Harding worked as a teacher at the White Schoolhouse near Marion, Ohio. Harding later said it was the most difficult job of his career.

Harding briefly studied law, but did not like it. He read famous English legal scholar William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the law, but was impatient to start a career and earn some money. First, he tried his hand at the insurance business. He did not like that job, either. He then found an area he liked—the newspaper business.