The best jobs I’ve ever had have picked me.
In 2002, I ran for Alachua County School Board, beat the third person in the primary election but lost by 3% in the general election.
After campaigning for nearly a year, I needed a job, and a friend told me Marion County Fire Rescue was looking for a public information officer.
My first thought: No! I do not want to move to Marion County.
I interviewed. Kevin Christian, APR, CPRC, was on the hiring panel. I promised the fire chief Marion County citizens would know more about the fire department in the next four years than they had known in previous four decades.
Marion County Fire Rescue chose me, and I continue to benefit from that experience in ways I’m still discovering.
In 2010, after establishing Marion County’s first Office of Public Information, I applied for a community relations manager position at Progress Energy, which later became Duke Energy.
I didn’t get that job, but the hiring panel saw something in me that I wouldn’t have seen in myself and forwarded my resume to Corporate Communications.
The director called and asked if I would be interested in working as a nuclear communicator at the Crystal River Nuclear Plant.
My first thought: No! What in the world am I going to do at a nuclear plant?
The Crystal River Nuclear Plant chose me – and working there will undoubtedly be the best 10 years of my career.
In recent months, I’ve been putting out there that I want someone to see something in me that I don’t see in myself and to choose me for the next step in my career.
That’s exactly what happened – but not quite the way I envisioned.
I can’t remember everything Allison Campbell, APR, CPRC, said to me on May 28 when she asked me to be the next FPRA Ocala Chapter president, but I had an aha moment I just couldn’t shake.
How could I say no to an association that has made me the strategic practitioner I am today? How could I say no to a chapter that serves as a compass, always moving us in the right direction? How could I say no to this group of PR professionals, who are never bereft of ideas to make an agency stronger and better?
After years of evading this leadership role, I said yes. I said yes to our FPRA Ocala Chapter pros, who are relentless in their pursuit of excellence.
The best jobs I’ve ever had have picked me.
For your friendship and encouragement, I am grateful.
With kindness,
h.
Heather Danenhower, APR, CPRC