Emily Cahn

It’s been almost two months since I started my new job at Roll Call and already I’ve settled in and gotten back into the swing of reporting.

Getting to report again feels amazing. I had been yearning to get out and talk to people and find stories for longer than I had wanted to admit to myself, and being able to do that again has lifted a dark cloud off my shoulders that had been bringing me down for many months.

The past year has taught me many things.

I learned so much as a copy editor for the eight-month stint I spent doing that, but more so I learned that work environments are extremely important. Often times, the name and reputation of the company you work for doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right place for you to be at certain points of your life.

As tempting as it is to start at a top-ranked, top-regarded company, sometimes the opportunities are greater somewhere smaller, where bigger opportunities come your way more often in your career.

It’s been a whirlwind of a first year out of college, but I finally feel like I have a solid footing to achieve some of the long-term goals I set for myself. Here’s to hoping I found a company to grow some deep roots as a journalist.

It’s funny how life often diverts from the path you had planned.

Last June, I was offered a position as a copy editor at The Washington Post, a company I never thought I’d ever be able to work for, let alone for my first job out of school. After starting there, I planned to dig in my heels and never leave. Yet after settling into my job, I realized that in order to reach my goal of becoming a reporter I’d likely need to leave and develop my skills somewhere else.

And that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Tomorrow I start a new job at Roll Call, heading back to Capitol Hill to write feature stories as well as help the copy desk proof pages in the print edition at the end of the day. It’s a chance for me to get back into reporting and once again get my name out there through bylines.

Leaving The Post was hard, but ultimately was the right choice for me moving forward. Now, like most people, a return to The Post will again become a long-term goal for me to work toward.

I’ve seen a bunch of my favorite bloggers out there publish lists of the things they love. In an effort to jumpstart this blog, here is my list of things that make me smile:

• The smell of morning coffee perking
• When “The Sound of Music” is on TV
• Royal blue
• Gchat
• Daily chats with my mom
• Seeing a cute dog being walked on the street
• Catching a mistake in a story
• My favorite pair of jeans
• Makeup
• Writing a great headline (puns!)
• The numerous pictures of my poodle my family texts to me
• Nicknaming people (without their knowledge)
• When a pair of new shoes is finally broken in
• The feeling when one of my stories is published
• Making a recipe that comes out exactly like it looks in a cookbook
• Reminiscing about college
• When my 15-year-old poodle gets a burst of energy and brings me every toy he owns to play
• When people retweet me
• Being hyperbolic
• Fun nights out with my best friends
• Cooking for others
• Brunch
• The first of the month (always feels like a new start)
• The feeling after a good run
• When my brother tries to tell me stories but laughs so hard he can barely get them out
• Washington, D.C.
• My tiny apartment all to myself
• The feeling after I’ve lost a pound or two
• The beach
• How my dad tells me how proud he is of me every chance he gets
• Margaritas on a hot day
• The smell of my house in New Jersey after I haven’t been home in a while
• Good hair days
• My amazingly comfortable bed
• My grandma’s advice
• The camera on my iPhone

And last but not least…

• How I am so lucky to have the greatest family of all time

What are your favorite things? Tell me in the comments.

I go through phases with this blog that go something like this:

1. Remember blog exists
2. Vow to use blog more often
3. Post a few times
4. Realize I don’t know what I want to post about
5. Forget blog exists
6. Repeat steps 1 through 5.

Here I am at Step 1 again, just in time for 2012.

Hard to believe 2011 came and went in what seems like a blink of an eye. So much has happened this year: I graduated college, left the comforts of Foggy Bottom, started work at The Washington Post and, for the past six months, have been trying to figure out life as a full-fledged adult. It’s been both exciting and overwhelming, mostly because (unlike every other transition in my life before) no one prepared me for the transition to being an adult. To those still in college majoring in journalism wondering what lies ahead, here are a few words of wisdom.

1.  Make the most of college while you can. That means both having fun, as well as utilizing all of the resources around you while you still have them at your fingertips. As much as college is for going to class and learning inside the classroom, it’s also about making professional connections. Many news organizations require you to be a student in order to intern (usually for free, sadly), so get an internship and gain real-world experience. The professors teaching your classes – they are often just as good for helping connect you with people in the industry as they are about teaching you about the craft of journalism. Forge relationships with them and ask them to connect you to their professional networks.
2. Write for your college newspaper. There is no better way to learn journalism than to get your feet wet and actually do it. For most, a college newspaper is the best way to do just that. As an editor for my college paper, it shocked me the number of journalism students who claimed they wanted a career in the field and then turned down story assignments. Journalism today is so incredibly fast paced; at any given moment a reporter could have numerous assignments to complete by a certain deadline. Students who turn down just one story at a time for their college paper because they have a paper to write for class, or a party they want to go to, simply won’t make it in the field.
3. Apply, apply, apply. Apply to every job posting that seems interesting to you. Postings will often list a number of criteria they are looking for, but it never hurts to send in your resume and explain your qualifications in a cover letter. While I never heard from a good number of jobs I applied to, I also got interviews from places I never thought I’d hear back from. And, even though I didn’t get all the jobs I interviewed for, the experience of going through the process taught me how to carry myself with future potential employers.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask your network for help. With the declining number of jobs in the field and the increase of people wanting to enter it, news organizations are receiving tons and tons of resumes. While your professional connections don’t often have a say in whether or not you get the job at the end of the day, they can help get your resume to the top of the pile. Getting past the mass of applications is often most of the battle, so ask for help!

Well, 2011 has been a trip, probably even the best year of my life so far. Here’s to hoping your years were equally as happy and prosperous, and that 2012 brings more of the same.

I’m wrapping up Week 2 of my new job (yes, you read that right, job. Not internship!), and what a whirlwind it’s been.

I am an editorial aide on the Multiplatform Desk, which, in non-Post jargon, means I’m a copy editor. I copy edit many of the slideshows you see on the Post’s Web site (yes, we haven’t adapted to the new AP Style version of website); proof pages of the feature sections of the paper, including Travel, Local Living, Weekend, KidsPost and my all-time favorite, Food; copy edit Sunday Arts, Sunday Style and Real Estate files; and copy edit/fact check the listings in the Going Out Guide. So far, I’ve learned a lot about copy editing, as well as the topics I read about. One of my favorite facts so far: The plural of panini is, in fact, panini. Who knew?

The job has really been great. All of my coworkers are nice, friendly and willing to help me learn the ins and outs of the job, which I am incredibly grateful for. Most days I have to pinch myself to think that I’m sitting in the heart of the newsroom at The Washington Post, and somehow I don’t think that feeling will wear off for a long time.

All-in-all, I’m excited to continue in my current role, and strive to learn as much as I can in the process.

It’s been less than one month since I turned the tassel on my mortar board and had my degree confirmed, and yet, so much has happened so far!

I left The Hill the last week of May, started a paid internship at an energy newsletter, only to receive a call two days later from The Washington Post offering me a job as an editorial aide. I’m so incredibly excited to announce that I will be starting a job as a fact checker there next week.

Most of all, though, I feel so fortunate that in a time when college graduates like myself are struggling to find jobs and figure out their next steps, I am employed. And, not only do I have a job, but I have a job at my dream news organization.

At Commencement, our keynote speaker ,New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said, “The harder you work, the luckier you will get.” I can say with certainty that that piece of advice is incredibly true. Hard work (and good work) pays off.

In college, it was sometimes hard not to envy those who chose to party while I juggled a full course load, internships and what was basically a full-time job at the school paper. But looking back on it, every sacrifice I made was worth it for the opportunities I was offered, and now post graduation, a steady job at a great company.

I’m not the only example of hard work and sacrifice paying off; the vast majority of my friends have paying gigs post graduation, and they all worked tirelessly during school at internships and the student newspaper to be able to get them. I wish news organizations would cover stories like theirs, success stories, rather than focus on the doom and gloom news. I’ve learned that the people who work hard reap the benefits post-college, and as always, statistics don’t always show the full story.

So, all in all, there is life after college, even if it was hard to believe that was true just a few weeks ago. Good things come to those who work for them, and in the words of my Commencement speaker Michael Bloomberg:

No matter what job you have, no matter who your employer is, the harder you work, the luckier you will get.

So I’ve been graduated for almost two weeks now, and people keep asking if it feels different. To answer the question: no. I’m still at the internship I held during the school year, looking for a news organization to pay me to do what I love, which is report.

What is different about life post-grad is that I can now focus entirely on work while I am in fact at work, rather than on papers or my duties at the student paper. Because of that, I’ve written a ton these past two weeks, helping cover transportation issues.

A story I wrote on gas prices

I love the fast pace of blogging, turning short 300 word posts around quick. So far, two of the posts I’ve written made it into the print version of the paper as well.

Some of the things I got to cover included President Obama changing his fight plans in the UK over the most recent Icelandic volcano eruption, this time from the much-easier-to-say Grimsvotn.

I also wrote a preview on a hearing held on financing for the high-speed rail project in the Northeast Corridor. The story made it into the print version of the paper.

My story previewing a hearing on Capitol Hill.

Other bylines I racked up include:

House to vote on stopgap FAA funding bill, Experts expect gas prices to fall, but volatility possible, US airlines revenue is up again in April, NASA to develop new spacecraft to take astronauts into space, and a few others.

The experience has been great, I’ve got a few more clips to show, and learned a tiny bit about transportation issues, and can add another notch to my belt on the few job interviews I have lined up this week.