Graduating During This Economic Climate: Part 3

Life is what you make it.

These simple words have gotten me through many challenging situations in my lifetime. They’re actually helping me now as I keep my eyes on the prize of reaching my career goals after graduation. We took the time to see how our glass was half empty in respect to reaching our dreams in this dwindling economy. So now let’s take a look again at the dilemma we grads find ourselves in but with a more optimistic pair of eyes.

Honestly, I’ve had my moments where I felt utterly lost and desperately confused when it came to figuring out what my next move would be after graduation. If I allowed myself to be consumed by the daily headlines of unemployment rates, recession stats, bankruptcy, foreclosures and the country’s financial crisis, I’d go insane. So, I decided it's one thing to be aware of the uphill battle I had ahead but a completely different story to let that knowledge stunt my achievements and paralyze my progress.  

As soon as I realized I needed to re-evaluate my approach, I took to pep talking myself into a positive attitude every day, taking a more aggressive approach to making opportunities happen rather than waiting for them to become available. I redirected my energy towards the details I could change about my situation instead of thinking about all the wrongs I couldn’t right. Here are a few ideas I found worth latching onto that might help you wade through the woes of graduating during this recession.  

Take advantage of every social networking website you know how to maneuver around. As businesses strive to remain relevant in this digital age, and employers are thinking outside of the box for recruitment and marketing, knowing your way around the Web is a major plus. Networking in the 21st century has definitely gone digital and gives us the chance to be in a hundred different places at once. Well, figuratively speaking anyway. With Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linkedin, Fixster, Friendster and hundreds of other options out there to stay connected, try finding people, groups or old friends who can help you make some promising connections. When the phrase “it’s not what you know, but who you know” survives as a motto among millions of grads across multiple generations, there has to be some truth to it. As recent grads and part of the so called tech savvy generation take advantage of the world the Web lays at your fingertips. 

Go ahead, take those risks you might have thought could never work and see what happens. With the traditional structure of our economy faltering, there’s no neat map to success these days. By graduating college, it meant we followed the quintessential steps to securing a bright future and if things went according to plan, we’d be sifting through countless entry level positions, landing new jobs and scurrying up that success ladder in no time. Truth is that next step isn’t exactly seamless after graduating during a recession. So what would you have to lose if you decide to create your own 12-step, 5-step or even 2-step process to a better future during these unstable times. I know of a few people who made playing online poker their sole source of income during college and after graduation it still remains their “job” of sorts. Take a leap of faith and see how you can make your hobby or talent be it baking, blogging, writing, painting, decorating or whatever it might be into a positive means to an end.  

Don’t be afraid of saying yes to free work. With such dismal financial security out there, many businesses are looking for help that is willing to work pro-bono. But money makes the world go round, right? It puts food on the table, clothes on your back and a roof over your head, so money is essential to success and survival in many ways. However, the value of taking on projects free of charge can prove to be equally as valuable as monetary compensation. The experience you gain, the people you meet, the events you expose yourself to can possibly lead to that next level of your career where payment for your work is an option. If landing your dream job isn’t in the stars just yet, stay busy by building your experience through volunteering your talents. You never know what opportunity lies around the next corner. Keeping yourself involved in the job market of your choice (albeit for free) is better than sitting around and working on nothing at all.