While in high school and throughout college, you are always told a college degree pretty much ensures you will have a job after you graduate. After the economy bottomed out in 2008, this statement simply wasn't true anymore. Not only was getting a job difficult, getting even your foot in on the ground level of your dream job was nearly impossible. Many people were forced to settle on taking jobs they were not necessarily passionate about. In the journalism school, professors preached the saying "If you love what your do, you could work for free." Now suddenly I felt like this ideal was being tossed to the wayside with the new economic climate. After feverishly applying for jobs my senior year with no results, I started to think of a new game plan. Ok I majored in public relations, but do I love this? Would I do it for free?
Sadly the answer was no. If I never had to write another press release in my life I would be extremely happy. As you can tell I wasn't ready to give up on my professors' preaching. I pulled out a piece of scratch paper and wrote down all my passions: fashions, cooking, movies and going to the beach. How could I mold all these things into a career? After a lot of rethinking, I settled on pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. It combines my creative streak and passion for movies, as an added bonus I live four miles from the beach!
I am not the only one rethinking the automatic transition to 9-5 right out of college. For many it is not a choice, but all my friends have embraced the idea of the new life of a college graduate. My best friend Juliana was pretty much set on law school after graduation. Spring semester something changed. After a variety of options presented themselves to her, she ended up moving to upstate New York on slightly a whim. Now if you know Juliana, she is a meticulous thinker. She is one of the smartest people I know, and I was a little shocked by her spontaneity. After a couple of months, she moved down into the city. I am not going to sugar coat things and say it was all peachy, but she really proved her perseverance. She rethought going to law school and possibly getting her masters in something else. Last month she was admitted to Columbia for International Educational Development. I am so proud and happy for her. While life didn't go exactly as she planned, something better than she could have ever imagined happened.
Another friend who didn't conform to the 9-5 is Ciara. Ciara is one of my bravest friends in my opinion. She decided to go abroad for a year. Traveling from town to town in Australia, Ciara was armed with little more than a backpack. Even days before her big move, she didn't have a concrete plan. Her plan was to go with the flow and travel for the first couple months, and then find a more permanent jobs later. While adults didn't understand this, I thought she was brilliant. I wish I had half the courage of Ciara. So far it seems her time Down Under has worked out fairly well. You can follow her adventures on her blog The Adventures of a 20-Nothing Backpacker.
Other popular options included going directly into a graduate program, moving home and even settling on temp jobs. I feel this extra year has given me a better idea what I want in my life. I love all the possibilities that have opened up in my life. I could have stayed in Kansas City and continued searching for a public relations job, but I decided to take the time to truly pursue my passions. While it isn't an option for everyone to take some time off, I recommend it for anyone who isn't 100% on board with their major. If you are even having the slightest doubt, do you really want to get stuck in a career unable to get out? Five years down the road, you could be sitting at your cubical hating your life but then you are in too deep.
Sadly the answer was no. If I never had to write another press release in my life I would be extremely happy. As you can tell I wasn't ready to give up on my professors' preaching. I pulled out a piece of scratch paper and wrote down all my passions: fashions, cooking, movies and going to the beach. How could I mold all these things into a career? After a lot of rethinking, I settled on pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. It combines my creative streak and passion for movies, as an added bonus I live four miles from the beach!
I am not the only one rethinking the automatic transition to 9-5 right out of college. For many it is not a choice, but all my friends have embraced the idea of the new life of a college graduate. My best friend Juliana was pretty much set on law school after graduation. Spring semester something changed. After a variety of options presented themselves to her, she ended up moving to upstate New York on slightly a whim. Now if you know Juliana, she is a meticulous thinker. She is one of the smartest people I know, and I was a little shocked by her spontaneity. After a couple of months, she moved down into the city. I am not going to sugar coat things and say it was all peachy, but she really proved her perseverance. She rethought going to law school and possibly getting her masters in something else. Last month she was admitted to Columbia for International Educational Development. I am so proud and happy for her. While life didn't go exactly as she planned, something better than she could have ever imagined happened.
Another friend who didn't conform to the 9-5 is Ciara. Ciara is one of my bravest friends in my opinion. She decided to go abroad for a year. Traveling from town to town in Australia, Ciara was armed with little more than a backpack. Even days before her big move, she didn't have a concrete plan. Her plan was to go with the flow and travel for the first couple months, and then find a more permanent jobs later. While adults didn't understand this, I thought she was brilliant. I wish I had half the courage of Ciara. So far it seems her time Down Under has worked out fairly well. You can follow her adventures on her blog The Adventures of a 20-Nothing Backpacker.
Other popular options included going directly into a graduate program, moving home and even settling on temp jobs. I feel this extra year has given me a better idea what I want in my life. I love all the possibilities that have opened up in my life. I could have stayed in Kansas City and continued searching for a public relations job, but I decided to take the time to truly pursue my passions. While it isn't an option for everyone to take some time off, I recommend it for anyone who isn't 100% on board with their major. If you are even having the slightest doubt, do you really want to get stuck in a career unable to get out? Five years down the road, you could be sitting at your cubical hating your life but then you are in too deep.
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