Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Can I start over?
Hi,
I'm new to this board (usually spend my time on health and fitness or cooking), but could use some career advice.
My story: I more or less hate my job. I work at a newspaper and have worked at various journalism jobs for more than a decade. I enjoy the writing part of my job and the interaction with the subjects I write about, for the most part. But I hate the hours (all nights and weekends). I hate having a boss who makes up the schedule roughly one week in advance (impossible to make plans with husband, family and friends) and dread the atmosphere at my office. It's a dingy, old building in a decaying neighborhood. Long story short, this is not what I want for the rest of my life. I do what I can to get through each day and week, but I'm desperately unhappy when I'm in that place and working from home is not permitted.
If I could start all over, I would have a career that involved health, medicine, nutrition or physical fitness. I'm a little concerned about trying to go back to school at this point -- just because of the money involved and not knowing if I would find work once I graduated.
Like I wrote at the top, I enjoy the writing part of my job, but would have to channel that into another profession (public relations or something) to be satisfied.
I'm not sure if I should seek career counseling, a job service that would help me find other careers that would fit my skills or what.
I'm looking for opinions or advice from anyone who's been here ...
Thanks in advance!
Re: Can I start over?
have you considered just searching for jobs to see what is out there?
what about working for a university newspaper? or in their communications department?
Think outside the box.
Our little Irish rose came to us on March 5, 2010
Don't drink the water.
Disclaimer: I am not an MD. Please don't PM me with pregnancy-related questions. Ask your doctor.
I know exactly where you're coming from. I worked as a columnist and copy editor/designer at several newspapers until 2008. The last newspaper I worked at closed down and I struggled for awhile trying to figure out a new path for myself. After numerous misteps, I took some career tests at the local community college which pointed toward the law. I signed up for a paralegal course and loved it. I graduated in December 2010 and got a job as family law paralegal in January 2011.
I like the work a great deal and the money is MUCH better than in the newspaper industry. I get to write constantly, perform research, interview people and edit too. Yes, there are downsides (some attorneys are not the most pleasant to deal with) but overall I am very glad to have made the switch.
Take a career test. See where it points and do some research. You might be pleasantly surprised to see where it leads you. Good luck!
I hear this a lot from my uncle, who has worked at newspaper for probably 20 years now. His hours are awful and he is forced to take unpaid vacation (and he has a family, so it's hard to get time with them).