One of the hardest things to do as a boss of any sort is to say farewell to a good employee — and subsequently hire their replacement.
Jackson Howell’s final day as the sports editor of The Columbian-Progress was July 31 as he embarks on a new chapter in his life in Texas.
For me, his departure is the epitome of bittersweet. I am nothing but happy for him as he takes on a new challenge and moves to a new and unfamiliar place. Jackson was exceptional as a small-town sports reporter, fostering connections with coaches and high schoolers alike.
Several players liked him so much that they would ask me whether he was coming to the game too and would express disappointment if it was going to be just me that night. He seemingly had inside jokes with many of them as well.
As someone who was the sports editor of the C-P myself for five-plus years, I know how important it is to develop real relationships with the student athletes and coaches we cover. I couldn’t tell you how many high school athletes had my personal cell phone number during that time — it was easily more than 100 — and to this day I still keep in contact with several of them.
I wish Jackson nothing but the best. He was great at his job, quite funny in the office (even if his sarcasm skirted the line of professionalism one, two or 50 times) and a great friend to us all here at the C-P.
Now comes the bitter side. I’m not entirely sure what has changed over the past few years, but it is harder than ever to hire quality employees. In my quest to find Jackson’s replacement, I have contacted every college with a journalism school in the state and only three of them returned my many calls and emails. It doesn’t quite make sense to me that colleges and their professors wouldn’t be interested in helping their graduates land jobs, but my recent experience tells me they have little interest in lending a helping hand.
The best way to hire journalists is through networking, whether that be asking fellow peers if they know anyone looking for a job, reaching out to college professors or interacting on the journalism threads online. It’s how I got my job and how I have hired several reporters before. Yet, now more than ever there are more job openings than there are candidates.
And it’s not limited to journalism either. Apart from a select few fields, hiring quality employees is a nightmare for so many managers in all sorts of professions. Just through general conversation with various business owners or managers throughout the area, it’s a near consensus that good workers are in short supply.
The counterargument to that is many employers aren’t willing to pay their employees well enough, which is a sentiment that is echoed throughout social media. While there is some truth to that, particularly with large corporations, most business owners are willing to pay for quality. There is a real disconnect that exists that is seemingly impossible to fix.
So to that end, until I can find the right replacement for Jackson, I will be adding sports editor to my overfilled hat collection for the time being. While it certainly will not be easy covering all of the news and sports in Marion County by myself, I at least have five-plus years of experience of being the sports editor here.
It will undoubtedly be more difficult for me to make it to all the games that is typically required of the role, I assure Marion County that I will continue to do everything I can to make sure the area’s student athletes are well represented and uplifted in our pages.
Joshua Campbell is editor and publisher of The Columbian-Progress. Reach him via email at joshuacampbell@columbianprogress.com or call (601) 736-2611.
