As many college students begin their final year before entering the real world - they might also find themselves beginning the feverish search for the next step: a "Real Job."
Ideally, they've had plenty of chances to hone their skills and gather relevant experience. All their education has prepared them for the future that lays ahead so promisingly and all their hours spent slaving away over seemingly meaningless homework will finally pay off.
But, it probably doesn't feel that way.
Instead, many are probably looking at their resumes in disdain as they send them off to the relevant companies and organizations in their field. Why did they spend so many years as a lifeguard or camp counselor or working at the local frozen yogurt place when they could have been getting "Real World' experience? How is it that half of their professional life has nothing to do with their intended field? Even if someone did decide to hire them - would they even be qualified?
Newsflash: no one thinks they're qualified for their job.
I'm not sure where I heard it, but a bit of consoling wisdom that's stuck with me for awhile now always comes to mind when I consider my job qualifications: "We're all just faking it. No one knows what they're doing any more than you. We all Google, we all ask. We're all trying to figure it out."
I can now attest to that very feeling - after working as a Recruiting Intern at a huge healthcare company, I've realized just how frightening it can be. Countless times I've asked myself, "Who decided that a third-year creative writing and literature major was qualified to conduct phone screens/email job applicants/arrange meetings for executives?" And the list goes on. I've Googled time zones, abbreviations, asked twice for clarifications, sent extraneous emails, and made a few mistakes along the way, but no matter how much I learn and continue to build confidence in my position - I still wonder why I'm the one allowed to do this.
So to hear that the "Real Adults" out in the "Real World" still don't feel 100% qualified to do their "Real Jobs," makes me feel a little better. After working in HR, I've learned that almost every company usually gives new hires 30 days to figure out how to even do their job - and that's plenty of time to do some serious Googling.
But really, my point is this - it's not that we're all unqualified for our jobs, it's that we're all just humans working together. We decide who's qualified for what based on our own questionably-qualified judgment. We show up for work and take care of our responsibilities - or we at least try. We do our best to be professional and use what we know. And those skills aren't things that you learn in a classroom or from "relevant" experience, they're things you learn in life. "Real Life" is just that - and a real job is just another part of it.
