Love what you do

"Find a job that you love to do and stick to it." This is what every school counselor and member of my family told me before I left for college. From the way they said this I thought I would have a choice in exactly what job made me happy. That was not the case. I was thrown into a job I wasn't sure I could handle all because a family friend, knew the guy that did the hiring at The News Reporter and I needed a job for the summer. A pair of high heels, a nice shirt, pressed pants and a 20 minute interview landed me the job—the love came later.

I arrived for work not expecting much. To be honest, I wasn't sure I was qualified for the job and doubted my ability to write newspaper articles. A bleak picture of my future (concerning job experience) had been painted for me upon entering college. Apparently, everyone I talked to was under the impression you could not get a job as an English major unless you wanted to teach. Since teaching is not an occupation I'm interested in, my hopes for a great job were minimal.

With some apprehension and a pessimistic outlook I began my first day at work. Not a great attitude, sure, but I was under the impression I would be little more than an errand girl for the all important reporters and would glean little (if any) helpful experience from my time at the paper.

My impression about my new job quickly changed. By the end of my first day I had been introduced to approximately forty people of whom I remembered three, had my first two assignments handed to me and realized that book keeping and errand running were not part required for my new job. I was going to be a reporter.

The first few weeks at work were both tiring and confusing. I was attempting to learn in a few weeks what the majority of the employees had taken years to learn. There's not a very high turnover rate at the paper, so most of the employees have been there for years. Somewhere between conducting research on the first baby boomer in the county and writing articles announcing new business openings I fell in love with my job.

The hours are demanding and often require that you be available 24-7. Deadlines are sacred and the programs used for formatting are horrific to learn. There is also a certain amount of knowledge associated with each chair in the building. If you are sit at another individuals desk you are expected to know that same amount of information as that person.

By the end of the summer I could write obituaries and church news in addition to news articles and feature stories. You'd think the writing style for these categories would be the same. It's not; each has its own distinctive style and a 20 page rulebook to accompany it.

What does this information amount to? Nothing much, except I discovered a job that I love and that I could work at for years. Some day I may develop into a snoopy, sleuth-like reporter but for now I enjoy my small-town paper and the feature stories I get to write. I also appreciate all the instruction and feedback that I receive. I can't learn if I don't make mistakes, and I can't fix it if I don't know it's wrong. So in the words of my great grandmother, "When you read this you make sure the words are spelled right, if they aren't in the right places, shape them up."