Back in the saddle again
My internship is pretty much over. This unfortunately means that I have to hit the ground running in the job market. And as we all know, it’s a wreck of a market, especially in Michigan where I live. Michigan’s unemployment rate was at 14 percent last I heard. 14 percent! It’s the highest in the nation and is a record, I believe, for the state.
I don’t want to move too far away from home but I’m left without much of a choice. This economy is just wreaking havoc on my ability to find a career. I’m sure everyone out there can say the same thing to one extent or another. The major majority of my family is here in Michigan. I love my family. I don’t want to have to travel several hours just to come home but it’s looking like there’s no other way.
Tyler is also in the same boat. He has something good going now with Chrysler, but it’s only temporary. There’s a tiny chance they could hire him on permanently, but it certainly can’t be counted on. And as both of our careers are up in the air, we can’t plan for anything. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I hate not being able to have a plan. I absolutely despise the fact that our plans for getting married and finally living a life tied together are almost entirely dependant on the job market. One word – UNSTABLE. I hate it.
But I’m spending the day researching jobs and sending in applications. It’s nearly all I can do at this point and time. I hope and pray every day and night that something will turn aroud for us. Soon.
Growing pains
I’ve been working on my senior thesis project over the last few days which involves researching ways to increase newspaper readership in the age of electronic media. Then it hit me today while writing about the introduction of the World Wide Web.
I’m GRADUATING.
In a little over a month I’m going to be set free upon the world and left to my own devices. I won’t lie – that thought honestly scares me.
When did the world get so big? That kid song lied. This so totally isn’t a small world. It’s huge and open and intimidating. My place has always been at home with my family and friends or at school studying. And now I have to step out of that world and into a career. But before I’m able to start that career, I have to tread that shaky bridge between the small world I’ve known my whole life and the next world that I’ve never been introduced to. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m only 22 for crying out loud.
But I know my journalism field. I know how to work within it quite effectively. I know that I really do know my stuff. I’m graduating with high honors for heaven’s sake. So why wouldn’t I be able to fit into the workforce? There’s really no reason why I shouldn’t. It’s just a lot unfamiliar territory and anyone could be scared of that, right?
The current economy is also creating chaos with my ability to cope with the upcoming freedom. Journalism is already one of the lowest paying fields right out of the starting gates. And because of electronic media, employers are cutting back right and left. Will I be able to get a job? If so, will I be able to keep that job? Am I going to be able to get married, get a dog and eventually have kids? What the hell am I going to do if I can’t? There’s all these unanswered questions circling around my brain and no one seems to be able to provide even half-assed answers.
I miss the days when it was simpler. I never realized how good I had it coming home from only a half day of kindergarten to a peanut butter and jelly lunch waiting for me made with love from mom. We would watch Little House on the Prairie together before my sisters got home and I’d have mom all to myself. I didn’t have to worry about money or having a roof over my head and clothes on my back. I didn’t have to worry about what’s for dinner or when I had to go to work. All I concerned myself with was being sure to ask everyone in my morning class if they would be my friend and making sure that the afternoon student who sat at my desk didn’t touch my stuff.
I don’t want to move out of Michigan and away from my family, but that’s a very real possibility. My parents have been my rock through everything and it’s downright petrifying to think that I might not have them easily accessible face-to-face. They were there when I got my first B+ and calmed me down when I was shocked and upset. They were there when I was being threatened by a crazy ex-boyfriend in the seventh grade. They were there for all the miseries and frustrations of high school and my first job. They got me to college and let me abuse their washing machine and raid the pantry at home. And my mom still turned on my heated mattress pad this winter when she knew I was coming home late from work to a freezing-cold house.
I guess the whole idea and everything that goes into it is overwhelming. Let’s face it – I’m overwhelmed by reality.
Pondering the job-related future
With the economy the way it is, I can’t help but worry what will become of me after I graduate college in April. I know people that have been searching for jobs for months, years even and still haven’t had any luck besides the occasional temporary job. And my field is yet another one of those that has been consistently cutting back.
I want to find a place as a staff writer at a local newspaper that prints anywhere from one to three times a week. I had an internship at my small-town newspaper and I loved it. Because it was small, I got to do a variety of things and cover all kinds of stories. I know it won’t pay much. Journalism is one of the lowest paying fields just out of school.
Since I’ve kept in touch with my internship editor, the chain that paper is affiliated with has cut back two or three times now. Everything is going digital in this day and age, but even those jobs are cutting back because of the economy. It’s beginning to get me quite worried about what I’ll be able to do with myself to even get into the field.
I know that it’s been all about networking and finding someone who can get you a place in the field for quite some time. But that weight seems to be getting heavier and heavier lately. Without a network, I think I may be pretty much completely out of luck.
I’m hoping that the MPA conference I’m headed to tomorrow will provide me with some more networking opportunities. Lord knows that at this rate, I’m going to need to know everyone I can get the least bit acquainted with.
