Life after university: getting a job

What next? Once the hangover clears (and it could be a while) you may find yourself shivering and alone, underwhelmed and unprepared for the world of work that you have inevitably been thrust into.

How do I know this with such graphic detail? Because that was me recently 2 months ago.

I started to feel that the late-night essay submissions and the crippling debt were just not worth it. I was being turned away from internships, and the reason why? I was too junior and too inexperienced, of all things!

Everything I was applying for to get experience…. needed experience. And I know I wasn’t alone in this, with many of my friends also feeling that we had slipped through the cracks and were a generation of graduates destined to scrap it out, meaning you worried that employers were receiving 300 CVs for every position, over and over and over again, forever and ever.

Even if you were one of the lucky ones to get that mythical job offer we have heard so much about, the worries just keep piling on anyway. All you hear about is starting a career, and that can make these offers and choices feel like a death sentence, as well as asking yourself if this really what you want to be doing for the rest of your life?

And that would be a very depressing ending to a blog – but don’t fret, there’s more! It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s important to realise although university is finished, that doesn’t mean the rest of your working life is one long chapter.

The rush to throw yourself onto the career ladder can sometimes be seen as the be all and end all by everyone around you. But it isn’t. The choices you make now should be choices that are right for you for right now, not for what you ‘should’ be doing for 20 years down the line.

Instead keep in mind 3 important questions and you won’t be able to go wrong.

• Where do I want to live/work?
• What do I want to do?
• Who do I want to work with?

It’s these 3 questions that you should hold in your mind when looking at any job advert. Pick somewhere you want to live, the kind of people you want to work with (eg being part of a small or big team, or a particular type of company) and hopefully have an idea about what sort of work you would find interesting.

Even with your career ambitions, remember you are still a person and you should find a work environment that you can enjoy. And good luck with your job-hunting!

By Joe