“You’re going to be in the job force soon.”
I’m sitting in class right now, listening to a lecture as the needs and demands of the future are thrown at me. I’m wondering how I will ever be able to meet those demands or if I will even be offered the chance to meet those demands. I’m not even a senior, and I’m thinking about the dark abyss awaiting all of us in this room: the dark abyss that is the current job market.
Personally, I’m at a crossroads. Do I focus on writing, which I have always loved but might not guarantee me a very fortune-filled future? Or do I advance in my other interest, marketing, which can open so many doors to new places and jobs and people and experiences, but may not promise me the same confidence that writing does?
Like I said. A crossroads.
I spent last Fall wondering what to do, and by wondering, I mean panicking. And I know I was not alone. When you are forced to choose a major so early on in your college career, a lot of things change. I almost had that as a preconceived notion in my head, thinking there was a 75 percent chance I would change my mind. As I watched people around me switch majors, add minors, commit to a fifth year, prepare for standardized tests and apply to grad school, I realized that I needed to calm down.
I realized that I am lucky to have found something I love to do so early on in the game, and then to come across another topic that intrigues me along the way means I am even luckier. I realized I don’t have to go by the books, and that my ideal job would be anything but black and white, so that is the future I should create for myself.
It would be nice to have a sense of security; knowing that I have a job offer months before graduation would be relaxing, but it would be more exciting to apply to many jobs, in different places, with different requirements, and to try to accomplish what they each want from me. That’s the process I am looking for.
The point is not to work towards building my resume to be something that one specific person or company might want; it’s to create my resume to exemplify everything I have wanted and worked for over the past few years. I hope that when I graduate, my resume will be a glance at all of the nooks and crannies of campus that I been a part of and all of the people that I may have impacted. By doing that, my experiences will eventually bring me to my pinpoint, picture-perfect position in the real world.
So, at this point, I am not making a decision. I don’t know where I am going. I am motivated, hard working, and always moving, but I am not worried anymore.
“I’m not sure what I’ll do, but — well, I want to go places and see people. I want my mind to grow. I want to live where things happen on a big scale.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
