Entry-level communications jobs with good salaries?

[oldtrader]

I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking that's a pretty reasonable starting salary for a Bachelor's. I mean, I understand that it doesn't go as far as it would have 10 years ago, but it's still a college education.

Problem. You say it is still a college education. But what is that college education getting you? Nothing at this point. A college education, is to train you to work in a certain niche field. Yours is journalism. Other people took degrees, in the fields you are looking into, and they are being given first chance at the available jobs.

Anyway, I've definitely looked into those other options. Unfortunately all of them require previous experience (or at least all the ones I've seen), and although I can swing that in communications jobs with my collegiate experience, it's harder to do outside of my field.

Exactly what I was just pointing out to you. The problem is, the other forms of communication you are asking about, are hiring people with the degrees that apply to their field. The number of degree holders in those fields you want to get into, is more than the available jobs.

You are like so many young people today, you did not look at what the future held for jobs in the field you studied in college before you started college. You thought you liked something, got an expensive education with lots of student loans, and then found there was a lack of jobs in that field.

The students that first looked into the potential future jobs before starting college, and then getting the proper education in the field, have no trouble finding work at high pay. A good example are those that studied Petroleum Engineering. They have a lot of job offers to chose from, and start at about $100,000 and up. On the other hand, a lot of the fields that young people took degrees in, are like yours. They are cutting back in those fields, and few jobs open up, and the pay is low, with lots of degree holders fighting over the jobs. You have found, there are no jobs in your field of training, and have given up on it. You are looking for other fields, hoping just because you have a degree you can find someone willing to give you a decent job. Unfortunately so are a lot of other young people.

Here is a list of the college majors, with the starting and mid career salaries they can expect to earn. Note a lot of the communication jobs you are asking about fall even below your journalism degree in pay. The further down the list you go, the bigger the excess of degree holders that exist. The ones at the top, are the ones in big demand. The ones at the bottom are the ones with little demand, and lots of available degree holders. In some ways, your field is over run with applicants and few jobs, and some of those in communication fields are even worse.

Majors That Pay You Back - 2013-2014 College Salary Report

And what is considered the worst and most useless degree and the one that gives back the lowest return on investment of getting a degree is Communication which includes journalism.

8 College Degrees with the Worst Return on Investment - Salary.com

What you need to do, is starting to look into other fields of business as an example. Look away from journalism and communication.

I know I spent my life in sales. Within 2 year after getting out of the navy in 1954, I was in today's dollars earning $125,000 plus. In 1972 I was a Commercial/investment real estate broker, where I remained till I retired. I spent a year taking real estate courses in a large university, before entering the business. That is when I learned how to make real money. Those going into the real estate business, have an 85% chance of failing out of the business and never making any money. Due to my getting an education first, I was a success. The first week in the business, I sold 2 upscale apartment houses, and the following work week, I exchanged a 16 unit nearly new apartment house for a large irrigated farm. In those two weeks of work, I did more dollar business than most agents do in a year. Reason I was a success in a field most agents fail out of, is I took a year to get an education in the field before jumping into it. Having nearly 20 years experience in sales also helped me out greatly.

Look for a niche, where you can find a job, that gives you a chance to do well. It will probably be completely different than either journalism or communications. Find something that pays very well, and you will enjoy, and does not require a specialize education such as is required for Petroleum engineering or Software engineering require as an example.

As I had 2 children and a wife when I got out of the navy, I needed a quick job. I was lucky to get one in a furniture store as a salesman and earning a decent living. A year later, we had to move down near San Francisco for a child's medical problem, and I was able to get a job with the best paying and highest volume furniture store in the Silicon Valley. Right from the start, I was earning in today's dollars over $125,000 a year. I left the furniture business in 1961 to go into the corporate world, due to my sales ability. I worked up to division sales manager over half the U.S. I left the corporate world to get away from transfers as I worked up the ladder, to go into the Real Estate Brokerage Business from which I retired.

I would never have imagined how my work life would go. I Joined the navy in 1952, with my army draft notice in our post office box. I would never have imagined, that I would be going into sales for a lifetime job, when I got out. But when I looked around, it was the quickest way I could find to make real good money, so that is where I went. Today the furniture salesmen/women do not make the type of money that we did in the 50s, and 60s. But there are all kinds of places, and all kinds of jobs, that do allow good money, and a place for you to use your talents, and that is out of communications. There are many business fields, that can use your writing skills, and they often pay considerably more than those in communications, and have a brighter future.

[gardener34]

Journalism is a fine degree. If you are going to be going into communications, I suggest that you become well versed in social media. A lot of places are looking for writers in that realm.
Also, make sure you know a lot about web design. Would help if you can do minimal coding yourself.
Also make sure you know the adobe desktop publishing platform.
ALSO know all the microsoft programs top to bottom.
You may consider going into advertising rather than news/journalism. It is easier to find jobs. Also some kind of experience with technical writing is helpful. There are jobs in that.
Although the pay is not great to start, metro areas hire more people. And the field in marketing is very unstable. Expect to find yourself laid off every 3-5 years.
ALSO: you may want to look into working with a temp agency or freelancing. Many writers freelance.

[zentropa]

Originally Posted by gardener34

ALSO: you may want to look into working with a temp agency or freelancing. Many writers freelance.

I agree with the temp thing. There are agencies in DC who farm out writers, editors, proofreaders, etc. It's a great way to parlay an assignment into a FT job too. Also get some experience in proposal writing and editing. HUGE demand.

I disagree about the freelancing. The only way to make any money at that is if you have a long track record of writing in your particular field and can present as an expert. Otherwise you will be experiencing the humiliation of those freelance sites that pay $0.1 a word. Competing with people in Bangalore.

When I started freelancing I was at a point I could ask for $1.00 a word and $75/hr because I knew my subject matter and I had a large portfolio of national publications.

[jade408]

OP all of your experience is in journalism, which leads me to assume (or a potential employer) that you would like to work in media. Which does not pay well unless you some how make it to CNN.

Tere are not many writing jobs that pay well. Mostly tech writer jobs, in-house at a tech company, can pay more. But you need demonstrated experience writing for a technical audience.

You should reach out to your college alumni office. Seattle likely has PR opportunities but it might be pretty competitive.

[sydlee]

I wouldn't rule out journalism entirely. Someone I know makes more than your minimum (enough to live in NY w/o a roommate) by reporting for some company that covers court procedures. He also moonlights covering awards ceremonies (man on the red carpet asking unimportant questions). He's very comfortable. With your experience, I'm sure you'll be able to get what you want. Plenty of friends of mine have journalism backgrounds, and everyone has a job that pays the bills.

[Suncc49]

Go work in communications for the US State Department. You gotta be a hipster type though.

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

Originally Posted by KeeganSCH

To those of you with suggestions and ideas: thanks! I'll take a look.

To those of you assuming I didn't do any internships and/or extra-curriculars - odd assumption to make. But since I realize I didn't mention what I had done in college, here's a list:

-I more or less rebuilt an entire magazine from the ground up and ran the business half as the publisher for a year
-I founded and served as the president for a 501(c)(3) non-proft
-I served as the executive editor for web content on another, nationally award-winning magazine
-I was a staff writer and associate editor for another award-winning magazine, this one of the most decorated collegiate publications in the U.S.
-I was a senior reporter for an award-winning student newspaper that groups like Poynter and Columbia have been following closely because they think it may be figuring out the future of digital first journalism
-I was part of a team multimedia project that won a Hearst Award, one of the most prestigious awards in collegiate journalism
-I'm interning for a fairly major magazine in the Pacific Northwest

So. I have quite a bit of experience. I worked my tail off in college - all that debt came from a nasty "falling through the cracks" scenario with FAFSA and almost no financial aid, not living outside of my means. I live on a vanishingly small budget and live with house mates, and I don't expect this to change any time soon. If I were to get a job with a $35,000/year salary, I would still live with house mates and on as tiny a budget as possible, because most of my budget would be going to paying off those loans (I hate being indebted). This isn't a matter of being entitled and not understanding how the world works... this is asking others if happen to be familiar with the market enough (like perhaps currently in it, not just entering it like I am) to help me at least get close to my salary needs by pointing me in the right direction.

And yes. I do have other networks that I'm using, and I even have potential job openings I'm looking into. I also saw that this board has quite a few knowledgeable and helpful folks on it, so I figured adding another avenue of attack on this whole finding a job with a decent salary thing might be a good idea.

Well that's a horse of a different color.

With your experience, I think you could find work as an entry-level copywriter either at an advertising firm or within the marketing department of a company.

Take a look at the American Marketing Association job boards.

[charolastra00]

Check out colleges, private schools, and nonprofits. I work in a college communications office doing web work and social media. Most of us in my award-winning office do not come from a journalism background (myself included - I majored in international relations!), but it helps! All of our news writing team including one recent college grad come from journalism backgrounds. Here in Boston, the job probably starts at 40K for recent grads. They're good, stable jobs with benefits that generally fall between 9-5 with a handful of night or weekend assignments. All of our writers have side gigs.

The way our recent grad got the job was by having a LOT of experience. Before he graduated, he reached out to the Boston Globe and asked to freelance write about soccer as an unpaid internship. That turned into a paid gig and was a big reason he was hired over other more experienced reporters. He also had a robust social media presence (I was asked to "stalk" all of our candidates) which weighed in his favor even though his job does not include social media.

There are also lots of generic entry level jobs in higher ed that involve writing. I started as an admin in an alumni relations office supporting the communications, student-alumni programming, and tech staff members. Because I showed interest and asked for more responsibility, I ended up in charge of all social media, did some writing, and took over a few of our technical systems. I was also given a lot of web work. Because I worked in a college, I was able to take free classes (in some locations, classes are reduced) and took a few computer science and data analytics classes so I could do more back-end web work and also set up metrics systems for our social media campaigns. During this time, I also tweeted prolifically and honed my online brand as a higher ed social media and web specialist.

Over the last year, I have increased my salary almost 20K and gained a social and digital content-specific role due to the web skills I gained. If nothing else, make sure you know HTML and CSS.

[randomlikeme]

Originally Posted by KeeganSCH

print and web design

Then why not go into web design if you have those skills?