I helped my daughter get a job at my company after her college graduation. Sometimes, I regret it and wonder if I set her up for failure.

My girl was backmost successful her puerility bedroom, a freshly printed assemblage diploma determination successful the heap of boxes she brought backmost from her university. Her clip was divided betwixt moving retail to person immoderate wealth coming successful and applying for jobs.

Our household was each aflutter erstwhile the telephone for an interrogation successful Washington, D.C., popped up. But aft months, the occupation fell through.

At the time, I was lone 2 years into my occupation arsenic an adjunct astatine a section newspaper, easing onto the vocation ramp aft 2 decades of raising children and freelance writing.

I heard astir a transcript exertion presumption astatine my company. I imagined my girl could enactment arsenic a transcript exertion portion searching for that imagination occupation — that large changeable occupation successful a authorities agency, that publishing enactment that took her to New York City, that occupation successful advertizing with a wage that allowed her to indulge successful her emotion of travel.

I'd emotion to accidental I got my girl a country bureau and a six-figure salary. I didn't. I conscionable had a two-minute speech erstwhile I ran into the metropolis exertion connected the stairs astatine work. All I did was get her connected the editor's radar and promote her to apply. She got herself the transcript exertion job.

I've spent a decennary wondering if I did the close thing.

She started her vocation astatine my company

It was unclear if my girl thought the transcript exertion occupation was a large archetypal measurement oregon if she was conscionable bushed of moving a retail occupation with nary benefits. But aft an interview, my girl accepted the job offer.

We began passing each different each day arsenic I finished my time shift, and she began the awkward 4 p.m. to midnight displacement required of transcript editors for the greeting edition.

Occasionally, she would notation a occupation opening, but those occasions became little frequent. It's pugnacious to clasp down a full-time job, bash immoderate freelance writing, person immoderate benignant of idiosyncratic life, and hunt for your imagination job.

After 5 years, she moved connected to a larger paper and a bump successful salary. She settled into her caller apartment, built a caller community, and thrived. She survived changes brought connected by the pandemic, the unpredictability of her institution changing hands, and a displacement to a antithetic position.

I wonderment if I forced her into an unstable career

Although my girl is happy, for years I person been worrying. I've wanted her to pivot to a much unchangeable industry. Those worries lone magnified erstwhile my paper was sold and I recovered myself jobless successful what I had hoped would beryllium my last decennary successful the workplace.

Each day, I slogged done a lengthy occupation search. Each night, I laic successful furniture balancing offered salaries and benefits packages, reasoning astir my sparse status savings, wondering astir the viability of Social Security payments. With galore years of debased salaries successful a dying industry, would status ever beryllium a anticipation for me?

I knew my girl would someday woody with these aforesaid questions, and I disquieted I had made the incorrect determination getting her that occupation each those years ago. I sometimes privation she could person dreamed bigger than moving for debased wages successful section journalism.

My girl loves what she does

So wherefore does she enactment successful a dying industry? There's a saying successful the paper industry: "They person printer's ink successful their veins." That's her.

She believes successful the value of assemblage journalism. She wants to beryllium 1 of the radical focusing connected the shenanigans of the section politicians, the achievements of the high schoolhouse athletes, and the occurrence of the section businesses.

Although it whitethorn not beryllium reflected successful their salaries, my girl and her co-workers' enactment is important.

So, immoderate days, I regret nudging her toward beingness successful the paper industry. But connected different days, I americium truthful arrogant that I privation to outcry it to the world.