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Two months prior to graduation, classes were slowing down and the end of my undergraduate college years was in sight. I began to panic about where I was going to work and how would I get a job? It is a very scary notion to realize that your safe abode of college and friends is suddenly ending and you are faced with the knowledge that you have to start seriously funding your own life and become an "adult."
My first instinct
was to go straight to the Internet. I put my resume on Monster.com, Idealist.org
and all the other massive career search engines out there. I was certain
someone would look at my resume and that I would get multiple job offers.
Two months past, graduation was over and I had not one phone call, not
one email, not one bite. I will never believe Monster.com again when they
say, "Today’s the Day," because no day has been my day
with Monster.com.
My career direction, which is in the creative and art field, is too specialized
to find a job on an internet search engine and my resume lacked any real
"oomph" that would catch an employers attention. I never wanted
to believe people when they said that the only way to get a job these
days is to "know someone." I didn’t want to have to rely
on someone else to get me a job; I wanted to be able to do it myself.
Six months after endless job searching and applications, I stand a strong
witness and a firm believer that there is no other way to get a job in
this day and age, if you don’t network.
Not only do you need to network these days, but also you need a great
resume, you need to sell yourself. I got lucky in this regard by deciding
to throw myself a graduation party. Amidst all the great gifts that friends
and family gave me for graduating college, a family friend gave me the
gift of a career coach. I wasn’t sure how to approach the idea of
a career coach at first but decided to embrace the idea. My career search
needed help and this was a direction that I hadn’t thought originally
thought of taking but am thankful that I did.
Jo Leonard LLC was an opportunity that was handed to me in order to fuel
my fire and get my brain thinking outside of the typical "career
search" box. Ms. Leonard introduced me to the idea of having to market
myself to employers, put myself out on a limb, get in touch with everyone
and anyone that I knew who might be willing to help. Jo Leonard LLC motivated
me.
Jo and I began by re-working my resume over and over again. By looking
back at my past professional and volunteer experiences, Jo helped me extract
all the traits and responsibilities that I had had in my past jobs and
together we enhanced my resume to a point I didn’t think it could
go. One of the best things about Jo’s service is that by having an
outsider look at you and your past work experiences, they are able to
see qualities about you and your jobs that not even you realized you had.
Through my career coach, I was also introduced to "informational
interviewing." Jo helped me gain solid interviewing techniques and
taught me the value of asking companies and individuals, in the field
of my interest, if they would be kind enough to share with me the details
of what they do and how someone like me, would fit into an environment
like theirs. It is a great opportunity to let people talk about themselves
and their work, while you, the hopeful unemployed college graduate, gets
to take in all the information and do your best to impress. It is a fun,
casual way to get a foot in the door, find out if you even like the field
and expand your list of contacts. It is an extremely effective career
technique that I will continue to utilize even now that I have a job.
So, after a lot of work, a lot of frustrated, depressing days when I thought
that I would never get a job, no one needed my skills and that my college
education was completely meaningless, I got a job! More importantly, I
got a job by networking.
The job I have now, though part time is a job that was created for me
because the employer was impressed by my experiences, skills and presentation.
I am proud that my hard work paid off and that I am working in a job that
is teaching me a lot. One thing that I learned from my career search is
that although it was so important for me to set high standards, it was
also important for me to realize that I was a college graduate and I wasn’t
going to get a triple digit salary as an Art Director. Everyone has to
start somewhere and everyone at some point in their career may have to
run back and forth from a photocopier and file papers. But, if you put
in enough work, make good impressions, be willing to have a voice, believe
in your skills and take chances, you will work your way up and you will
be able to obtain that "ideal" job you dream of – it just
takes determination.
I am determined and I know that I will get that job I want. I attribute
my determination to the support of my family, Jo Leonard and most importantly
my desire to do well in my career. I couldn’t be happier that I chose
to have a major in college that was creative and risky. Everyone always
asked me, "What does a Studio Art major do?" And time and time
again that comment made me question the fact that I hadn’t chosen
a safer major. Yet, I have realized that whether you study Basket-Weaving
or Business, your future depends not only on the skills you obtained from
your education but the skills you obtained by putting yourself into the
real world, interning, volunteering, working part time and doing everything
you can to make yourself a more skillful and attractive employee. By studying
a major that I loved, as opposed to a major that I thought would immediately
get me a job, I feel that I am a more interesting person who can truly
say that I am passionate about what I do.
Finding a job can be really tiring and draining, but ultimately it is
so rewarding when someone appreciates and needs the qualities you have
worked so hard to have and on top of it all, they are willing to pay you.
I still don’t have my "perfect job" but I am certain that
I am in the right place and that I will get where I plan on going.
