When you first start college, you're excited for a lot of things. Moving out on your own, meeting new people and a thousand other things. After you start taking major-related classes, you start getting pumped to get your dream job in a few years.
Junior year comes and you start looking at what kind of jobs will be available to you after next year. This is so fun and gets you so excited and antsy, "UGH I JUST WANT TO WORK NOW!" In the mean time, you prepare yourself by beefing up your resume and trying to make yourself as marketable as possible.
Senior year comes along and eventually it's time to finally start actually applying to these jobs since graduation will be here before you know it. You go to every website of ideal companies, type your key words into all the job search sites you can think of and go to town submitting your resume.
After all those applications, you have to get something, right? Unfortunately, that's not how it always works and a lot of recent grads are left disappointed. Whether we end up with a part-time job or two, or a full time job, a lot of us end up getting jobs that don't have anything to do with our field.
With all the hard work you put in to college, your resume and cover letters, this is so disappointing. At first it's not too bad, "Oh, I'll just take this job to keep my bank account alive, but it'll only be a little while before I get a 'real' job." But then months go on, the number of applications you send in continues to rise and nothing seems to be happening any time fast.
At this point, it's easy to get discouraged. Trust me, I know, so very easy. But if you want to make it through this rough patch, you're going to have to try to keep things as positive as possible. Just keep in mind a few things: you're making money, building experience and networking.
You may not be making as much as you wish you were, but money's money and some is definitely better than none. As far as experience goes, it may not be directly related to your field, but you're still gaining communication and relationship skills while constantly networking. Not to mention, it's easier to work a part-time job than to explain a lack of work history.
If you're a college graduate and it's been too long with no 'real' job, don't give up. Keep your head held high. Keep pushing through, applying and trying your best.
Good things come to those who wait, hang in there.
