It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Well, not really. Maybe for on-campus recruiters, but for Notre Dame students, fall recruiting brings unspoken energy of constant stress. Everyone wants to win over the dream internship with a highly regarded company. It can seem like there are so many mixed messages – who you should be networking with, what events you should be attending, what companies you should be applying to. I know for my first two years at Notre Dame I felt like my path was already paved. Major in business, intern at a top consulting firm, be hired in the fall of senior year and live a happy life. It seemed like a perfect fit. Until I realized it wasn’t.
If you feel like you are secretly hiding your fear of the unknowns of post-college aspirations, you are not alone. Everyone is just really good at hiding it. Ten years ago, most of us didn’t even know what college was. And if ten years from now you still have no idea what you want to do, you’re exactly on the right track for you. Take, for example, Julia Child. Now regarded as one of the most famous cooks, Julia Child published her first cookbook at the age of 50. J.K Rowling was 32 when the first Harry Potter was published. Amy Poehler didn’t start working on SNL until she was 31. Life is all about the expected and excitement. Don’t be hard on yourself because the world is our oyster, so let’s take advantage of it.
As Notre Dame students, we have constantly strived to be the best. Best grades, best athletic skills, best test scores, even best community service opportunities. Now that the real world is out there calling, we want to continue to be the best. So when the time comes that we aren’t sure of our next steps, things can get pretty scary. The summer going into my junior year, I interned at a recruiting firm, AtlasAdvancement. I saw how many people were unhappy in positions they choose solely based on the successes they thought would follow. I realized that if I simply followed the path others had drawn out for me, I would never be able to explore on my own.
Take this time during fall recruiting to explore some options. Talk to whomever you can. You will learn about new career paths you didn’t even know existed. Once I discovered that swimming upstream from everyone else is where I felt like I thrived, I used my uncertainty as fuel to explore my future aspirations. I still have no idea what I want to do with my life. I still dread meeting new adults, knowing I will be asked the question, “what do you want to do when you graduate?” But I now embrace the endless possibilities that the future unholds.
As much as I love Notre Dame, the unspoken academic and career competition is deeply rooted in our community. But I’m here to tell you don’t need to have it figured all out. And that is totally okay.