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Q. A few years after college, I kind of fell into journalism. I interned at a small public radio station, and then when I couldn't get a full-time radio job, I took a job at a small local weekly paper. A year later I took a job at a bigger paper, working on several weekly community news sections. I only took the job because the editors made it clear during the interview that the weekly (a brand-new project at the time) would lead to a job on the daily.

A year and a half later, after I had been passed over for opening after opening at the daily, the editor-in-chief told me he would only hire me on the daily's features staff, even though it was clear no one on the features staff would be leaving anytime soon (four writers, and three had been there over a decade). I started looking for a new job, my work performance suffered and I was fired. It was really hard to deal with, but I survived, right?

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Several months later I was offered what seemed like a dream job. It was in public radio, and I would be running a bureau by myself in a small town. I paid for all the moving expenses myself, but that was OK. My new salary was almost $20k more than my old salary. (Another reason I was fed up with my old job was that after a year my workload had effectively tripled, from six to eight stories a week to 12 to 16, and my "raise" was $500. I'm not in journalism for the money, obviously, but when you know that the reporters on the daily are making $35k and you are making $24k and doing twice the number of stories per week, it is really frustrating.)

So, I move to this town where I know no one, spend all my time trying to make contacts and set up a brand new station all by myself, and five months into it, the station decides "I'm not the right person for the job." The human resources director wouldn't give me any other reason for letting me go, and none of my former bosses would talk to me about it. So I was stuck in a tiny town with no job, no prospects, no friends and a lease on an apartment for seven more months. I was dating someone in a bigger city, so I decided to break my lease, move to the city and hope that I'd be able to freelance until I could find a job.

Cut to 10 months later. My boyfriend dumped me right when I moved here. I haven't found a job, other than waiting tables. I've had innumerable story ideas rejected, and my attempts to freelance for the local public radio station have been passed on. I made inroads at one alt-weekly, but then the editor I was working with got fired. I started freelancing for a different alt-weekly, and that editor decided she didn't like my writing. I'm kind of at my wits end. I obviously don't have the stamina and guts for a successful freelance career. But now that I've been unemployed for almost a year and have involuntarily left my last two jobs, I'm scared that no one will hire me, especially in this market.

I am a good reporter and writer, both for radio and in print, but I've been applying for jobs all over the country for months without even one nibble. I'm thinking about grad school again (I got into Columbia last year but turned the school down because I had just gotten the awesome job offer for the job that I then lost), but that still gives me another year with nothing. I am so bitter and discouraged -- how on earth do I market myself? And if I actually ever do get a job offer in another city, I want to ask for some sort of contract or agreement that if things don't work out, they will pay for me to break my lease and leave town, so I'm not out several thousand dollars in moving expenses again. I feel like I'm so desperate to get a job that I don't know if anyone would give me such a deal ...

Still Struggling

A. You are a survivor, that's for sure.

Let me take the end of your question, first, because it is simple. You will not find an employer who agrees to compensate you to break a lease and move away if things don't work out. It won't happen, and no one will hire a pessimist who is already making plans for failure. You've got to try to raise your confidence before you go to any more interviews.

Joe Grimm

Next thing: I have taken a few minutes to read your resume and some of the columns on your Web site. The site is not helping you. The resume is fine, but too much of what you have posted on the site is about getting dumped.

Now, to your main question. You have run into dead-ends three times and no one has even told you why. I won't presume to know. You are right -- that can look bad to prospective employers. You need to try something different. Your resume says you are a nit-picky copy editor. I like that. If your editing is good, you should be able to prove it on an editing test. Copy editors are generally in short supply. You have basic Web skills and some audio experience. These could be a complement to editing as you move from a copy desk into new media. You might try that.

Should you go to Columbia? You already have an Ivy League degree education, and it sounds like you have accumulated a lot of debt. I'd think twice about that. If grad school will be your ticket out, I'd really consider other fields, rather than more education in one that has not been working for you.

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Coming Tuesday: This metro reporter wants to move up and asks whether colorful folders or paper will help dress up his portfolio.

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