Finding his own truth
Former journalist Alex Freedman has launched a new business helping others shift their career path.
Photo from Alex Freedman’s Facebook page
Alex Freedman quotes a line from Shakespeare that has become a life philosophy for him, and one he works hard to pass along to his clients: “To thine own self be true.”
This little nugget of wisdom uttered by Polonius in Act 1 Scene lll of Hamlet is a reminder to us all to live a good and balanced life, something Alex is mastering every day, and something he hopes to pass along to his clients, many of whom reach out to him when they feel they have nowhere else to turn.
Alex has had a number of “Second Acts” since he was bumped out of his first career as a CBC journalist in 2015, but his latest incarnation may be the one that is indeed truest to himself.
He is currently Executive Director of the Community Radio Fund of Canada, and he recently launched a side business helping journalists land on their feet when they choose to leave the profession or when they are forced out.
“It’s a time of extreme vulnerability when you lose your job. I think having someone in your corner who has been through it and come out the other side, can be empowering for people and uplifting in a time of real despair.”
Alex launched his “Leg Up” career transition service just over a month ago. His process is a step-by-step guide aimed specifically at journalists to help them identify how to transition their skills out of an industry that is crumbling all around them.
“It’s impossible to get a real handle on the numbers,” Alex muses. “But the Bell cuts in Toronto alone, 210 jobs gone, half of them journalists, and that doesn’t take into account Winnipeg and Calgary. Then, as you know, Global has had several rounds, Huffington Post just cut multiple hundreds of jobs, and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters anticipates that by next summer 200 radio stations will fold entirely.”
The numbers paint a grim picture of an industry in the process of imploding, and each one of those statistics is a real person, getting the news that their career is gone, in a heartbeat. I certainly know what that feels like, and so does Alex.
For 15 years Alex worked at the CBC, building his career until he was a national investigative journalist, then he took a job as bureau chief in Quebec City. It was just one province away, but another union was in charge and that put him back at the bottom of the pecking order. Then the cuts came. In 2015, a week after his second daughter was born, Alex got the call telling him he had been bumped out.
“I’ll never forget going home that day. My wife was sitting there feeding our newborn and I had to tell her I had just lost my job. I remember we both literally sat on the floor and cried,” Alex recalls.
But like many of us who have been through it, he also saw the plus side.
“There was a severance, so I had time to think, to look around, and also to just be a Dad and hang out with my daughters,” Alex reveals. “I had a great career, and I loved my role at the CBC, but I hadn’t been 100 percent happy in journalism for a while. So I started to see it as an opportunity to make a transition.”
Alex began to apply himself to his job search as he had to his work. He reached out to his contacts, followed up on leads, and worked on himself as well, identifying how his skills as a journalist could be transferable to other industries.
“When I decided to leave journalism, I was very lucky to have a really good friend who helped me see what I had to offer in a different light,” Alex points out.
Six months later he landed a job as Chief of Staff at Laurentian University, where he went from being a journalist to hiring them. With oversight on the communications, digital, and marketing departments, Alex was well placed to hire reporters looking to get out of the profession. That gave him one more tool that would support him on this new path.
“I know what it feels like to be a journalist in transition, and I know what people hiring journalists are looking for,” Alex explains.
He served as Chief of Staff for two presidents at Laurentian, before moving the family to Ottawa to support his wife’s career ambitions. After an exciting stint serving as Chief of Staff for the Assembly of First Nations during the Wet'suwet'en crisis, Alex had another career epiphany.
“I wasn’t home very much during that time, and it betrayed a key part of the reason we had moved to Ottawa. I was trying to get more balance in my life. My heart was moving more and more towards my kids, and that job took me away from them too much.” When he saw the opening for the Executive Director of the Community Radio Fund of Canada it was a lightbulb moment.
“The fund has a number of programs which provide support for community and campus radio stations. It also runs the Local Journalism Initiative, which reinforces the importance of local reporting, particularly in news deserts. It really spoke to the journalist in my soul, but just as importantly I could set my own schedule.”
With that newfound freedom, Alex has found more time to be there for his own family, and now for other journalists who are looking for direction as they transition out of the industry they once loved.
“Over the years I’ve helped many former colleagues and friends take the leap and build a new life. I began to realize I had a really good formula, and a friend said to me ‘you need to start charging for this.’” It’s completely new to Alex to run his service as a business for people he doesn’t know, but he has no shortage of clients in these early stages.
“It’s very rewarding, being able to help someone who comes to you very low and connect them with the opportunity that’s going to change their life. It’s humbling and difficult for people to say, ‘I need help.’ But that’s the first step, and then we work from there,” Alex explains.
In his dual roles at the Community Radio Fund, and running his own side business, Alex has found balance both supporting strong local journalism and helping journalists who feel pushed out of the profession.
“The industry is changing out from under us,” Alex ponders. “None of us could have ever anticipated this. All journalists who I know do journalism because they believe they are making a difference. It’s a huge leap of faith to decide to leave the profession, and you never know where you are going to land. But I’m here to show people that it can be done. You can transition, and still support your family, and still make a difference. It is possible. And I hope I can help people see that it’s not as scary as it feels at first.”
If you’ve lost your job or are looking for a career transition you can reach out to Alex through his website Leg Up.