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Q. I am a recent college graduate with a year of experience reporting for a smaller paper, and I am also a freelance photographer for smaller publications.

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I accepted a job as an editorial assistant just to break into a larger paper, but since being here I feel miserable. I have had contact with other editorial assistants who have been here three years or more and still weren't able to get a reporting job. Is this a dead end, or do you think I should be seeking other outlets for reporting jobs?

Am I missing the whole "You have to crawl before you walk" motto?

Wrong Move?

A. Sorry to say, this may have been a bad move. I have met many editorial assistants who chose to be smaller fish in big ponds when the small pond would have had them do what they like a whole lot

Joe Grimm

sooner. In some places, there seem to be unwritten rules about promoting editorial assistants into bigger new jobs. Instead, the paper or magazine looks outside.

Because large operations tend to pay better, they are enticing, but people who want to get back to what they really love are faced with the prospect of taking a pay cut to go to a smaller place. The unwritten no-promote rules and the comparatively comfier wages turn it into a trap. Some call it a velvet coffin.

Talk to your editors. Get some straight answers about what happens to editorial assistants there and what they think can happen for you. Ask whether emerging opportunities on the Web desk might provide opportunities that haven't existed before. If their description of your future doesn't match your expectation, it will be time to look elsewhere.

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Coming Wednesday: This police reporter wants to move to public relations when he and his family move. How should he position himself?

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