Randy
Location: Northern Virginia
Job Quest: Senior reporting job, PR writing position or corporate communications position
Randy is 39 years old. He lives in Northern, Va., with his wife and four children. He spent the last 15 years working as a reporter and editor for a series of respected national business publications.
Randy particularly enjoys working from the right side of his brain. Until late 2001, that skill served him well in the newspaper business, which is all about storytelling and the creative packaging of information. After that, the job market didn’t have much interest in either side of
Randy’s brain.
In early 2002, Randy started his own freelance writing company to try and make ends meet while he looked for full-time work. The focus is mostly corporate writing: speeches, white papers, newsletters, annual reports, etc. To say the least, Randy and family have been eating a lot more beans and rice than chicken and wine. With the economy somewhere around the U-bend in the toilet, companies don’t have deep pockets for freelancers.
Randy’s unemployment insurance ran out in July 2002. To make ends meet, he has been freelance writing, teaching banjo and helping his wife start a bakery. He liquidated his 401K in December to pay bills and debt. The National Bank of Mom and Dad has generously provided assistance to keep
Randy from losing his home to foreclosure. Without that help, Randy and family would be living in their car.
Professionally, Randy would like to stay close to writing and content. A senior reporting job at a preternaturally stable publication would be grand, but he would also be happy to find a PR writing position or a corporate communications slot that includes speechwriting, newsletters and Web-site responsibilities. He is also very interested in teaching and currently offers business-writing workshops to companies and organizations.
His home office presently includes a 160-year-old Seth Thomas clock, three Gibson banjos, a signed photo of Harry Truman, a field bed used by Sir William Pepperell at the battle of Louisburg in 1745, an unsmoked Cuban cigar belonging to Winston Churchill, an ornate leather chair originally owned by Generalissimo Franco of Spain, an IBM laptop 570 and eight kittens, one week old. Hopefully, none of these items will end up on Ebay.
Randy is also an award-winning musician and songwriter who performs regularly around the mid-Atlantic region.
Randy's Tales
