Take a deep breath with me. Really, do it. Do you smell that? It’s the sweet smell of Spring semester. You know what else it is? Desperation and panic suspended in the air as college seniors scramble to figure out The Future.
Sorry. I’ll try more deodorant, but what you’re smelling is me. I’m in my last semester at the College and it’s really sinking in how little time I’ve got left here. Go back to fall 2016 with me for a minute. I’ve always been a planner. I came in as a freshman and immediately declared my English major and never changed it. Not even once. I always knew I wanted to go into editing, so I picked up a concentration for writing, rhetoric, and publication. Then, I thought linguistics was cool so I slipped a minor on there too. Bringing my grand tour of CofC to an end after four years.
Pexels | @mentatdgt
Fast forward to June 2019. I’d just finished junior year, and I was living my best life during what I deemed my Last Summer. Now, remember, I’m a planner. I’ve got big dreams. So I started the job search. Editorial Assistant. Assistant Managing Editor. Lifestyle Editor. Editorial Assistant. Executive Editor. Assistant Editor. Then July. Six more. Then classes started back up, and I kept at it—constantly updating my resume, doing internships, building my portfolio, writing cover letter after cover letter. Now it’s January 2020, and I graduate in four months.
108 jobs applications…and I’m still unemployed.
Pexels | @Pixaby
So Claire, what have you learned??
Honestly, not a whole lot:
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The job market is huge and constantly changing. Look on job sites, hit up old connections and networks, and make an appointment with your school’s career center to utilize their resources.
- Keep your resume as up to date as possible and consider getting it professionally done.
- Yes, you really do have to write a cover letter. Write up a template that you can fill in and customize based on the job description and their buzz words.
- You very likely won’t hear back. 84% (real stats) of the applications that I sent out into the job-board-void didn’t even yield a response.
- Keep track of every job you apply to in a grandmaster list with dates so you don’t accidentally apply twice or to someone you’ve already been rejected from.
- Don’t give up. I know that’s cheesy, but as I said in #1, new jobs are always being posted by the hour. Your resilience will pay off.
Seniors, let’s take a minute. Stop, take another deep breath, and smell the roses. Isn’t that so much nicer? You’ve worked so hard to get where you are, and you’re going to succeed. You still have time, be sure to use it wisely. Best of luck to you all!