As I am headed into my senior year of college, one of people’s favorite questions to ask me is: “so what are you doing after college?” I get asked this at family functions, out with friends or just minding my own business somewhere around town — nowhere is safe. I’m sure some people have it all figured out, but a lot of us have absolutely no idea what we want to do for the rest of our lives. So, in the interest of staying out of this awkward situation, here are five methods to avoid questions about the future.
1. Answer a similar question.
This method of avoidance will work in a lot of situations, so when your Aunt Sally who “last saw you when you were just knee high!” asks you what your plans are after college, start talking about how you saw a company doing some really interesting work in your field of interest. They’re really ahead of the curve. Maybe even tell Aunt Sally you’ll share the article that you read about it with her, since she seems so interested.
2. Talk about what you’re doing now.
When that inevitable moment comes, and Grandpa wants to know what you’re going to do with the rest of your life, stay calm. You can handle this. Just tell him about what you’re working on right now. For example, that thesis paper you’re writing on a topic he probably won’t know a lot about. It’s been keeping you really busy, and using lots of big words is sure to let him know that you’ve got everything in your life together.
3. Bring up someone else.
So Carol from down the street wants to know what you’ll be up to after graduation. (Will you be moving back home?) All you have to do is talk about someone else: “Oh, you know what, Carol? I heard that the kid who lives down the street just got into Yale, isn’t that just great?” If you’re feeling especially savage, you can even throw someone under the bus with some “juicy gossip.”
4. The truth.
Just say you don't know. Honestly, no one can reasonably expect you to have everything figured out at this age. It’s all right to not know what you want to do for the rest of your life. Sometimes, you just have to take things step by step and trust that you’ll get where you’re supposed to go, even if you can’t see where that path is headed right now.
5. But if all else fails, pull a Michael Jackson and moon walk right on out of there.
A sure fire method to make sure no one will ever ask you that dreaded question. Who knows… maybe they won’t even talk to you ever again!
image courtesy of google
