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Q. I began my career in this business 30 years ago, and I have always been ambitious. Unfortunately, I've faced numerous setbacks, including layoffs and conflicts with management, that have thwarted my career advancement. I currently work for a small daily in the Southwest.

I have been trying, intermittently, for 25 years to move on to a bigger newspaper. Editors at bigger newspapers who have turned me down for jobs rarely explain, even when I have tried, diplomatically,

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to put them on the spot. On rare occasions, some editors have been candid. One said, "You're not ready" to join his newspaper, while acknowledging he hired one of my former colleagues because she had worked for a mid-sized newspaper. Another editor bluntly stated in writing that he was looking for a reporter who displayed "creativity" and "enterprise," which he did not see in my clips.

I have been at my current job for four and a half years. While I feel secure, I believe that I get few opportunities to demonstrate enterprise reporting. Part of my responsibility involves writing a weekly, good-news feature that is well suited for an entry-level reporter. In short, I cannot grow here.

Editors here and at other small newspapers where I have worked rarely, if at all, nurture reporters. The city editor issues a silly mantra: "Go out and get the news."

I know that the industry is in its worst throes since perhaps the early 1980s, and I think that the economy has hampered my efforts to move on.

What can I do to move on to a bigger newspaper? Or should I consider a change, such as writing for national newsletters?

Stuck here

A. To quote comedian/philosopher "Moms" Mabley, "If you keep doing what you always did, you'll keep getting what you always got!"

It's impossible for me to say what's wrong, but 25 years of trying hasn't resulted in a change, so you have to try a different tack.

Joe Grimm

To move, you either have to dramatically elevate your game or try a new one.

Some comments you cite say outside editors want to see something else in your work, but you feel constrained from doing it by your environment. External factors -- economic conditions -- do not suggest that mobility to other newspapers is increasing.

So, revisit your career goals and, if they can't be met where you are now, consider changing industries.

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Coming Thursday: He has purchased a domain name and server space in hopes of furthering his career. Now he wonders whether his investment is worth the money.

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