Career Decision Making

Making The Transition From School to Work...and Life

Leaving the comfort and security of the university campus can be a frightening unknown. As a recent graduate you are in a kind of limbo, you are no longer a student but you are not a professional yet either. How you will deal with life after the campus is all up to you as an individual. Some students try to remain students (physically and mentally) while others move on. You are about to enter a new game with a new set of rules. How you choose to play this new game is all up to you.

Say Goodbye to Half-Price Drinks Night

Highlights

Responsibility: Believe it or not you actually have to get up each morning and work a full day (or maybe longer) if you want to remain employed. When you were in school if you had a couple of tough morning classes you could always "take the afternoon off", hang out with your friends, kick back and have a few refreshments. If you choose to "blow-off" work enough times, you won't have to worry about going into work at all. Accept that your campus days are over. (Let it go)

Behavior: Your social behavior while at school is one thing and behaving socially in the working world is another. While at school you probably could behave in a variety of manners with little if any repercussions. (This does not condone anti-social self-destructive behavior, but just to say that during college, you could get away with quite a few embarrassing things.) There was no risk involved and everyone had a good laugh the next day if they could remember. Just try behaving the way you did while in school. If you do some of the things you did in school, you will have probably just committed professional suicide. You will also become an outcast to your co-workers. So if you're the type that still wants to do things to excess and generally be a sociopath, you might as well start looking for another job. This is not to say your employer will fire you but your reputation will be shot at that organization. Your employer is not interested about your social activities outside of work, unless of course they start to affect your work performance.

...And Hello to "Entry Level"

Job Responsibilities

Many times students that have been "movers and shakers" on campus see themselves in the same way while at their first job. While there are some individuals that will be lucky enough to have an immediate impact on their employers' bottom line, most recent graduates will be "learning the business". This usually means that you will be doing all of the grunt and support work. The upper level employees (i.e. the ones with the experience) are the individuals that make the rules, devise strategies, manage projects, lead teams, and generally run things. It takes years of lower level positions before they turn the controls over to you. Just because you have received your degree, doesn't mean you have "paid your dues". Accept the reality of an entry level position.

Education

Many new graduates find that they are not mentally challenged enough on their jobs. Think about being at the same desk, doing the same type of work, in the same department, in the same building, for 8 or more hours a day. When you were on campus you explored new ideas, concepts, and pondered the deeper issues of life such as "why we are here". The reality of the working world is that you will part of a team that is being paid to "do their job" and that is about all. The days of philosophical enlightenment have been replaced with the bottom line in results, profits, and gains. Accept that you are not the only one with a degree. (Others have more experience and degrees)

Co-Workers

Many new graduates will encounter co-workers that are glad that they have joined the team and are willing to "show the ropes" to the new kid. However there are just as many co-workers that have become hardened, mean spirited, back stabbing individuals. These people have probably had some bad things happen to them on the job and now they have adopted the attitude of survival of the fittest. You may have had to deal with these types of people on campus and you could just ignore them or stop seeing them altogether. On the job, these hardened people that you will work with all day and are expected (by management) to produce bottom line results, are your new colleagues. This survival of the fittest mentality is a very real part of the job no matter where you work. You can call it office politics or territoriality or fear. New graduates should step lightly on the job and not align themselves with any one person or group too quickly.

Hello To The Single Life

Making the transition to the world of full time employment is only a part of the game. You will now be entering the phase of your life known as, "being on your own". You might say that you have been on your own while at school. This is partially true because you had to learn to make decisions on you own such as a degree/major, career path, course selection, part-time job or not, join a club or organization, do the laundry or not, clean your room or not, bottle or draft beer, one significant other or play the field. While all of these are "important" decisions in your collegiate life, the time has come for you to step up, move out of your parent's home, and to conduct your life on your own.

The loss of friends

During your school years you may have established many new relationships both platonic and personal. As difficult as it may seem many of these relationships may no longer be available to you. You and the friends you made on campus may work in different cities or states and keeping in touch could become difficult.

Finding new friends

Even for the most extroverted person meeting new people and trying to establish a platonic or personal relationship can be difficult. Consider how difficult this may be if you have relocated to a new city or state, you are starting over trying to meet new people. Also consider that if you are in a work environment where you are the only new single graduate, you could increase your stress level.

Relationship Issues

If you have been fortunate enough to establish a very deep personal relationship with a significant other and marriage/co-habitation is being considered; leaving the campus could be extremely stressful. What if you have one career path and your partner has another? Whose career takes precedence? What if you can "go anywhere" but your partner wants to stay close to home? What about children? These things need to be discussed openly and honestly before you graduate.

The thrill of college life is gone

The reality is that the excitement of going to parties, the bars, sporting events, and just hanging out after a tough day in the classroom Are Over. Instead of going out for "a few drinks" after work you may find that most of your co-workers are more interested in going right home and taking care of their families or some other activities. If most of your co-workers are older this situation will also increase your stress level.

The "Big Fish" in the small pond is now a minnow in the ocean

The campus was a "safe haven" for you and your friends especially if you were in the right sorority/fraternity, sporting team, club/organization, or a campus leader. While being involved and being a campus leader has shaped you as an individual, those days Are Over. You are with the big boys and girls now and they make and enforce the "rules of the game". They know their job and every dirty trick in the book when it comes to keeping their career alive.

Your idealism is slowly being replaced with cynicism:

While sitting in the classroom you were filled with theoretical knowledge and philosophies about how your education and campus experience has prepared you with a million new ideas on how to change the world. The reality is that many of your ideas may never be recognized. Soon you come to realize that you are just a cog in a machine and the machine is only interested in bottom line results.

Note: Not all of these things can and will happen to everyone because everyone is an individual and what happens to us and how we deal with it is all up to us as individuals.

Some Advice to the New Kid on the Block

Clean up your facebook, Mypace, and YouTube accounts!

Leave Your Attitude at Home

The only attitudes you should have on the job are ones of enthusiasm and commitment to your job and employer.

You Are Starting Over:

You may have a college degree and the exuberance of youth, but don't forgot the fact that you are the new kid. You are not in your co-workers league yet.

Your Degree is Only One Part of the Puzzle:

Your degree alone does not qualify you to become a senior manager or to be called a professional.

Learn How The Game Is Played

Keep your eyes, ears, and mind open to what is going on around you, while keeping your mouth somewhat closed. Learn what the goals, objectives, and expectations are of your department and your supervisor.

Volunteer Your Expertise (Tactfully)

When it is appropriate share some of your ideas but, be careful on how you present your ideas to your supervisor and co-workers. Do not start every sentence with, 'When I was at the University of…' or 'well I think we should do it this way'.

Do Your Job

You will quickly learn that NO job is 100% fun all of the time. Volunteer to take on extra assignments to show your dedication and that you are a team player. You may have assignments that you feel are "not in your job description". Get over it and take on each assignment like a professional would, with the dedication to seeing the project through from start to finish.

Acknowledgement
Some information taken from the following resource:
Hoyer-Ellefsen, Richard (2000). What Will It Be Like - A Layman's Guide to the College Graduate's First Years Out. Annapolis, Maryland: Maitland Publishing, LLC