Two weeks away from summertime. It is here. A whole year of waiting for warm weather and beach trips. I wish I could say I feel relaxed and ready for the summer. Quite the opposite. These past couple of weeks before the break have been overwhelming and stressful. After months and months of applying to jobs I came up short. There were a lot of rejection emails that came my way. The whole process was discouraging. I really didn’t even know where to look. As the weeks pass by I realized that I would be staying at my University for the summer, which seemed like a bummer to me but turned about to be a huge blessing. I started reaching out to everyone I knew. Then opportunities came flying through my window.
Usually people are looking for summer hires in a college town because so many students go home for the summer. Staying near your university is a great opportunity to find summer work because there are so many university staff who will be available all summer. If you live in an apartment your lease probably goes through the summertime anyway. Might as well stay make some money, and grab some experience while you are at it.
The best advice I could give is to reach out. I spend so much of my time building relationships with faculty and professors at my university. They are more than willing to find you internships and jobs they know of in the area. Often they are great connecting points. Take a breath, send them an email and you will be on your way. I am working for the Adventure Center at my university. After telling my boss my future dreams of being a writer and photographer she gave me more hours to help with marketing. Express your interests to employers. You never know where the next opportunity will come.
Another route to take is to be more specific on Google, while you are searching for jobs. If you know exactly what summer job you want to be doing being specific in your searches can help you get there. Every time I would begin to get stressed I would spend hours searching for jobs to apply for. Don’t be too offended if you don’t get these jobs though. It is harder to get jobs when I don’t know anyone personally in the company. I applied to a lot of big opportunities I knew would be a long shot, like working for National Geographic. Put your name out there anyway and see where it gets you. There is no harm in applying.
We live in an ever changing world. The dream job you want to have one day may not even exist today. The pressure is on this generation of millennials to do something great and be successful, but keep working hard and know that the process is a journey. You may not get the job you planned but it will be perfect for your plan. Keep your head up. You will find an opportunity. This is your time to have fun and explore. Enjoy it! Happy job hunting.
Love,
Morgan