Job Searching as a Soon-To-Be Graduate

Mar 21, 2016 by misa33

18 days! 18 Days until I become a college graduate! It is both the most stressful and most exciting point in my life thus far. I’m excited for endless opportunities for jobs, new places to live, hopefully an apartment to myself in the near future and big girl money. The scary part is I have to wait 18 days and hope it all works out. I can not have most of what I want now, I have to wait.

I started job hunting about two months ago. Originally I just began by looking for jobs that directly correlated with what I wanted to do. I want to be an event manager, so I was only looking for jobs that involved events. I found quite a few and applied to a lot of companies I am very familiar with in the area I grew up in. Since my car broke down and I can not afford a new car until I begin making big girl money, I am also limited. I would prefer to work with my mom but I’m not 100% sure that will work out.

Although I am just starting out I know I have to be careful of companies that want to low-ball me. There are many companies I found that want to take advantage of new graduates. They seem to want to sell me on the “experience” or “opportunities for advancement”. The idea of not being able to afford a car payment because I am achieving an experience that may or may not offer advancement scares me. One company wanted to pay me less than I made at Wal-Mart.

I learned that as a college graduate, you can not expect the world, but you need to set standards. I hope to be making between $35,000-$40,000/year. Maybe a little lower if necessary but I should be able to afford to move out of my mom’s house after 2 years.

I have written so many cover-letters! It is insane! I have become more confident in writing cover-letters and my ability to write them fast and thoughtfully. They are time consuming. Applying for jobs is exhausting. Putting aside time now is necessary even though I have had some of the busiest days of my college experience recently.

Applying for jobs is intimidating! Out of 100s of candidates who may or may not have more experience than I do, how am I going to be the one that gets chosen? How do I stand apart from the crowd? I am just a soon-to-be college graduate with some experience. I have been a PR specialist for almost a year and have worked with real companies for school projects. It’s not nothing, but compared to professions it’s not much.

During the Communication Summit for BYU-Idaho, A question was asked about how to obtain a job when even the “entry-level” jobs seem to require quite a bit of experience. Leslie Householder said, “If the dream and the intentions are big enough sometimes the facts don’t matter.” I’m really hoping my dreams and intentions are good enough.

This time last year I was looking for an internship. The internship I thought I was going to get fell through. I didn’t really know what I was doing with my life, if I should sign an apartment contract or if I should move back home for the summer. I was distraught. I don’t think my roommate had ever seen me so emotional and she is one of my best friends. She called one of my home teachers over to give me a blessing. I was able to find an internship only a couple days after.

From that experience I know that finding a job suited for me is possible. I can have the dream. I just hate being patient and waiting for it. I want answers now but they come at their own given time. I know everything will work out the way they are supposed to. Everything will be okay.