Over the last month, I’ve gotten a stack of graduation announcements in the mail — and I’ve even attended a graduation or two. Some are high school graduations, some are from college and some are from graduate school. But no matter what level a person graduates from, there’s a certain sense of wondering what comes next. Even for those grads with a job lined up, there’s a transition process. It doesn’t help that quite a few people are getting degrees but aren’t so sure that they’ll be able to find a job to match.
The Best Laid Plans…
School, for some people, is just one more step on a very set path. I went to college with more than a few folks who were going to get a degree, land their dream job and work their way up the ladder — you probably did, too. But now, more than ever, the real world is throwing a monkey wrench into such plans. Adaptability has become a necessary skill for any recent grad. Maybe that dream job isn’t waiting for you as soon as you pick up your degree but that doesn’t mean that you can’t succeed. You can:
- Freelance until the right job comes along (or even freelance long-term)
- Volunteer with an organization like the Peace Corps
- Find a project of your own to work on
- Team up with a few of your classmates who are in the same boat
The possibilities are endless — even without considering taking a job, any job, just to get by. You may have considerations beyond paying for room and board when it comes to finding a job — student loans, anyone? — but assuming that your dream job is the only way to cover your obligations means missing out on a lot of other opportunities.
Transition As Far As You Want To
There’s a feeling that, as soon as you graduate, you must turn into a full-fledged adult, complete with a mortgage and a car payment. But you don’t have to make a complete transition — and in many cases, it’s probably better not to. You can pick and choose what parts of your lifestyle and your spending you want to change after graduation — maybe you want to stick with living with a couple of roommates, or maybe your beater will make it a couple more years. There’s nothing wrong with keeping a college lifestyle after you’ve graduated. Even moving home after graduation is becoming fairly common, and that’s a good thing for many recent graduates. As long as you can come to a good arrangement with your parents, the financial benefits of living with your parents and avoiding setting up a separate household of your own are pretty impressive.
There are plenty of opportunities out there right now — just because you’re graduating in the middle of an economic depression doesn’t mean that you’re in an impossible situation. Instead, with a little adaptability, it’s possible to forge a new path that will work out better for you in the long run.
Related articles
- 3 Tips for New Grads (fool.com)
- Am I stupid to go to graduate school now? (ask.metafilter.com)
- Carla Javier: Graduation a chance to reflect on Seuss (knoxnews.com)
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As much as your average student is dreaming of the day they graduate (No more deadlines! No more evil lecturers! No more exams! Freedom!), there can be a bit of a fallout. Up ’til then, there’s been a reliable structure, you’re given a task, you complete the task, you get feedback and you either get some ego stroking or a kick up the backside. It’s predictable.
But then you graduate and that structure’s gone. All of a sudden, you’re out on your own, looking for graduate jobs and it feels like no-one knows you even exist, let alone cares about what happens to you. But then you move past that and you build your own structure. First, that’ll be your job hunt, then the job itself. And while you might quail at just how much time you’re going to be spending working (I certainly did) you’ll appreciate your free time that much more and you’ll be able to fit a lot in, more than you think.