Dear fortune teller, what will my future look like?

What will my future look like? Really hard question… Maybe a fortune teller would give me a guess?

My future – this is something I often think about. Only one year left and I’m done with my studies, which means that I’m going to enter the professional world. Having a job which implies responsibilities, carrying out projects, etc – what a change it will be in my life!

Reality will come soon enough with its high and lows, so let’s dream a little: what would my ideal work day in my desired job look like?

First, let’s take a look at my dream job. To be honest, it is quite hard for me to tell precisely what I would like to do. Among the jobs I’m interested in, there is the one of press officer. This is a job that requires many skills, such as a sense of organisation, persuasiveness, and oral and written skills. You have to be able to handle criticism and not giving in to pressure. A press officer is employed by an organisation to act as the main point of contact for the media. The aim is to communicate about the organisation you represent, about its projects or upcoming events for example. As a press officer, you have several tasks to perform. One of them is to write press releases. You may also have to organise press conferences. You also have to be in contact with journalists and other media contacts. That means responding to their enquiries, as well as trying to get their attention and interest about the organisation’s projects and actions. Another part of the job is dedicated to track media coverage relating to the organisation. One important thing is also to be well aware of what is going on in the organisation; you need to stay informed. I expect this job to make me feel like I’m useful and doing something that matters. This is why I would like, for example, to be the press officer for an environmental NGO. My goal would thus to spread important messages concerning the environment and thereby to raise awareness.

Now that I have talked about the job I would like to do, let me tell you about my ideal work day.

First, let’s wake up (but not too early…)! As I already do every morning, I would go through the news – reading some articles, scrolling through social media, and listening to the radio on my way to work. The aim is to keep myself informed about the latest news, but also to see if my organisation is mentioned in the media. Then, it’s time to arrive in the office. My dream office would be a place where I have a quiet, personal work space, but at the same time a place where I could really be in contact and talk with my colleagues. A word on my (dream) colleagues: I expect them to be supportive, friendly, and motivated; in other words, people you can rely on (let me dream a little, not everyone is mean in that world…). Enough for the working environment, let’s talk about the tasks I expect to do during a day of work. I would begin my day by having a meeting with my colleagues. The aim is that everyone is aware of what is happening in the organization: what the news are, the problems, the progress of current projects, the priorities of the organisaation, etc. With all that in mind, everyone is ready to start their day and work in good conditions. Then I would write press releases about a project of my organisation that I would send to media. It could be TV, written press or radio. Then I would take a look at what the media say about my organisation. Indeed, after I send press releases to them, the media use it: articles are written in the written press, reports are made on television or radio. After that hard but interesting morning of work, it’s time for lunch – an important part of my day! The best would be to go to my favourite little restaurant with a few colleagues to have a good time. Then I would go back to work, but not in the office – it’s time for a few outside meetings. First it would begin with a journalist who asked for meeting one of the heads of the organisation. As a press officer, it is my job to organise this meeting and make sure that everything is going well. This interview is indeed a way of promoting a project of the organisation. After that interview, the day would not be over. On the evening, an event would take place in order to promote the same project as during the interview. Here again, my job would be to make sure everything is in the right order: what is the schedule of the evening, who should speak when, who the guests are, etc. It would be a real work of organisation – something that I really like doing! After the evening, the day is over. But everything will start again the next day: writing press releases about the event, contacting journalists, preparing other events, etc. The dream day would in fact start again everyday – at least this is what I hope…

I know that every day will not be easy and that everything is not going to happen perfectly like I imagine, but this is how life goes. Let’s see what the future holds; I’m sure it will be even better than what you could imagine…