Hi, I'm Applying for the Job of Adulting

When our parents were younger, it was so much easier to get a job. Apply yourself, get a high school diploma, get a college degree, and you were pretty much guaranteed a job. Sometimes, you didn’t even necessarily have to get a college degree in order to get a job. Back then, it was understood that being a student, you probably didn’t have much work experience, if any at all.

Flash forward to now. In order to have a chance of getting a job, not only do you need a high school and college education, you also need experience. That means you better have gotten a really good internship while in college, or you better have a lot of work experience, and then you can probably have a job. But if you don’t, well then good luck.

So in order to get a job, you need experience. But in order to gain experience, you need a job. How does that make any sense?

So now not only do students have the stress of getting good grades and joining clubs that will look good on their résumé, but even if they do well they still have to stress about whether or not they will be able to get a job that isn’t working at Dunkin' Donuts (no offense to those who have to work at Dunkin' Donuts because that’s the only job they can get).

If you in a field that’s not exactly in demand, it’s even harder.

So then what’s the point if there’s no guarantee you’ll even get a job?

The point is that you can’t let the job people win. You gotta show them who's boss. You can’t let them stop you from reaching for your dream, or doing what you love to do. But you will have to work for it. You’ll have to be persistent. You can let the first, or the twentieth, job rejection let you down.

You might have to think bigger when searching for jobs. It’s pretty rare to get your dream right out of college unless you know or interned with someone who can help you, but that also doesn’t mean you have to compromise. You should have standards when it comes to a job, just like you do when it comes to a relationship. Job happiness is so important, and it will truly make a big difference from just having something that pays you, to something that you actually want to do every day. And you’ll notice that when you are happy at your job, that you’ll be happier and more positive as a result.

You will get that foot in the door somewhere. And once you do, you’ll gain that illusive experience that jobs are always telling you you need. Just remember that this job doesn’t have to turn into a career, unless that’s what you want.

Try to stick with the job for a year. It’s hard to make a fair judgment about whether or not you like a job without giving yourself enough time to really learn the job, and get good at it, or not. And by sticking with the job for at least a year, you’ve gained enough experience that when you move on to your next opportunity, you’ll likely get more yeses than no’s.

And while you are in this first job, never stop looking for that opportunity that you really want. You never know what you might come across, and it definitely doesn’t hurt to apply and see what happens.

The world we’re in now is a lot more competitive than when our parents were our age. And it’s a lot harder now than it’s ever been to get a job out of college. But don’t give up; you will reach your dream career, and you will find that job that you absolutely love. But just remind yourself that you may not get your dream job straight out of college.