So it’s finally here…graduation day. Balloons and applause decorate the sky; you’re met with a stream of smiles every which way you turn. Your mom is on it, fixing your hair in between camera flashes and telling you to smile, ‘okay turn this way.’ ‘Congratulations’ are hurled at you and for the moment your confidence is somewhere in the ozone layer.
Even so, you’re constantly brought back down to reality as everybody and their mom just have to know: what’s your next step after this?
For many of us, the answer is not so black and white, though we’ve stayed up late at night thinking about the next step, thinking about which road we should take. Everyone, from our professors to our parents, has told us it won’t be easy. They say the economy is still in the dirt, the job market is barely opening back up, and the industries are changing. Recent grads have it the worse, they say.
We say, so what. We have degrees and certifications in fields that we’ve grown to love; trust that we’ve worked damn hard too. We want adequate salaries and jobs that we enjoy, the recession says, ‘uhhh not quite, not yet.’
It’s that same recession that we barely paid attention to while in college. Now that the party is over and the lights have come on… it’s a different story. Here are some recent graduate options/opportunities that I’ve piled into my own little bag of possibilities:
Resume/web mania. Most desired jobs usually want a glimpse of a well put together, properly formatted resume before anything. Uploading your resume online with career sites like Monster jobs, and Careerbuilder is a must. Creating profiles on websites like this, specifying which field you’re interested in, and having a decent resume on file for review makes you available and visible so to speak. The Feds
No not those Feds, well maybe, if that’s what you’re into. If you go on USAJOBS.gov, you’ll see that just about every office or government department advertises when they have job vacancies and openings state to state. Depending on the department or vacancy, there’s usually a qualification grid kept in mind and degree holders are usually placed in the ‘highly qualified’ bunch. Can’t go wrong with that, especially considering the crazy benefits that federal jobs provide!
Teaching Fellowships
I know many graduates who majored in things like English, Spanish, History, Liberal Arts, and who are now teachers through programs like ‘Teacher’s for America’ or ‘Teaching Fellows’. These programs are designed to recruit and train degree holder who do not have education backgrounds to become teachers for hard-to-staff schools.
Go Abroad
It’s easy to assume that the whole world speaks English, but you’d be surprised. I was shocked to find so many natives in Spain who were dying to learn to English and willing to pay for it. There are MAD English language schools in Europe and Asia that need employees with the basic qualifications, fluency in English being the main component!
Decisions, decisions
Surely these aren’t the only options that I or any other college graduate has, but flexibility is key. You’re not signing your dreams away by starting off with a government position, or teaching English in Spain for a year, or even going back to school. This, right here, is only the beginning…and the only way to make it count is by doing what’s best for you.
For more info:
Careerbuilder.com
-- Nai.Dandy
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