Shiter job?

[eddyramrod]

Yeah, I spotted that.  Funny how I lived in Southport all my life until 2009, and don't remember him at all... not in the papers, nor at the MG club at Briars Hall...

[dugong]

No relation to John Simister I take it? Or Simister Island?

[dollywobbler]

I shall leave the discussion at this point, as everyone tends to be friendly at a writer level, even across different titles and publishers most of the time.

[Grundig]

i freelance in radio.. I love it but its shit money and very insecure... very similar to working for mags it seems. That said ive been doing it now for 15 years and only been properly on my arse for three months in that time

 

I'm in a full time gig at the moment which is good, but I still hoover up shifts here and there on other stations  to keep my hand in with them in case the gig i'm in at the minute blows up in my face. (which it inevitably will at some point)

 

... Reminds me of;

 

 

[scruff]

Some wanker called david simister, who was the 'motoring correspondent' for the Formby Champion, (and still is), managed to get himself a job with some classic car mag in peterbro'.

 

It seems the qualification is talking shite about cars, because he seems to know feck all.

 

Not a fan then...?

[eddyramrod]

One does have to wonder what young David has done to upset someone so comprehensively.  I'd just love to find some pre-2009 events we might have in common so I could place who he is!

[dugong]

No relation to John Simister I take it? Or Simister Island?

 

By that I mean John Simister is a decent journo. 

[barrett]

In regards to the low wages, I think it's just the old money/happiness balance isn't it. I live in my mum's spare room because I can't afford to rent a house, but I don't wake up in the morning dreading having to go to work in a place I hate like 99% of other (better paid) jobs that I've had. It's not exactly ideal, but I get to tool about in cool old cars that I would never be able to own in real life and go to interesting events for free and whatnot. Ideally I'd like to be a multimillionaire and never have to work another day but it's probably not gonna happen so I reckon my situation is a fair compromise

[cort16]

I've got a job on good money, brand new merc on the drive etc etc and even though the company I work for are great it's stressfull as fuck.

Recently Ive been thinking of ways to get into doing something I enjoy again. What the is the point in spending your life doing something that occupies your life and stresses you out if you're not enjoying it? It would mean a major financial adjustment though.

[CortinaDave]

I 100% believe in enjoyment of job over amount of pound notes. I'd rather be a bit skint than hate my life on a daily basis.

[oman5]

I agree. I made that decision in 2001. I was earning obscene amounts of money back then but was never home and was literally living to work,  I didn't really get any great benefit from it as being young and stupid I was monumentally deep in debt.

anyway as soon as I could afford it I left for a job with much less hours, less but liveable wages and I'm home every night. I'm still there now.

[Lankytim]

The problem it's most of these jobs that people love doing and have a decent work/life balance don't pay a living wage. By that I mean sufficient to rent your own home, run a car and generally live with a reasonable level of security and comfort. A decent wage becomes even more essential when you factor in married life and children. That's why people end up doing jobs they fucking hate just to get the money every month.

 

Living at home with your parents is fine, but what about when you want to get married, get your own place and have kids?

[Bucketeer]

I've always believed that one of the keys to a happy/content life is to have a job you enjoy, or at least don't dread going to every day.

We spend such a large percentage of our lifes at work and I feel regular job satisfaction far outweighs any increased financial gain (but that's easy to say with no dependants, house, dissolving chod or expensive drug habit to support).

I write dull online content to try and finance my travelling but, as already alluded to, writing and riches are very much mutually exclusive.

[DSdriver]

The holy grail is the well paid job that you like doing. I would probably enjoy being the director of a big bank. Where do I apply?

[CortinaDave]

Agree that freelancing isnt the way forward with kids/ a mortgage. I've already had a house repo'ed after things went tits up and I couldnt afford to pay it.

 

At the minute im 34, living on my own in a private let 100 miles away from my girlfriend ( who I had been living with until I had to move for this latest job)

 

I've no idea if i'll still be doing what im doing in five years, these days its all about networking and more and more rugs are being pulled from under local staff on an almost daily basis... plus if i do want kids etc I'll need to seriously look at finding more job security

 

Problem is its all I've really done since leaving school and I'm not sure how to make "talking shite between records" into a transferable skill for another industry!

 

If anyone on here is looking seriously at this mag job as a career, make sure you have a backup and ideally a second income stream to tide you over when you get horsed/go through a lean period.

 

As a sole income its risky as fook. 15 years ago the great money you got while in the job meant you could ride out the lean times, these days thats gone and the reality is the checkout guys in Aldi will be on similar money to you.

[Cavcraft]

Job happiness counts for a lot, but you've just got to roll with whatever you've got until something better comes along. My job (on paper) is pretty bloody good, but it's just a blur of boringness and I have perfected the art of not thinking about the future because it'll depress me to think I'll be doing the same thing until I retire, and I almost certainly will be. The trick is to just not think about it and to make the best of it by whatever means possible. We don't get paid for dinner break, so play darts in our allotted time and never fail to have a laugh.

 

It'd be great to do something you love but the money will be shit as someone else said, so I'd sooner be a twat and get paid better to do something I don't care about one way or the other.

[Jozza]

 

 

BTW I happened to be in Classic Car Buyer's office yesterday and someone's Mac was logged into Autoshite... Hello! 

 

That would have been me- Hello!

 

In fact, my seat in the CCB office (and the ability to browse Autoshite during the lunch hour) is entirely down to dollywobbler posting the original Staff Writer job opening back in 2012, so I can genuinely say that if it wasn't for Autoshite I wouldn't be there!

 

As someone who's been through virtually the same role as the current job advert I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone thinking of applying has- I probably shouldn't go into specifics in case I end up subverting the published job description but if you want to know what it's like to start afresh on the bottom rung of a weekly classic car title then ask away...

[Partridge]

The problem it's most of these jobs that people love doing and have a decent work/life balance don't pay a living wage. By that I mean sufficient to rent your own home, run a car and generally live with a reasonable level of security and comfort. A decent wage becomes even more essential when you factor in married life and children. That's why people end up doing jobs they fucking hate just to get the money every month.

 

Living at home with your parents is fine, but what about when you want to get married, get your own place and have kids?

Which is why I never, ever want to have kids or buy a car with anything other than cash.

[Cavcraft]

Actually it's true about good job/shit money. I was on a tenner a shift (2 hours) at the car auctions and we never stopped, it was crazily busy. Absolutely by far and away the best job in the world ever though, it was brilliant. 

[warren t claim]

Actually it's true about good job/shit money. I was on a tenner a shift (2 hours) at the car auctions and we never stopped, it was crazily busy. Absolutely by far and away the best job in the world ever though, it was brilliant.

All I got was a fiver a night and free tea and coffee. Capitalist lap dog.

[Partridge]

But it's all about your lifestyle isn't it? If you're happy with one, maybe two rubbish old cars and don't mind rolling your sleeves up when something breaks, don't have any other mouths to feed other than yours, don't mind renting or staying in digs and you're not bothered with the latest iPhone, you can afford to do a great job that pays crap money.

It's not that I'm unambitious, I just don't see the sense in working a high stress you job you hate to pay for shit you don't need, and mostly get to enjoy two days a week at weekends.

Life is for living for god's sake.

[dollywobbler]

Exactly Partridge. Really, it's like any other career. If you want to earn more than basic, you've got to work your way up the structure. Editor money pays for rather more lifestyle. I went the other way and decided not to have expensive things like kids or Bugattis.

[aldo135]

This thread is an eye opener! I've always fancied working on a classic mag, but its a pipe dream with the money involved. I have already fallen into the traps mentioned above (mortgage, 3 young kids) and although my job is boring and has awkward hours it pays well. Better get the lottery on and cross my fingers!

[eddyramrod]

Aldo, what's to stop you being a "contributor"?  I've had several letters and "Your Car"-type snippets in both Classic American and Practical Classics, and even a "Spot" in PC recently, not to mention TWO bites at Rust In Peace.  RIP is the only one of those that pays, although my Spot did earn me a copy of Classics On Every Corner, which is entertaining.  These little successes are good for the ego, if nothing else, but then... perhaps you know someone significant in the old-car world?  Or live near a significant place?  Or own a particularly interesting/exciting/significant car?  Can you devote an evening to your computer, to write up a decent feature?  Can you supply pics?  If you feel you need practice, try a feature on your modern daily.  It's all good for technique, even if it'll never get published.  You will need to be your own harshest critic though.  Compare what you come up with to what appears in your chosen mag, and nitpick.  Good luck!

[dollywobbler]

There's no better practice ground than right here to be honest. Amazes me how some folk on here claim they've got no writing talent, yet seem quite capable of writing interesting posts in actual English. My first tentative step towards writing was submitting a letter about Tony Dron's 2CV to Classic Cars magazine about nine or ten years ago. Won a rather lovely watch for that!

[warren t claim]

It may be good experience but there's a world of difference between getting a letter published and being a professional journo, rather like getting your Primark princess posing pissed for Fiesta readers wives isn't really going to get you a job working for Getty Images.

[dollywobbler]

Certainly is, but while one is unlikely to lead to the other, it gets you prepared for dealing with lots of rejection if nothing else!

[aldo135]

True Eddy I should do something like that, I had a couple of blogs posted on petrolblog a while back, meant to keep it going but there's always something more important in the way, just had twins 16 weeks ago and it's mayhem at ours just now! Although that has got me thinking, my wife has a decent job, maybe when maternity leave is over I can quit and be house husband/ part time writer! Sure she will be fine with that...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

It may be good experience but there's a world of difference between getting a letter published and being a professional journo, rather like getting your Primark princess posing pissed for Fiesta readers wives isn't really going to get you a job working for Getty Images.

 

[Joey spud]

I sometimes wonder if there is a motoring mag somewhere that would have room for a monthly breakdown / roadside stories column and if so would my boses let me submit it. (probably have to be anon i guess)...