Read the passage: I was in full-on panic mode. Here I was on my first day as an inexperienced reporter having to cover an important story with little guidance. I was starting to regret my
decision to take the job. What was I doing here? I wasn't a journalism major. I didn't
have a "beat." I didn't even know all the rules about dealing with sources and off-the-
record information
The previous spring. I'd taken up my boss on his offer and stayed at my part-time job
through the summer after college. He gave me more hours, so I was making more
money, but I didn't yet have the responsibility of a "real job. I'd been an English
major and wanted to be a writer, though I had no idea what kind of writer. I'd taken
the summer to think about things and prepare for a tall job search.
By the time I began the search for my first full time job. the job market was in bad
shape. During my first few months looking for a job. I sent out countless resumes
and only had one interview. Unfortunately. I was very unqualified for the job at the
time. Then a woman I worked with at my part time job told me about a reporter
position opening up at the newspaper chain where her daughter worked. Though id
never thought about being a reporter. I figured it couldn't hurt to go on the
interview. In addition to interview experience, the opportunity meant I was officially
networking. All the job search materials I'd read stressed the importance of
networking in finding a job.
A few days later. I was sitting down with John, one of the executive editors of the
newspaper chain, hearing all the daunting details of being a cub reporter: Although
it sounded intimidating, it was also exciting, and John didn't seem deterred by the
fact that I had no solid experience. He was happy with the few writing samples id
brought to the interview and offered me the job on the spot thought about the
opportunity over the weekend and on Monday I let John know I would take the job.
There would be a learning curve, but I would also get to write every single day.
Two weeks later, when I arrived for my first day on the job, discovered that my
editor had been called away for a family emergency also learned that the state
education department had announced that aid typically allocated to school districts
in the area would not come through that year. This would be a blow to schools that
had relied on tunding to keep art, music and sports programs running,
Since Monday was press day needed to do all my reporting and have the story
written by the end of the day. John told me that the fastest way to get reactions and
comments from everyone involved was to go to the schools and talk directly to the
principals teachers and parents. No one would be in their offices today lotted
down the list of people that should speak to and set out to cover my first story on