Graduation has to be one of the happiest days of anyone’s life because it suddenly feels like a huge load has been lifted off your shoulder and the euphoria of the whole situation takes away the impending struggle that awaits every fresh graduate, What next? Kudos to the ones that already have it all figured out because even with plans, things can still go south and have you wondering what to do with your life. There is no rule book to guide you through life and its capricious nature but the best anyone can offer is advice to prepare you for what is to come and how to possibly handle it.
After graduation, Graduates might choose to continue their studies while some others will want to gain work experience so the job hunting would begin. The first advice to help you prepare for your journey is for you to KEEP AN OPEN MIND. This simply means that you need to open your mind to new offers and new paths rather than dwell on the degree certificate you possess. Most graduates persist that they would rather work in line with what they studied and ignore testing out new prospective horizons that they might possibly thrive in. Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer at Facebook says ‘There is no straight path to where you are going”, this is true in every way and it applies here because you might have to try several career paths before you finally get the one meant for you. You can even do volunteer jobs in fields you never imagined just to gain some experience to beef up your CV.
The thing about jobs anywhere in the world is that thousands of people exist that have studied the exact same thing you did and those same people would apply for the same three slot vacancy in a firm/organization/company and what are the odds that you would get it. This is where the second advice comes in, GET ADDED SKILLS and DEVELOP YOURSELF. Asides from keeping an open mind to any job opportunity that comes your way, you would also need to procure additional skills to make you stand out from the crowd. Professional courses and certifications exist to help everyone in this regard. Also, you need to realize that because you are done with school doesn’t mean you are done with learning. In the course of your job pursuit, you would need to arm yourself with knowledge for personal and professional development. For whatever field you wish to pursue a job in, you should have exhaustive knowledge about it so that prospective employers would know that you would be an added advantage to their company and not a burden. There’s nothing like having too much knowledge so it is best to always be armed with enough to ease your career journey.
You might wonder what next at this point when you already have an open mind and extra skills and knowledge, the next step is LETTING YOUR NETWORK KNOW that you are job hunting. This aspect is precisely important because a job would not come and find you in your house. People often neglect how important their network can be when it comes to things like this. Your network is basically the people around you and you need to take it upon yourself to let them know that you need a job. Most times, these people might come across opportunities, send it to you and this might become the very opportunity you have been hoping for.
Through all the years of college, no one ever prepares you for what to expect when you live school because they believe they have armed you with what you need to survive but the reality is that it is a whole different ball game on the outside. You do not only need to be proactive after you graduate but you also need to be positive to keep trying despite any setbacks you might encounter because they are bound to happen to make you a success story.
