It’s hard to enjoy all the excitement that comes along with graduating college when you don’t have a job offer already lined up. When I graduated college not that many years ago, I remember sobbing as I walked across the graduation stage – and these weren’t tears of joy. I was absolutely terrified by the fact that I hadn’t secured a post-college job offer yet like the rest of my friends had.
Sure, it’s exciting when all your hard work for the past four years has come to an end and you can finally start enjoying the pleasures of being a college graduate, but if all your studying seems to have been for nothing, it’s hard to want to jump up and down with joy. Even if you haven’t found an after-college career, don’t fall into despair just yet; there are a number of things you can do while you await a stable job offer. In fact, here are three simple ideas you can consider.
Seek a part-time job
Just because you haven’t found a full-time job yet doesn’t mean you have to sit around twiddling your thumbs. Part-time jobs are great in that they provide us with an adequate income and allot us time to search for more promising fulltime employment. The part-time job you seek doesn’t necessarily have to be a skilled profession either, although that would be desirable for resume purposes. Track down a part-time job you’ll enjoy and thrive at, and whenever you have time off, dedicate that time to finding fulltime jobs you can successfully apply for. It’s easy to let yourself slack off a bit when you have a job that pays the bills, but remember, you didn’t go to college to find a menial-labor job. You need to be challenged in order for your career to be satisfying.
Add a new skill to your resume
Skills are things we have to set aside time to work towards, and without them, it’s hard to stand out from the rest of the employment competition. Whenever you’re searching for a fulltime job, chances are you’re going to have more free time on your hands. What better way to utilize all that free time than to cultivate and acquire some skills? Try learning a new language, mastering a computer program, brushing up on your cover letter, joining an athletic group, or pursuing something you’ve always wanted to learn or experience. Once you start working a fulltime job, it’s going to be hard to have a lot of free time to try new things, so seize the free moments while you can!
Get your affairs in order
There is always something that needs to be done in life, whether it’s cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, getting the oil changed, eating healthier, going for a medical checkup, etc. I could write up an endless list of things I still need to attend to in my life that I barely have time for. During the time you’re not interviewing or applying for jobs, go ahead and take care of the things you’ve been putting off in your life. Believe me, there is no better time than the present to get things done, and as I said in the point before this, you aren’t going to have much time to take care of extracurricular things once you start working fulltime, so go ahead and use your free time to take care of those things you’ve been putting off.
It’s tough to find a job right out of college, but that doesn’t mean you have to surrender yourself to self-pity and despair. Use the time you have before you find a fulltime job to your advantage.
Lenore Holditch is an avid education blogger who regularly contributes to toponlinecolleges.com. One of her favorite topics to write about is how to transition into post-college-graduate life. Feel free to leave her any questions or comments.