What are you doing after graduation? It’s the age-old question that no one wants to answer as a college senior. It’s daunting, overwhelming and quite frightening whether you know exactly what you want to do after graduation, are considering multiple prospects or resigning to the fact that you have no clue.
College is four years of preparation for the real world, but now that graduation is just over six months away, it becomes abruptly real that this dreaded question will require a response sooner than later.
Despite the weight of this encroaching decision as well as the natural stress that comes with a full course load, it is important to remember to enjoy the rest of this and next semester and the last year of your undergraduate studies.
As the school year goes on, there will be more and more people that ask you about your post-graduation plans, but just keep reminding yourself that there is no problem in not knowing the answer right away. In fact, none of us actually know what we will end up doing even if our minds are set on a particular career path now.
A 2016 Deloitte Survey on Millennials found 66% of college graduates hope to change their jobs by 2020. Additionally, Millennials are expected to change jobs an average of ten to fifteen times throughout their careers.
These statistics indicate that our generation is changing career paths and pursuing new opportunities at an unprecedented rate. Job retention is no longer what it used to be in that people would remain in a single role for ten or more years.
Our careers are long and they are only just getting started. Therefore don’t fret about where you will be right after graduation, two years from now, or even five years from now.
So enjoy the rest of this semester and appreciate all of next semester and celebrate your success so far and all the success to come. And when you are overwhelmed or annoyed by all of the inquiries and outside opinions on what you should do and where you should go following graduation, just know that whether you know yet or not, be proud of what you’ve accomplished and keep an open-mind for the future. You never when or how things will fall into place.
