"So... how does it feel?"
I'm still being asked that question a lot. And today -- a few days into my new job -- I can answer it better than I could a week ago.
It feels different.The routine, the atmosphere, the job. It's all different. Not bad -- not bad at all -- just different.
THE ROUTINE
I'm still adjusting to it -- starting with the sleep schedule. I've still been waking up at 2:00 or 3:00 or 4:00 a.m., ready to get up and go. But I've been able to remind my body there's still time to sleep. I'm actually enjoying the commute -- enjoying the ability to listen to my friends in morning radio (that may be another blog post for another time). The drive home is a little less enjoyable -- only because once I leave, I want to get home!
THE ATMOSPHERE
Very different. For one thing, I have an office! Four walls, a window, a door, a desk and some furniture. But man, this place needs some work. It's so... empty. I'll make it homey eventually -- hopefully sooner rather than later. Two of my colleagues are UConn grads and fans -- and have decorated their offices appropriately. So, as you can imagine, I will be countering that by making my space as Orange as possible.
The other big change about the atmosphere is the quiet. Newsrooms are not quiet. At all. There's TV noise... police scanner noise... people talking, laughing, shouting, etc. noise. Here, it's pretty quiet. I'm trying to counter that by streaming something, anything through my computer. I've always been able to concentrate better when there's noise... the quiet freaks me out!
THE JOB
Obviously that's different. Many of the skills translate well from journalism to public relations, but the day-to-day job is quite different. There's a lot of important communication between the team here at GBPR and our many clients. We work for them and with them on a variety of projects. So there are weekly conference calls, daily emails, and plenty of status report meetings.
Like in news, it's important everyone's on the same page. But unlike in news, the deadlines are very different. Sure, some are immediate. But many are weeks, months, even years down the line. TV newsroom aren't great at long term planning -- and they'll admit it. "Christmas is today? Did we get a press release on that?!?" I'm kidding... but the reality is there's so much going on every day and the focus has to be on that -- on what's happening right now and how does it fit into the six (give or take) hours of TV newscasts a newsroom has to produce on a daily basis.
What I really wish is that I could just plug my brain in to some database and download everything I need to know about, well, everything! But it doesn't work that way... so I'm learning the old fashioned way. I'm processing as much as I can... as quickly as I can.
