CareerJournal.com recently spoke with Eric Gerard, 44, senior vice president of Great Ink Communications, a New York-based public-relations firm dealing with the real-estate industry. Mr. Gerard spent 16 years as a reporter and editor with community newspapers and a trade publication for before making the move to public relations in search of a higher income in 2000.

Mr. Gerard: After my third son was born in 1998, the day-to-day struggle to make ends meet became a drain. I was renting a house in the Bronx and as my oldest son got closer to high school, I got nervous about paying for a private education.

I was living paycheck to paycheck. You have dreams of owning a house, and I still didn't own anything. I loved what I did -- I just couldn't live on 2% raises every year. Two percent of nothing is nothing, and that wasn't fair to my kids.

Mr. Gerard: I had been contemplating the idea for four years. Every Thursday night, I'd work until midnight to meet deadline and one Thursday at around 8:30 p.m., I got a call from a publicist I knew who was having two people leave her practice. She asked if I knew anybody who would be good. When I asked what the pay scale was, I was floored. It was 35% to 40% more than I was making. At the rate I was going, it would take me 15 years to make that salary, so I took the job, and in one jump I made a 15-year leap.

Mr. Gerard: I was a journalist from 1984-2000. I ran a community newspaper, The Bronx Press-review and worked for some papers in Queens. In 1993 I became the editor of Real Estate Weekly, a trade publication. Along the way, I ran a daily start-up newspaper in 1996 and did some free-lance photography.

I went to Fordham University to be a journalist. I had wanted to work for a newspaper since the fifth grade. I wanted to be a sports writer. What attracted me to it was the diversity of people and experiences, and every day was different. It was exciting to cover events.

Mr. Gerard: The hours. We had late-night meetings. With weekly newspapers and trade publications, the writing, photography, and proofreading all falls on you.

The pay also -- there is a ceiling on what community and trade print publications pay that tops out at about $65,000. Unless you're a syndicated writer, it's hard to break through the ceiling. Having run papers, I know the economics of it. There's a slim profit margin, and it's hard to hold on to people past $60,000 to $70,000. My salary was in the high $60,000s when I left.

Mr. Gerard: Absolutely, both before and after I left. In journalism, for the most part, you get to be someone who helps people and champions the underdog. As a publicist, you don't get a lot of thanks. It's a business of 'What have you done for me lately?' It can be a thankless profession. Not always, but when people pay, they don't always have to say thank you.

It was the right jump for my family. Do I miss journalism? Absolutely, I have ink in my veins. There is nothing quite like seeing you name in the byline or your photo credit under a picture and knowing that you got the story 'right.' I miss the rewarding feeling of having the subject of a news article or feature call you up to say thanks or the satisfaction of getting action on a problem that wasn't getting resolved through the normal channels. That said, you tend to forget about the long hours, the stress of deadlines, the chronic writer's block when you have multiple stories due, and the anxiety that goes along with making a mistake. Like anything, you tend to remember the good parts over the bad as time goes by.

The reality of the situation is that I wouldn't have a successful family life on a newspaper salary.

Mr. Gerard: Basically it's a nine-to-five job. It's more family friendly. Instead of 2% raises, there is an annual 5% to 10% raise, and you don't have to crawl on your hands and knees for it. I now make over $100,000. I am also able to vacation more regularly -- I never had more than two to three weeks' vacation at the newspaper.

In public relations, especially in a small firm, if you bring in clients you get a commission. There is a constant ability to supplement your income -- with one account you can make an extra $10,000.

Similar to seeing your own byline, seeing an article appear in a major publication that you had a hand in is rewarding.

Mr. Gerard: My wife doesn't have to work now -- she gets to raise the kids. I own a house in Dutchess County, N.Y. My children are in one of the top school districts in New York. I'm not falling behind every month, and there is no stress over money.

I also bought a timeshare to go on vacations.

Mr. Gerard: Having made the transition from community journalist to trade publication reporter-editor made it easier for me to make the jump to public relations. I never looked at it as 'selling out.' I looked at it as a way of using the work skills I had acquired to better provide for my family, which had always been my No. 1 priority, having married at 25 and started a family at 27.

If I had continued to work longer hours for less pay just because I enjoyed the job and the status that comes with being a journalist, I think I would have been selling out my family.

While being a 'flack' may be considered less prestigious, I think my 16 years' experience being a journalist makes me a better publicist -- one who knows what is news and what isn't, and doesn't waste reporters' time with nonsense, but rather tries to provide them with the sources they need to do their job on a regular basis, while at the same time serving my clients. And for the first time in my life, I feel like I am being fairly compensated for my experience and the quality of the work I do. That has been the truly rewarding part of making the career change.

Mr. Gerard: I would advise them earlier in their career to switch jobs more often within the field. Change every two years, as long as you're moving in the right direction. I think your chances for larger pay increases are much greater by changing companies than they are working in the same company.

Mr. Gerard: Yes, I'm definitely happier because there is less stress in my life. 

-- Ms. Mattioli is an editorial assistant at CareerJournal.com.

Email your comments to dana.mattioli@wsj.com.

-- September 06, 2006