, let alone the same paper. Third, I have a lot less experience than he does, and my credentials are a lot less prestigious. He went to a good school for undergrad, and a great school for grad school. He interned at two very large metro dailies. He's older, and he has two or three years more experience than I have.
I, on the other hand, went to a mediocre school, because that was all I could afford. I had two good internships, but nothing comparable to what he had. My clips are good -- everyone tells me that -- but I think I lack the credentials to get on at the kind of paper where he might qualify. Before I took this job, I had interest from other newspapers, but I came to this paper because he and I wanted to be together. I don't regret it, but I feel like I might be stuck here for awhile, in order to improve our chances of getting a job nearer each other later on.
Caught
A: I would look for a metro area that has a large paper that would suit your fiancé and one or more good suburban dailies that would suit you.
It sounds as though it is a stretch for both of you to move to the same paper -- in terms of your experience and in terms of the difficulties of doing that with nepotism policies and all.
If you can get a next paper to hire you, you will not look flight -- provided you stay at that one for a couple of years.
If this new paper shares other people's perspectives about your writing abilities, they'd be lucky to get you.
