There is a "help wanted" sign in the window of a pet store just three blocks from my house. I first saw it when I moved to Evanston and joked to myself that I should apply. Who doesn't want to play with fluffy puppies all day?
When I walked by the store tonight, I thought about my career path. Seven years ago I decided to be a journalist, and it never really occurred to me that I should do anything else, with the exception of becoming a lawyer. I enjoyed writing and was decent at it. Great, no. But good enough, and I really, really liked seeing my words under my byline.
Along the way, I never questioned my future as a journalist. Between internships, classes and eventually jobs, I didn't pause and seriously ask myself, "What else?" I didn't practice the same skepticism I do in interviews with sources.
So here I am, a month and a half into unemployment, wondering, "What else?" What else could I be doing?
Friends and former colleagues say good writing and reporting skills can apply to jobs in most industries. But my resume is filled with newspaperin', and not one employer is biting. And I'm looking in a lot of places -- universities, health associations, hospitals, public relation firms, non-profits.
We're told when investing that we should diversify. Don't have all your eggs in one basket. And I think I should have taken that same advice seven years ago when I started taking classes at the University of Minnesota.
I printed an application today for a job at a well-known running store. Diversification, right?
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