Dreams of Grandeur and the Realities of Your First Job

Graduating from college is a bittersweet sensation. On the one hand, you are leaving a life of sleeping late, all-night parties, summers of possibility, and a clear and conscious mission: graduation.

On the other you are heading to a world of new cars, no roommates, drinking beer without pumping a keg, and finally getting some respect for your status as an adult. At least that’s what you hoped would happen.

Truth told, you should think of your first year after graduation as an extension of your college education. Think of it as your fifth year (or sixth, seventh, whatever, you get the point). The trouble comes when your expectations of life after school don’t match the reality. And for most people they just don’t.

It can really be blamed on a fable that floats around every campus. There’s this one guy (or girl) who got this amazing job making $75,000 a year, who gets to travel, gets a car, and only works four days a week. Now there are careers that pay exceptionally well right out of school and there will be people on campus who get killer jobs at 22. For most students, however, the first year is more like a well-paid internship.

Here’s how the expectations game works. You start your final semester by researching careers and pay rates in your chosen field. You determine what jobs you might want and how much you want to be paid. You apply only for those jobs that meet your criteria. You don’t hear back from your applications.

So you spend February and March interviewing on campus, certain that one of those great companies will want to hire you. No luck.

Now it’s past Spring break. You have two months until graduation. So you spend a month looking for some lower paying jobs at your best companies. No interviews materialize.

Finally you have 6 weeks left on your lease, your roommate is leaving for graduate school in London, and you have no job and nowhere to go. Now all of those jobs you didn’t apply for in January, February, and March are starting to look pretty good.

You get desperate and take the first job you can find, which is running errands for a high maintenance boss who really doesn’t care that you have a degree in marketing and just wants you to make sure their coffee is the right color of russet.

So what’s the moral of this harrowing tale? Realize that you may have to spend a year in a lower paying job to get the experience you need to live like the grown-up you are.

You see once you have a job, it’s easier to get a job. As a college graduate you are an unknown commodity with the same education as almost everyone else in your field. Your degree isn’t special, it’s just an entry level qualification expected of most employees. Now you need a year of experience under your belt to prove that you are a good investment. To get the best experience you may have to take a job that doesn’t have the best pay. Just like your internship where you worked for the experience of working, you should plan to spend your first year working in the job that provides the most experience rather than the fattest paycheck. In other words, plan to continue to live like a college student.

Most people aren't fond of the first job they have out of school and even fewer make that company or career a permanent fixture in their life. That said, it is in poor taste to take a job if you know you plan to keep looking for something better. Be prepared to stick it out for at least 6 months, and even better, a year to not make you look like a job hopper or worse yet, someone who can't keep a job.

Rejoice in knowing that you are not alone. The illusive dream job isn't a Big Foot figment of your imagination, it just takes time. Time to figure out what you want and how to get there.