As I write this, I’m less than three weeks away from my graduation day at UCLA—three weeks. Though a part of me still isn’t ready to move on to the next chapter of my life (from what I’ve heard, adulting is icky), there’s another, stronger part of myself that can’t wait to be done with the endless assignments, recurring mental breakdowns, pretentious professors and ultra-competitive nature of university life. But now that I’m here…what do I do now?
Flash back to the start of spring quarter, when I naively believed that a post-grad position would fall into my lap due to the “UCLA” name stamped on my degree, as well as the handful of internships I’ve secured under my belt. But nine weeks and hundreds of unanswered job applications later…I’m no longer ~thriving~ on this blissful ignorance towards the real world. Getting a job—especially your first job—is HARD.
Luckily, for me, my parents are the most supportive, understanding and loving people in the world, thus they kindly suggested I take the summer off to pursue my passions before entering into the workforce. Their logic: I have my entire life to work a boring 9-to-5, so why rush into it? (Okay, I’m hoping I won’t have a super deadbeat job but I’m exaggerating for dramatic effect here, bear with me.)
I reluctantly agreed to this plan because I still had no idea what I wanted to do for my career—or even where I wanted to have a career. I’d applied to positions across a dozen different industries, toyed with the idea of grad school, decided (then un-decided) to plant roots in Hawaii/D.C./Tennessee/Texas/Virginia and spent well over a hundred hours tearfully complaining to my mom about how lost I felt in life. With all of my friends announcing their graduate-school plans and super impressive post-grad job offers, I just felt like such a loser. I could barely get an email back from any of the companies I applied to, let alone an interview.
But, now that I’ve done some major reflecting in the past forty-eight hours, I’ve come to significant realizations about my post-graduate path, or lack thereof (ouch, that actually hurt to type—too soon, too soon). It is OKAY to graduate from college without knowing what you want to do with your life. Let me repeat: It is absolutely, 100% OKAY! You are NOT a loser for not having a job. You are NOT any less impressive than your friends because you’re taking the next year to figure out your life.
If I can offer any advice to those struggling with the same problems as me, I’d say that you should truly take a few months (or a year!) after college to pursue your passions. Try to write that novel. Try to go viral on Tiktok to become the next-big influencer. Go travel the world like you’ve always wanted. Take cooking classes, join book clubs, visit every museum in LA. Live the life you’ve always dreamed of before it’s too late.
And while you’re doing that, take real time to figure out what kind of life you want for yourself. What are your must-haves? How about your non-negotiables? Is a long commute the end of the world for you? Then maybe don’t pick a job that’s in downtown LA. Do you need to make a lot of money to feel satisfied in life? (Spoiler alert: You don’t, but you do you.) Then make sure you aren’t looking in an industry that has no room for growth. Most of all, and I cannot stress this enough, make sure you’re pursuing a career path that makes you HAPPY—yes, I just capitalized, bolded, underlined and italicized that to make sure my point was CRYSTAL CLEAR.
Finally, don’t fall into the social trap of comparison. If your career doesn’t sound super “impressive” to the average Joe and isn’t bringing in the big bucks but you’re happier than you ever thought possible, why would you care what anyone else thinks? Everyone’s perception of success is different, so don’t aim to achieve someone else’s goals with your life. Welp, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, I’ll go ahead and get off of the soap box now…
Fellow Class of 2023 graduates: congratulations! I wish you the best of luck in this next chapter of your life and want to remind you that a job WILL come! Your first job is rarely your last one, so don’t be scared of finding room for growth and/or change in whatever industry you decide to pursue. Be patient. Never settle. Always strive for success (i.e. happiness). The future is only as bright as you allow it to be!