If you are lucky enough to call yourself a part of the elite group that is May 2020 college graduates, you are also most likely lucky enough to call yourself a part of the "I have no idea what is going on" group, as I like to call it. Welcome to the official club.
As everyone knows, May 2020 college graduates got anything but a normal ending to their college experience. We did not get to finish our classes in our favorite lecture halls, see our teams play one last time as a student, and possibly worst of all, we did not have an official graduation ceremony. With all of the craziness that we call our last semester, it is no surprise that the start of our first 'adult' summer is just as crazy.
If you're like me, you're still working your minimum wage job by day and applying to your dream job by night. If you're like me in another way, you're not hearing back at all from any of your dream jobs.
It's not that you're getting denied from all of them and getting 'sorry, no' emails every day. It's that you're just not getting any communication back at all about your application, which, in my opinion, is so much worse.
I knew entering the corporate world was going to be hard, but I never imagined I would be attempting to start my life in the midst of a global pandemic and a long awaited human rights movement.
It is so easy for me to feel defeated and discouraged every single day. I reached a point the other day where I was scrolling through the hundreds of applications I have already submitted and just broke down. I logged off the job site for the day and took a much needed mental break.
What this whole process has taught me so far is that it is okay to need a break sometimes, but it is not okay to give up. I understand that hiring new employees is not at the top of the priority list for most companies, as it shouldn't be, but it will be up there again someday.
The best advice I have for other people in this position is to be patient. Don't stop learning. Don't stop practicing what you're passionate about. Educate yourself in your field and on what is going on in the world around you. Do not give up hope on the world or on your dream.
Class of 2020, hang in there. We'll get there one day.
