You've reached the month of May, and everywhere you turn there is another reminder that you have also reached the end of college. It's a month of tassels, diplomas, and gowns, and "congratulations" are coming at you from every angle. Families are flying in, stages are being walked across, and now is the time to celebrate what may be the end of your journey with school.
But once all the excitement of finals, graduation, and move out has faded, you're faced with the fact that you're still unemployed. Without classes and finals to distract you, it is very easy for the jobless panic to set it. This is what happened to me exactly two weeks after I graduated. I hit a wall where all I could think about was not having a job. I looked around at other people in my life who were interviewing, being hired, or even those who had a job before graduation, and I couldn't help but feel so far behind. With every passing hour, I felt more and more useless as I sat at home pouring over postings I didn't have the experience for.
Since graduation, I have felt as though I am wasting all my time and completely failing. In the month since my own graduation, I have been stuck in a circle of negativity, imagining a jobless future where I permanently reside in my mother's basement. Which would be difficult because my mother doesn't have a basement.
Nothing anybody said could make me feel better. When it seems like you're the only one around you without a job, it can be isolating and lonely. I don't know many people who graduated the same time as me and those who did were having troubles deciding between job offers, not struggling to find somewhere to even interview them. Even my sixteen-year-old little brother was working and making money, causing me nothing but embarrassment.
If you're in the same position as me, trust me: I get it. It's stressful, it's hard, and at times even seems hopeless. I'm going through it with you, and I want to give you the words I've needed to hear myself during this:
You are not wasting time. You are not failing. Let me repeat that: you are not failing. You just did something only 6% of the world's population does: you graduated college. You spent countless nights pouring over notes and essays and desperately wishing you were done. And now you are! You made it, you did the thing. Your hard work will pay off. I know it will because it already has. You have already accomplished something so huge. You walked across that stage, you grabbed your diploma, and soon you are going to grab your dream job.
We're all real adults now, and it's time to take our place in the real world. Part of being an adult, or at least being a satisfied adult, is learning to accept things you can't change. And one thing that nobody can change is that things take time, especially good ones. Not everything is going to happen on your timeline. Success doesn't always happen overnight, and that is okay.
On average, it takes those who have graduated with a Bachelor's degree six months to find a job. That's right. Though your Facebook and Instagram feed may make you feel differently, leaving college with a job offer in hand is not the norm. It takes half a year for most people to find the job they got their degree for. For some, it takes even longer. So be proud of yourself. You've achieved so much already, and that's nothing compared to what you are going to achieve going forward. So relax. Breathe.
You're doing fine.
