On the hunt…

After taking some months off and dipping into the savings account, I have started to look for work again. It’s not going to be easy. I have been voluntarily out of work for almost a year. I loved not working. I finally got to bond with my daughter. Something I barely had time for when I was working 50 hours a week. My family as a whole is in a much better place but it’s time for Mommy to go back to work. Besides needing the money, I need to feel like I can contribute again. Doing stuff for my family is great and rewarding but there is something about doing the same thing at a job.

I really enjoyed being a journalist but did not like the journalist lifestyle. There is nothing better than breaking news, but as you know, breaking news happens 24/7 which means you are on call 24/7. I didn’t mind it at first but once I had a child it changed. I don’t want to explain to my daughter that I could not make her softball game because there was a triple homicide in Oakland that I had to stay at work for. Not great dinnertime conversation. When speaking to “up and coming journalists,” I tell them that being in journalism isn’t a job or career, but a lifestyle. You have to be willing to work odd hours, weekends and nights for little pay. Your family will never understand why you miss every holiday to work but it’s the nature of the business. It seems that I hit 35 and my love for the business was being trumped by my love for my family. Once I put my family first over my job, it was over for me in journalism. I am finding I am OK with that decision.

Now what do I do next. The logical place for me to go is PR. I did venture into PR back in the height of the dot-com craze. I did enjoy it and being able to work on a wide variety of clients. I think PR has changed since I was last working in it. When there were massive layoffs in journalism a couple of years back, lots of former journalist went into PR. Some succeeded while many others failed. I think many agencies are reluctant to hire a former journalist since they may have not had much success when they have done it in the past. It’s understandable. Journalists many times feel that PR is the dark side and don’t think very highly of PR people. Then they go into PR thinking they can do it so much better than everyone else and find out it’s a lot harder than it looks. So I am left in the quandary of applying for PR jobs and trying to convince an agency to take another chance on a former journalist.

I am not just applying for PR jobs. Being an assignment editor for so long, I know that I could make one heck of an administrative assistant. It’s almost exactly what I do as an assignment editor, minus the blaring police scanners and breaking news. It will be a big leap for a company but you never know.

The biggest hurdle for me is to convince someone to give a chance in a somewhat entry level position. If you look at my resume, I have over 20 years of experience. I think it scares some potential employers off. I might become bored in an entry level position. That is so not true. I want to start from the bottom and learn and work my way up. I have been doing TV news for so long that I need to learn something else.

So I am now updating my resume and trolling Craigslist, Indeed and LinkedIn hoping the right job will come along. So don’t be alarmed if my resume comes across your desk real soon. Take a chance and see what a former journalist has in her bag of tricks.

My Mid-life Crisis

I have found myself with some free time lately which is unheard of as a working mom. But this working mom is not working. I recently quit my job. It was one of the hardest things I have done in a very long time. The job was just not the right fit. Between being miserable at work and making the one hour and 15 commute one way every day, I just couldn’t do it anymore. So my wonderful hubby and I crunched the numbers and found I could quit and “find myself” for a few months before I needed to go back to work. So here I am doing the stay at home thing

I am calling this period in my life my mid-life crisis. I turned 40 this past November without much fanfare. I am fortunate that because of genetics, I don’t look 40 but I can say I feel 40. Just rundown and tired.
I have spent over the past 20 years working in broadcast journalism. I got into journalism because I wanted to be a sportscaster. Now at the time I decided to do this, there were hardly any women doing sports on TV. That didn’t sway me. I am used to being dismissed as a woman then knocking men back with my knowledge of sports. Along the way of studying journalism at Fresno State University, I found out that all the things I love about journalism (finding, researching and breaking the story) could be done from behind the camera. My career was born. Now after 20 years of working as an assignment editor, producer and guest booker, I am not sure I want to do it anymore. I really don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

I know getting married and having a daughter changed things for me. Before the hubby and the kid, I didn’t mind working long hours, holidays and weekends. Now, I just want to be there for my family. I know every working mom has said this, but I want it all, a good job that can balance with my home life. Yeah, good luck with that. I really don’t know one woman or man who can say they have the perfect balance between home and work. Some have it close. I would like to at least try to find it.

As I go through my “mid-life crisis,” I will be figuring out what my next move will be. Is it PR, or back to TV? I am not sure. But it will be a hell of a ride figuring it out. In the meantime, I will enjoy my time with my daughter and being a domestic goddess at home. Martha Stewart watch out.