Quite some time ago, 72 weeks ago, to be precise, I left my job as a speechwriter in the federal government as part of the DOGE cuts. It was work that I loved, in support of a great and important mission, with wonderful people.
I could not anticipate in that last week of February 2025 that finding my next career role would be as hard as it turned out to be. With an unknown, but definitely large, number of government communicators, public affairs professionals, and writers being flung to the civilian workforce at the same time that AI was disrupting the thinking required for hiring for these roles, it was a perfect and very intense storm of job search frustration, financial hurt, and emotional pain.
Being told in various ways that “We received many highly qualified applications and, unfortunately, you will not be considered further” an average of 2 times each week for those 72 weeks takes a toll (yes, I tracked).
As a successful and accomplished writer, the pressure to keep up with AI, to use it to keep up with the competition, and to do so without using AI to write your resume and cover letter was, admittedly, overwhelming at times.
During this time, I often thought about the definition of insanity that we all know: doing the same thing over and over again and getting the same result. Thinking of this was generally not helpful because there really is no choice but to do the same thing over and over again, regardless of the results. Which, according to the definition, is insane.
So, I am doing something different. Very different. I will soon be a school bus driver for my local school district.
I am happy about and relieved by this because I know that God has led and directed me to this place. Both the place of the bus driver role, but, more importantly, to a place of contentment about it.
Going from a full-time executive speechwriter position to a part-time school bus driver is tough financially; no doubt about that. The good thing is that this role give me the time to pursue and do the work that I am now confident is my true calling in life. To help churches and ministries with their organization and leadership communication questions and challenges. Those organizations cannot afford to have full-time communications staff. My current role allows me to help those leaders and organizations with time and cost that is affordable for them and for me.
Perhaps someday I will be back in a full-time communications role; I am still very much open to that. I am, though, taking a break from that pursuit. There are parents in my community whose kids need to get to school, and I am their ride.