10 Tips for College Graduates
Dear college graduates,
First, congratulations on your achievement. Second, I know it can be difficult to celebrate and at the same time grapple with a state of confusion, loneliness, uncertainty, and fear of how life changes after graduation. Such overwhelming feelings can be compounded further with living through crises. On top of that, the expectation and constant pressure of family members for us to get jobs can make it weigh even heavier on the shoulders. I know this is a tough time for many, but here are some tips that I hope you find helpful:
SELF-CARE
Take care of yourself by striving to maintain a healthy lifestyle, both mentally and physically. Even simple joys and self-care activities such as reading, talking to a dear and supportive family member or friend, short walks, and journaling can go a long way.
COMMUNICATE
Have an honest and open conversation with family members and set realistic expectations to not bombard you with constant communication about getting a job, to offer you some sort of support as you’re going through this challenging transition, or at least to give you some space (if that’s what you need).
RESOURCES
Even though you just graduated, you can still utilize your resources from college such as the career center, advisors, professors, and even former classmates. Tap your network for help, advice and potential referrals.
PLAN
Have a clear plan of what positions you want to apply for, which organizations, how many jobs will you apply for daily, and when. Research and organize all potential roles that align with your passion and strengths into a document or a spreadsheet, then prepare and refresh various alterations of your resume, cover letter, and social media profiles. Make sure to log and track your application submissions.
SKILLS
Keep developing and growing your skills by taking online courses and applying them. Not only can learning skills potentially give you an edge in your job application process, but it can potentially help you personally to be your best self during this difficult time, and professionally to be well prepared to perform when you land a job. Even if you have to invest some money to take courses and enhance your skills, it will most likely be worth it. If you are unable to financially, then try as much as you can with free resources.
PERSIST
Most likely, you will not hear back from many companies and you might even get many rejections. Prime yourself emotionally from now so it doesn’t affect you as much. More importantly, keep on modifying your application materials, and approach to interviews. Be resilient and persist regardless of rejections, and make applying for jobs your full time job until you land a job!
FLEXIBLE
Without a doubt, be ambitious in applying to your dream company, role, salary, benefits, etc but at the same time, crisis behoves us to adapt and compromise on some negotiable matters while never compromising on the non-negotiable matters. If it works for you depending on your situation, be flexible to even consider a lower role or salary, to further your education with a higher degree, or to get an internship as a way to build experience, gain skills and as a pathway to a role within the same organization or another.
PRODUCTIVE
No matter how broke we are, or how “free” we are since we don’t have jobs yet, they are never excuses for us to “kill” our time on social media or on things and activities that don’t reap us much benefit. Having a schedule, staying productive and busying ourselves with things that help us make progress are of the utmost importance during this stage. Not doing so can inhibit us from transitioning to a career smoothly and reaching our goals. Even more seriously, it can possibly lead us to self-doubt, and a dangerous vicious cycle of negative thoughts, risk behaviors, and unpleasant emotions.
HOPE
I know that things might seem dark at the moment especially when we read about companies filing for bankruptcy, or laying off employees, or freezing their hiring, or slowing down their recruitment process. However, we must stay hopeful and optimistic that things will get better as long as we keep doing everything we can from your end.
INNOVATE
If you have a vision, and an inspiring idea that you’re passionate about and skill sets to back them up, then consider starting your own organization or business especially if you are not inclined to a traditional career route. Starting an organization is not necessarily easy and requires time, effort, resources, patience, etc. However, while we are experiencing a time of difficulty, it can be a time of opportunity if we think creatively and lead accordingly.
Best regards,
Dr. Mohammed Almathil