It’s been close to three years since I wrote the original four installments of this series, and they have been by far the most read posts on this blog. That’s a bittersweet feeling. I’m happy that something I wrote has offered a little bit of help to so many, but at the same time, it’s a reminder of the very real negative impact that the revolution in the media landscape has wrought on so many dedicated and talented journalists. In the two-plus years since I wrote the original entries, the newspaper business’ disintegration has sped up considerably, thanks in part to this recession. Every day, I become more thankful that I got out of the biz when I did instead of waiting till now, and I really sympathize with the journalists who are looking to get out of the biz in the current economy, where the jobs are few and the competition fierce.

Considering how long it’s been since the original posts, I figured I should write an update with a few things I’ve learned over the past couple years about getting a non-journalism job that still uses some of the core journalism skills.

Versatility is more important than ever

When I started my current communications job, I was told, “We hired you to write.” A couple years later, however, my job has transformed into an amalgam of responsibilities. Writing still takes up a big chunk of my time (probably about 50 percent), but to it I have added photography, design, social media, and Web development adviser. The shift has been driven in no small part by the broad set of skills I brought to the job and my own willingness to reach outside of my job description. Also, as the economy soured and budgets tightened, people within the organization became more and more motivated to look to me for their photography and design needs, and I’ll be the first to say that my ability to meet those needs has made me a more valuable part of the organization at a time when there’s little money to hire contractors for creative services. Being able to meet occasional needs like these is a strong asset for a job-seeker.

Design jobs are getting tough to find, too

The ad agency I was with before my current job has slimmed down to less than half the number of employees it had when I was there in 2007, and many other design firms are having financial problems, too, and design jobs have been scarce. Unfortunately, design and marketing are often among the first things to go when budgets tighten, which again ties back into the previous point.

Social media is changing the PR/communications game, too

From my experience, the PR/communications field isn’t all that far ahead of the news industry in terms of adopting social media. Back in 2008, I attended a session about social media for campus communicators. There were more than 30 of us in the room, and when the presenter ran down the list of Web 2.0 standards — YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, FriendFeed, Twitter — and asked how many in the room had used each one, only a few hands went up each time. Since then, however, I have noticed a number of departments on campus (including us) starting their own Twitter feeds and Facebook pages and making use of YouTube and Flickr. The difference, of course, is that unlike newspapers, the business models of the organizations we are working for aren’t being shredded, so our ventures into social media don’t necessarily carry the same sense of urgency and demand for immediate results, which, as we know, is hard to achieve in social media.

If you think getting out of newspapers can get you away from being swept up by the social-media craze, then you better not go into communications. For someone trying to get into PR/communications these days, an understanding of social media is a definite must. If anything, I think you have even less of an excuse to not use social media. After all, if a big chunk of your audience is using one of these platforms, how can you justify not engaging them there? In one of my original installments in this series, I said you NEED to have a Web site. Now, I would say that in addition to that, you really need to have experience using social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

Mobile is moving on up

Mobile devices really are the next great frontier for information dissemination. While I don’t think you necessarily need to become a mobile-app developer (though it certainly can’t hurt to know), you should definitely be aware of what tools are available in this realm and the fact that it’s becoming an increasingly important part of  an organization’s online presence.

Add curiosity to your resume

The way communication technology is constantly changing, there’s no way for anyone to go into a communications position with all the skills they would need to do that job well in a year or two. Yesterday it was Web 2.0. Today it’s mobile apps. Who knows what it’ll be tomorrow. That’s why it’s absolutely imperative to never stop learning new skills and to keep up with new trends in media technology. Reading sites like Mashable on a daily basis would be a good start.

PR/communications people know journalists are desperate to get out

And for that reason, I think it’s important to show potential employers that you want the job at their company for more reasons than just the fact that it’s a lifeboat off a sinking ship. What is it about this particular job that interests you? Why are you applying for this job versus another PR/communications job?

Don’t get frustrated

I’ve written this before, but it’s worth repeating, especially in the current economy: Don’t get frustrated by repeated failures in your job search. Put it into proper context: Changing careers isn’t an easy thing to do even in good times, much less in this economy. The good news is that it only takes one “yes” to make all the effort worthwhile.