Summer is drawing to a close and everyone is going back to school, except me. For the present I am done with school and it is the strangest feeling I have ever had. Although the job hunting process is way more stressful than classes ever were it still seems so weird that I never have to go back and sit in a classroom EVER again if I don’t want to. My family and I just returned from dropping my sister off for her first semester at Kansas State University and while I sat staring out the window at endless fields of corn and beans on the drive home I realized that up to this point my entire life has revolved around classes. Now that I don’t have this commitment to spending hours of my life studying and learning I feel like I’m doing something wrong, like I’ve woken up in a bad dream and I forgot to register for classes or something. This isn’t a dream though and I am officially a grown up now, which is something that school definitely did NOT prepare me for. So as I do when I come to any obstacle in my life I make a list about it, here is my list about the stages you go through after graduating and realizing it is time to grow up and make a name for yourself.
Stage 1: Excitement: Graduation day has come and gone, you haven’t gotten into graduate school and still have one last summer to get it together before the ‘real world’ reality check hits you in the face. Nothing can stand in your way, days are filled with lunches with old friends and lazy afternoons. You don’t have a care in the world, everything is awesome and you feel like you have this huge burden lifted off of you because you may NEVER have to study for another final EVER again! You begin to fill out job applications to your dream jobs where a corner office is already included and the office is painted with rainbows and unicorns, can’t wait to get your foot in the door and get started with this awesome life ahead of you.
Stage 2: Crap, I can’t find a job: That post-graduation glow has faded and the cold hard world has come into focus. You’ve filled out HUNDREDS of job applications for jobs you don’t really even want to do and only one has even contacted you back for an interview. Panic begins to set in when you realize that you may have to settle for an office job that might not be all you’ve ever dreamed of. You spend hours filling out job application after job application and scouring the internet and the newspaper for job listings that you might be almost qualified for. You discover that so many employers want you to have years of experience that you are years away from having. Days are spent at part time temporary jobs and nights are spent endlessly applying for jobs and stressing about how you are never going to find a company you’ll fit into.
Stage 3: Regrets: What if I had just done one more year of undergrad and gotten that second major? What if I had joined more organizations in college? Should I have gone greek? What if I had gone to a different university? What if I had taken a gap year? (maybe I should take a gap year now?) What if I had worked more in college? What if I had taken that part time job instead of this one? So many questions left unanswered and so many opportunities you feel like you passed up. Unfortunately there’s no going back and there’s really no use living in the past, only way to keep going is to keep moving forward and focusing on the positives.
Stage 4: Everything is gonna be alright: You get it together and start making a plan. Life will go on and everything WILL be okay. Keep your head up and keep applying to jobs, eventually one will come around that is a good fit for both you and the company hiring you. All the puzzle pieces will fall into place but it will take time and will not happen over night. Don’t live in the past, always look to the future and never forget your dreams. Most importantly don’t forget to be open to change, this is a transition period in your life and change is bound to happen- embrace it.
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