First, I want to make clear that I love my job! My first full-time job came in the summer before college, and I was doing it to earn money. Not to make a career or for any other reason. It was to help me afford college!

It was working in a GE factory, making parts. We were paid for the number of pieces produced. That had appeal. I was 17 and worked as fast as I could, punching out parts of clocks until my fingers bled. At one time, I had eight fingers bandaged! I had the most parts at the end of the day until a few of the long-term working ladies there took me aside and made it clear that I needed to slow down. They educated me about the fact that they were on the job for the long haul, and I was there for three months before I would leave for college. I got it! If I changed the status quo and put out many more clock parts than the average worker, they would be expected to work harder all the time!

I was a quick study. I slowed my feverish former pace. A lesson well learned.   My aunt worked in the factory as well and drove us to work by 7 a.m.  And home at 3 p.m.   I often slept through dinner, exhausted. Another good lesson! It helped me know what I did not want to make a career. I imagine most young workers find out first what they do not want to spend their time doing for life.

The reality of working for a living is, in itself, a good lesson. Transitioning from carefree childhood into making a living has a lot to offer. What it is to be responsible to someone other than a parent; how far money earned can last; and whether or not we feel we will make a career of it.

I was fortunate after the clock-making job. I had not been able to converse with the person sitting next to me without shouting over the roar of machines. I moved on to have a job in the college employment office, where I enjoyed getting to know other students seeking part-time, mostly non-career positions. I was certain that I wanted to work with people, not clocks! It was a beginning. Forever after the GE job, I worked with people, my hands-down choice.

One job previewed what I would end up doing for decades later in life: the summer job I was offered as editor of The Sudbury Citizen—my hometown weekly!  

I was between semesters in college when the two previous editors went on the political campaign trail with their Harvard Professor husbands. I had been editor of both my high school newspaper and yearbook in the small New England community that boasted Longfellow’s Wayside Inn, a working Grist Mill (think Pepperidge Farm), and The Martha Mary Chapel. It was enough to land me that summer’s greatest temporary job! I knew what I wanted to do professionally before Iucking into that editor job. After it, I was certain.     

Sometimes we get to work in a non-professional position that is nevertheless fantastic. It happened to me just after college when working to help my first husband through medical school in D.C. I was one of four secretaries for 13 scientists from California’s Jet Propulsion Lab assigned temporarily to NASA in D.C.  Each of us served a few of the men—there was only one woman.
Man to the Moon was all I needed to know. The people were wonderful to work with; the purpose was to figure out every imaginable thing that could go wrong and how to prevent all. My final job there—after the scientists had thought of every possible problem they could identify—was to then proof the book it had become. Imagine.

I have proofed hundreds of Shoppers and then a decade of Doctor-To-Doctor Magazines since those days. I have loved doing every one. But nothing compared to proofing “Man to the Moon.”  I found one mistake—just one, but that one made the effort meaningful.

After moving to Tidewater, there was a decade of raising two children before buying Great Bridge Press Printing, with the plan being to launch and print a local paper: The Shopper Magazine in Chesapeake. These 42 years of The Shopper have been a blessing.

I have met so many wonderful people and enjoyed writing every story for those first years—until I burned out. I still wanted the stories and loved reading them, and eventually was able to write more. But we have such good writers; I love reading their stories and just writing a few here and there!
My suggestion to anyone who feels stuck in a career they do not like, no matter how good the pay, is don’t give up the goal of working, doing what brings you satisfaction, even joy! I do believe it is out there!  

This may be the best time ever to seek a job you can enjoy and make a good living doing. Has there ever been more “Now Hiring” signs out? So what if you don’t have a college degree? What are your best skills? Ask your family and friends what they think you should be doing and what they believe are your greatest assets. Then ask yourself!