The Beginning of the End

While working in journalism is depressing, finding a job is even more so. This is because of the unique factors of the industry that come together to create a vortex of suck.
First of all, nearly every important journalistic company is headquartered in New York, one of the world's most expensive cities. But once you move there for the opportunities, don't expect them to pay you a living wage.
That's because journalism jobs never, ever carry a salary range. Instead of naming the sad amount that they are wiling to pay, companies instead prefer to put the onus on the jobseeker, requiring a salary range in the cover letter, or letting the topic slide all together. And since salary ranges can start anywhere from $22,000 a year, you might get through three rounds of interviews with a company before realizing that they're willing to pay you less per hour than you made when you worked as a cashier at Home Depot one summer.
Of course to get to that point, you have to have someone call you back, which is nearly impossible. Despite having an impeccable college record, a job with one of the world's most well-known newspapers, clips that were published online and in print on four continents, 99% of my resumes go out without so much as a whisper in return.
Of course, this has a lot to do that media companies are notorious for posting jobs that they never actually intend to fill, getting your hopes up that an interesting job that you're actually qualified for exists, when in fact the posting was only put up to be taken down two weeks later and reposted next month.
But most of the time even applying for a job is an insult. Many jobs will require up to three years experience, yet still list clerical and administrative duties in the job description. What other field can you work for three years, and only then be qualified to get someone coffee and answer the phone?
And while you think you may be working toward a dream job by slogging through your current one, you're probably drifting farther away. That's because all the interesting jobs that people get into journalism for -- music reviewer, travel writer, arts editor -- all require years of experience in that field. So while you might take a boring business reporting job or copy-editing assignment hoping that you'll work your way up, you never will. The industry is so specialized today that it's almost impossible to move around. Fall into political reporting by accident and you're stuck there unless you're willing to start all the way at the bottom again with the fresh college graduates. And if you stick to your guns and miraculously find a job in the journalism field you want, the jobs are so scarce and coveted, employers can lower the already pathetic salary and benefits available.
Still, come back in five years and I may be pining for the days when dozens of nonexistent jobs were posted, interspersed with a few genuine openings for anyone with 3 years experience willing to work the night shift for $22k and make coffee and Kinkos runs. Print journalism is dying, television journalism is a 24/7 parody of itself and online journalism is slowly melting into blogs, vlogs and other peripheral, trendier outlets.
In conclusion, looking for a job in journalism, much like shopping for your own tombstone or researching cancer treatments, is one of the most depressing activities in the universe. Every job you see will fall into one of the following categories: 1. fake 2. with pay under $25,000 3. requires experience, clips and computer skills, yet still puts you half a step above a receptionist 4. is awesome, but requires so many years of specialized experience that they are nearly impossible to land, and if you do, you will find out that it still only pays what you would be making if you had stuck it out at the Home Depot all those years ago and became store manager.
Hope you never planned to retire, have a savings account or buy a house.