Dream Job (Part 1)

"What is your dream job?"

"Where do you see yourself in 2-3 years?"

I've been so concerned about finding a job now that I haven't stopped to think about what I'm working toward career-wise.  It was easier seeing where my life was going in high school and the beginning of college.

With a Communication Studies degree with emphasis in Journalism, I dreamed of becoming an anchor for the TODAY Show, starting at the local news stations at home and moving up from there.

Skyped in as a Viewer Question on the TODAY Show. (Jan. 2012)

I also dreamed of becoming editor-in-chief of a magazine that fancied my interests - travel, lifestyle, fitness, etc.  I was thinking National Geographic, SELF, or Marie Claire, for instance.

Don't get me wrong. I still love everything about journalism. I love creating stories, reaching out to different people to get the story and connecting with an audience through words.  I love that thrill of writing a story, and the words just seem to fall together perfectly.  To me, writing is like a puzzle, and it's amazing to figure it out while creating a masterpiece.

It was a little discouraging to find out that journalism was deemed a "useless" degree, according to the Daily Beast's list.  It also didn't help that many newspapers were going out of business or downsizing while I was in my junior and senior year.

In addition, I don't have that experience of working on the school newspaper or the yearbook (except for in middle school, high school and sophomore year in college).  Without this essential experience along with journalism internships,  I felt - and still feel - like it's harder for me to apply for reporter positions to continue on that path, especially without published writing samples.

To be continued...