Hire a former journalist

I left my job at a digital newsroom in Austin as a director of visual content last November.

During my time there, I managed the staff: I got them to assignments, coached them, evaluated them, trained them and collaborated with them. I helped them through personal crises, when asked. We all worked through financial challenges and uncertainty about job security. My team and I found creative solutions amid decreasing staff and budgets. The team was successful and regularly won awards to support this fact.

I am concerned that employers get stuck at the word VISUAL on my resume. while I am an accomplished photo editor and photographer, I am also a published writer and social media producer/strategist. During my time at the newspaper, I trained staff on content management systems. When the company wanted to develop a new software program, I was asked to be a beta tester to help find the bugs in the software and make the UX better.

I also like to say that I am a facilitator. When I see that people should meet to collaborate, I make introductions. When a program needs to be started, I do the research and make it happen. As the Austin Storytellers Project producer, I found the talent, helped coach them to be ready for the show, worked on the advertising and promotion in print and online and worked with venue to make sure the audience experience was pleasant. Our shows sold out repeatedly and the feedback was positive.

As someone who regularly handled breaking news events, I am skilled in emergency management. Experience has helped me make split-second decisions to manage resources and time for the benefit of the community. Weighing the pro and cons in an emergency situation is often a luxury so experiential knowledge is key to a positive outcome.

Working with the community was a skill I developed as I took calls on why we used certain images in our coverage. I was often asked why we didn’t cover certain events or communities. Listening to the needs and criticisms of Austinites helped me make better editing choices on what we covered. I worked hard to make our product something the community felt they wanted.

Employers, please look beyond the job title. In this economy we are all wearing many hats. I see this in job descriptions as well. Employers want people who have a diverse skill set. Please don’t discriminate based on the latest job title, longevity in the last job or degree. I’ve learned many skills in my employment journey and I hope to keep learning.

In my 26 years at the Statesman, I was not just strong with “visual.” I forged an enduring career as a teacher, coach, writer, editor, producer, marketing adviser, public relations strategist, emergency management specialist and counselor.