College is fun...actually now that I think of it, those four
years (four and half for me) were the best years of my life. My small
university prepared me for various life moments and professional opportunities,
heck, they even taught me the difference between a dessert spoon and a tea
spoon. What I was not prepared for is what happens after those four years.Here is the truth told in weeks:
Week 1-2:
The high of graduation lasts for about a week, maybe two. Everyone is calling, texting, Facebook posting, and if you are lucky sending money in the mail and congratulating you. After two weeks most people forget your great accomplishment and you start to wonder what is next.
Week 3:
By week three, you are feeling a little bored, waiting perhaps to hear back from some employers. You apply to only the jobs you would really enjoy and jobs with very high pay just in case you are the lucky applicant with generous pay! You even hope these jobs have incentives and company paid expenses but let’s be real.
Week 4-5:
Weeks four to five approach quickly, at this point you get desperate because now friends and family members are asking where you work or if you have not been employed yet, where you will work. You have reached desperation and apply everywhere and when I say everywhere it is to jobs you are either not really interested in but something is better than nothing or to jobs you are absolutely not qualified for but for some odd reason you still click submit.
Week 6:
Week six is here, you have maybe gone to the beach, binged drank, seen all your friends, watched Netflix hours on end, maybe even worked out some..still you continue to apply. You are thinking “OK, I am ready to make some money!”
Week 7:
Endless naps, few showers, and cooking\baking to pass the time.
Week 8-10:
Weeks eight through 10, I will be the first to say, these weeks are the most frustrating, you have graduated and have gotten a few emails back about application review, there is some hope on being employed but that is quickly shattered by the fact that someone with more years of experience received the position.
My university gave me all the skills to eventually receive a fantastic job but they did not give me the heads up on how difficult it would actually be get hired. This experience has not been a complete loss; in fact I gained a new skill-- patience. It also teaches self-worth because you did not work extremely hard to end up at crappy job with crappy co-workers and a crappy boss with crappy hours.
To anyone who is undergoing this experience, pay attention: your time is coming!
And for any employers, give us recent graduates a chance! We might be young but not completely stupid. We want opportunities not large sums of money (I mean do not pay us minimum wage) but we recent graduates are ready to jump off the boat into the ocean and swim to shore.
