I did it!

I did it, I really did it. After 15 months of searching and planning and writing and gambling, I finally achieved my dream: a full-time job and an apartment in the city.

I decided in June of 2008 that living in small-town South Dakota just wasn’t cutting it for me anymore. I enjoyed small town life, but I felt like my life was missing something. So I started the job search, had a few interviews and finally accepted an internship.

I know I was a little crazy to leave a nice full-time job that I enjoyed for a temporary internship. But after spending nearly a year looking for a job and not having much luck, I was ready to give it a shot. Now I feel like I won the jackpot!

You see, it turns out, I LOVE working in public relations and especially love the firm atmosphere. I enjoy working with the media, I enjoy getting paid to spend one to three hours reading the news every day and I love seeing a story that I pitched show up in the news (which happens quite often). I’m excited to grow my skills and some day work directly with the clients and I can’t wait to learn more about the business side of PR. I want to know how to find new business, win new business and then develop a communication strategy for the new business, as well as learn how to keep current clients happy.

I feel extremely lucky that I’m going to be able to do that at Hill & Knowlton and even luckier to know that in four short months I developed enough contacts in the Chicago public relations world to have the opportunity to interview at two other firms. At this point in my career, I know my current position of assistant account executive on the H&K public affairs team is the best one for me.

Now that I have a full-time job with benefits and a steady paycheck, I can complete the last piece of the city-life puzzle: move into the city! And I think I won the jackpot in living arrangements, too.

I am a social person and really enjoy living with my family in the suburbs because I’m always in the middle of the action. I decided that living with roommates would be a better fit for me than living alone, but I really didn’t want to find a roommate on Craig’s list. Again, lady luck was on my side and one of my coworkers told me about three people who were looking for a fourth roommate.

They have a beautiful four-bedroom apartment in Lincoln Park (my neighborhood of choice), just steps from the Fullerton el stop (super convenient commute!). The apartment has hard wood floors, 10-foot ceilings, central air, dishwasher and in unit washer/dryer. And, the roommates are super sweet and looking for someone to be part of their “family.” I couldn’t ask for a better scenario and it turned out, I met all their criteria, too!

So now I’m in transition, trying to figure out when and how to move my stuff into my new apartment. I’m also still in shock. I don’t have to look for a job anymore. I don’t have to look for an apartment anymore. I can just relax and enjoy living my dream that I’ve been working towards for 15 long months. And as cheesy as that may sound, that thought always makes me smile.