Answer:
The author couldn't follow his dreams because of the job market failure. He was an English major and wanted to be a writer but couldn't get the job. He tried for several months to get a job with no luck until he heard about an opening in a newspaper business. Nobody wanted the job so he took it. He didn't believe he could be a reporter because he never thought about it before. He wanted to write, not ask questions.
The failure of the job market shaped a motivator externally in the short story. If the job market was thriving, he would have probably found a writing job somewhere else instead of the reporter job he took. He would have never found his true passion for reporting with the failure.
Notice the Irony?
