Career crossroad

I studied journalism in college, focusing on copy editing. My internships were as a copy editor. My first job was copy editing. It was a career path my parents didn't readily understand. Mom thought I was in a telecom program and dad assumed I'd be a reporter. It was difficult for them to grasp that I would be reading stories, writing headlines, designing pages and never have a byline. When I switched to the dark side of journalism, public relations, I was thankful I no longer had to explain why I had such crummy hours and still didn't have my name in print. 

My career is back in the spotlight since I've been unemployed. My family has been super supportive, although now they're making it clear it's time for me to get a job. I understand how it affects them -- mom has been helping me with rent and dad feeds me more than usual, but I haven't really been motivated and still don't know what I want to do.

In lieu of making any real commitments (which speaks volumes about my life in general), I've decided on a tentative course of action: find temp or part-time work to hold me over until my lease is up. At that point, I need to have a long-term game plan because I would like to move out of Miami.

So I've submitted my resume to several temp agencies and have a headhunter who is keeping an eye out for me. Most friends and family members also have a copy of my resume on file just in case they hear of anything. My references have also been put on red alert should something come up.

A couple of days ago mom calls me with great news: a friend of a friend knows someone who is hiring. With such a promising lead I resend her my resume. Later on I think to ask what the hell I just potentially applied for.

Me: So yeah, what is friend of a friend looking for? 

Mom: Oh the guy apparently has an opening for a reporter to cover community news.

Me: Um, a reporting position you say? Well I've never really been a reporter.

Mom: Didn't I pay for journalism school?

Me: Yeah. And I left a copy editor. We've discussed this.

Mom (annoyed): Whatever. They would pay you.

Well alrighty then. She has a point. A paycheck is a paycheck. Thankfully I'll be seeing her friend soon so I can clear things up and see how likely an opportunity this is. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy however much of this time of unemployment I have left.