Dear seniors,
Congrats!!! You're less than one semester away from completing your college degree! You must be stoked! Excited! Thrilled! Right?
Maybe not. Especially if you don't have a job lined up yet. Ironically, this might be your most stressful semester in all of college, as you try to balance a social life, classes, and uncertain employment prospects. Finding a job right out of college can be tough, especially when it seems like all the entry-level positions require 5+ years of experience and a Masters degree. You've slaved away at unpaid internships ever summer and spent thousands of dollars on a college degree, and now the employers are telling you it's not enough. It sucks.
At this point, it's easy to give up hope and let panic set in as you wallow in anxiety and self-doubt. I'll never get a job! I'll always live at home with my parents! The last 4 years have been pointless! I'll never amount to anything! If negative thoughts like these are flooding your mind, it's time to stop them in their tracks.
First of all, if you keep looking, you will get a job. Sometimes people have to apply to hundreds of jobs before they get an offer. And that's okay! The thing about employment is that to win the game, you only have to win once. Just get one job offer and you're set. Do you know who else has been rejected from jobs? Denzel Washington. Oprah Winfrey. Steven Spielberg. J.K. Rowling. Pretty much anyone who has been even moderately successful has also experienced rejections and setbacks, so you're not alone. Until you get that job offer, keep on applying. Your offer is out there somewhere.
Second, your worth as a human being is not defined by your job. In today's society, we place a huge value on the jobs people have and often use them as a way to measure their social status. But the fact of the matter is, there is so much more to you than your job title. Your identity is extremely complex and multi-dimensional, and your professional life is only one aspect of it. A CEO is not inherently better than a janitor. A McDonald's cashier is not automatically less valuable than an attorney. What matters is your character— the virtues you aspire to and the way you carry out your actions.
Third, this time of life is stressful and uncertain, but it's also brimming with opportunity and possibilities. You can literally go anywhere you want! If you want to move to Los Angeles, you can do it! If you decide you want to live in Thailand, there's nothing stopping you! This is one of the few times in your life where you can so easily change the course of your future to make it what you want. Instead of spending your time freaking out over what will happen to you, try to embrace the uncertainty and view this as a chance to try new things and get out of your comfort zone.
Stay positive, stay grounded, and stay excited about life. You got this!
