With graduation around the corner, the stress is looming more than ever because I have not yet secured a job. It's hard to see four years of hard work and experience go unnoticed to most because of the impersonal nature of job applications nowadays. For many in my same position, this is a long and stressful experience. It can go on for weeks, months, and for some, years. It's difficult to balance time to finish schoolwork, go to club meetings, make time for fitness, and search for jobs. Luckily, with websites like LinkedIn and Monster.com, there are more resources than ever to find a job and apply with one click of a mouse. The important thing to remember is that you have to apply to even be considered in the first place so schedule out some time and apply to places where you think you might not have a chance and to places that might just be a stepping stone to help you further your career.

So let's start out with the place of your dreams. For me, this would be one of the big advertising agencies in New York, Chicago, or San Francisco where I could lead the creative strategy team to develop unique campaigns for clients. For others, it might be Nike or Apple. You might say that you'll never have a chance at working at one of these places but you'll never know until you apply. There could 5, 10, 40 places that you consider to be the place of your dreams to work. There's no shame in applying to all of them. Personally, I've written a list of all agencies I have applied to and it comes out to be 47. That's just within the last 8 months. Out of these 47 I think I've gotten responses back from about 7 of them. That's roughly a 15% response rate and most of those don't include my "dream" place to work. Your dream place could be the best or worst place that you work. It could be that you think bigger is better but then find out that you aren't regarded as an essential team member to upper management. Or maybe you work your way up from the entry-level position and become a director in your department. Or maybe, you never have any of these chances and receive a rejection email, or not even an email at all. You'll never have a chance at that dream place if you never apply and just wait for them to contact you.

The stepping stone place, however, could turn into your dream job. This could be the small company in the city you grew up in that would help to get you experience but you might not want to work there as a career. There are plenty of places like this and even though they might not seem like the ideal place to work, it could be the best place you ever did. This might be the office that you get to walk 5 minutes to a food truck park, receive unlimited vacation days, and drink from the keg in the lounge area. There are some trade-offs though. You might not get to work with bigger clients or you might have to put in longer hours than normal. You'll most likely have a lot more responsibility in these stepping stone jobs. This will allow you to receive the experience you need and, if you still want to, take that experience somewhere else in your career. Don't give up on the stepping stone; it might be the best decision you made for your career.

There's definitely light at the end of the tunnel and one of those applications will eventually make it's way to the right person that will realize your talent and potential. The job hunt can be rigorous and, at times, a downer. I won't lie, there's nothing fun at all about receiving a rejection letter. You can't allow it become personal, though. This isn't personal, it's just business. You have to get back out there and apply to more and more places, meet more people that could help you with landing a job, and beef up your resume. To my fellow seniors who haven't received a job offer, continue to push through. There will be a job out there, and maybe it's not your favorite at first, but it will allow you to grow and receive the necessary experience to get where you want to go in your career.

Happy job hunting Dukes.