My Dream Job: Then & Now
When I was a little girl, I used to tell my Dad that my dream job was to be “an English teacher during the school year and a comedian during the summer.” I clearly had a strong (and strange) work ethic at such a young age. Working during my summer vacation – yeah right!
Then I grew up a little bit and moved away from the typical teacher or princess dream job that most young girls have. My phase in high school was all about the music business. I loved going to concerts with my group of friends and reading music blogs and magazines. During my last few years at high school, it was an obvious choice that I would put together the two things I loved and purse that at college: writing and music. My goal was to be a journalist for a music publication, like Rolling Stone, Alternative Press or Blender.
So I chose a college with a good Communications program and got accepted. During my freshman year writing class, my professor gave me less-than-stellar grades on my writing assignments and wrote rude comments on my papers. She made me feel like I had no hope in a journalism career and that my writing was terrible. In addition to everyone telling me how journalism jobs were almost impossible to find, I figured maybe it wasn’t the right choice for me.
Meanwhile, I had always enjoyed promoting and planning events and interacting with people, so I became more interested in the Public Relations side of my Communications major. I quickly made the switch from journalism to PR.
And here I am today. After spending most of my senior year of college and the summer after graduating searching for a job related to PR, I ended up in a completely different field. I now work as a Copywriter and Online Marketing Specialist at a SEO agency. Although my current job and duties certainly reflect my major and the writing and communication skills I learned in college, it’s a far cry from the typical world of PR.
As you can see, it doesn’t really matter what you went to school for or what words are written on your degree. It’s your experiences, skills and strengths that will lead you to the career path you end up in. I was hired at my current job as a copywriter based on my writing skills. I had no prior SEO or marketing knowledge. I’m writing for this magazine column as we speak and also blog in my free time. So clearly that professor didn’t know what she was talking about, yet I stupidly listened to her. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t be what you want to be or achieve your goals. If only that professor could see me now…
You can view this article at its original source here or read all of my past “Life After College” articles here.
