If you are a recent college graduate then you know it's hard to find a job in your field. We go to school for 4 years or so and study something that we are truly interested in and something we love to do. Some graduates find out that if they want a job in their field they might have to move or commute a really long distance. And let's face it, we're not rich when we graduate and have the ability to move, most of us will have student loans and other responsibilities.
We never truly know what we are going to be faced with in the real world but we are the generation that craves a job in our field of study and we want to get that job right away. But life doesn't work like that. Unless you are hired in at an internship you did during the school year, have the right contacts, or just happen to be moving to a booming area then you are probably not going to get the job you want right away. But that's okay. Right?
Right! Our entire lives we are told to go to college and major in what we love to do or something that we're just passionate about. Then in college, we are told what kind of jobs we will be able to acquire upon graduation that is related to our major. But no one tells us how hard it will be, how many applications we will put in for the same job, or how disappointed we will be when we don't even get the "sorry, we went with a different candidate" or "sorry, your qualifications do not match what we are looking for" emails.
You never realize how much those emails mean until you just never, ever hear from the company you were interested in. Yeah, we all want the "we are moving forward with your application" emails but we also know not to always expect those emails. It's okay to get rejection emails or those terrible automated emails from companies that, honestly, probably didn't even look at your application. No matter how many rejections emails you receive, or how many companies you just never hear from, don't ever give up. Nothing is more important than your happiness, and if you are anything like me then your happiness involves doing what you love to do.
It's sad that we spend X amount of years at a college to study something that we love but then are not able to receive a job in that area. Instead, most of us continue to work in some kind of retail job or start start working in retail because it's the only thing we can find. I thought that finding a job in my field would be, not super easy, but easy enough. But unfortunately, I do not live in a city where jobs in my field are booming. I am still working in retail and trying to find a full-time retail job for the time being.
Yeah, I will still do photography and design on the side but some day I want to do that full time. I do not want to be at a job my whole life where I am not happy or where I do the same task every single day and nothing changes. For now, a retail job is just that, a job. A job where I can make money, save money (because I'm honestly not getting paid enough to support myself), and just, honestly, have something to do other than sit on my butt.
Working retail isn't super exciting but it's also not super boring. If you are good at your job, and if people know you're good at it, you'll get hours and maybe even a raise. But don't let that retail job be your forever, you went to school for a reason.
Yeah, I have a degree but I still work in retail.
