Eye On Illinois: What percentage of your colleagues have considered changing careers?

If you ever need to feel ancient, strongly consider spending three hours with high school sophomores.

On Thursday, I staffed a “career exploration experience” table, which meant I stood behind newspaper clippings from the last millennium and told a bunch of kids born circa 2009 about the communications world.

I did not, as did the adjacent John Deere rep, experience using the restroom while some of the same kids filmed TikTok videos. But I did have to answer some of their prepared questions, such as “What are some of the biggest challenges you face in this profession?” and “Are there opportunities for growth and advancement in this field?”

This is not a complaint. Self-reflection is good! And although I’m old enough to have worked in newsrooms where we cut up printouts, rolled them through the hot wax machine and stuck them to broadsheet layout pages, I’m also young enough to have been 100% sincere when saying there is always an appetite for stories, for informative explanations about the world around us and for seeking answers to questions, especially those powerful people would prefer not to discuss.

Whether the medium for that work is dropped in driveways once a day or enters the audience’s consciousness through another method is in many ways irrelevant to the larger truth that quality information is essential because we can’t simply process life only through the things we experience directly.

From a practical journalism standpoint, I answered questions about education, training and skills by explaining it’s wise to study everything because the audience is always evolving. Every weekend I watch the sideline videos from Shaw Media’s Friday Night Drive crew, impressed by how my sportswriter colleagues continually adapt to modern demands and continue to lead the way on high school football coverage.

It seemed fitting that the event coincided with last week’s Illinois Education Association release promoting the results of a June membership poll (tinyurl.com/IEApoll2024) showing almost 60% of those questioned had considered leaving the profession. What percentage of your colleagues might say the same?

My favorite questions from the kids were about how my personality aligned with the career’s demands and how my work impacts or contributes to society. This column specifically is about government more than politics, and information more than my personal opinion, but those questions (and the one about work-life balance) might help all of us think a little bit about life beyond the paycheck.

Sometimes a job is just that. We all need money to survive. Efforts outside the office can provide significant purpose.

Maybe it’s the middle age talking, but occasional introspection is healthy. If you can’t get there on your own, the right teenager provides perfect motivation.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. Follow him on X @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.