Career Kit: DIY Career Clinic — Where do I go from here?

Questions to ask yourself, tips for analyzing your answers and ways to prioritize your next steps

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Most journalism career paths are full of zigs and zags. I’ve met very few who started out with an exact idea of where they’d end up 20 years later. That can be a good thing — opportunities tend to wait in those corners. 

If you are good at what you do but just want to get better, feel like you’re in early-career limbo or maybe want to evaluate what your next job move might be, take a few minutes for this DIY Career Clinic. It can help jumpstart a candid self-evaluation. 

This was developed over a couple of decades after I made mistakes/decisions, managed newsroom teams, counseled colleagues and coached journalism students. It’s now a version of what I use to start off my one-on-one Career Clinic sessions. 

This is not a silver bullet. But it will help you begin to identify those things about your job that you can’t change, take action on things you can change and give wisdom (OK, maybe not wisdom, but at least clear eyes) to evaluate your position. Basically, the Serenity Prayer, but for journalists. Who hasn’t screamed inside their head “Serenity now!” a few times?!?