Okay, let’s face it, Senior year is no joke. The past five months have been a complete roller-coaster and some days I feel like I can never get off of that roller-coaster. Between attending classes, keeping your social life alive, taking time for yourself, doing homework (which seems endless), working, it probably seems like you can’t possibly take on anything else. However, you have just a few short months left before graduation and you have no clue what you will be doing after… you must take on one more thing: JOB APPLICATIONS.
Last semester, I gave myself ‘mentally,’ until January to enjoy my time and not really think too much about applying to jobs and what part of the country I want to be in for this next chapter. Like anything else in life, time flew by, and January was suddenly here. I felt completely overwhelmed to say the least. I always feel like I have a good handle on things, but this time around I just felt like there was too much to handle. I think I have researched more jobs than I probably should, but there is just so many out there! This brings me to the first main point:
You Will Find Something
Read that again…and again, if you have to. I currently have something like 45 jobs saved to my dashboard on Glassdoor (which, by the way, will become your best friend). I haven’t actually hit the scary ‘apply’ button to anything yet, because I want to make sure I feel confident and prepared first before I do that. Of course, because I overthink everything, I have thought about the fact that maybe none of those companies will want me. I have to keep telling myself that is simply untrue. Things will work out, and I will end up where I am supposed to be. So, I am here to tell you the same exact thing.
Take Your Time
I seriously don’t know what has happened to our society, but everyone seems to always be in such a rush. This is something that has made me extremely anxious about this whole process. The constant questions like, “Where are you applying?” and “What kind of jobs are you applying to?” quite simply just freak me out. Every time I get asked these kinds of questions, I think my expression just says it all. I just want to scream, “I HAVE A FEW MORE MONTHS TO FIGURE IT OUT, CHILL OUT!” Don’t think that just because you don’t have a job lined up after graduation yet that you are failing miserably at life, because you are not! Everyone does things at their own pace, and in my opinion, this should take some time. You shouldn’t rush into one of the biggest decisions of your life. There will always be jobs out there that you can apply to, on your own time, which leads me to my next point:
Take It Day By Day, Little By Little
I think this might be one of the most crucial points! There have been many days that I have sat down and decided I wanted to work on job applications and researching companies which leads to me doing it all day long. When I tell you DO NOT make this mistake, please listen to me. It will stress you out beyond belief, and you will feel way more overwhelmed than you did before you sat down. If you want to just dedicate thirty minutes a day to this, that is perfectly fine. It’s really all you need! Do a little here and a little there.
Don’t Do Any Research Before Bed
I made this mistake a few weeks ago and I ended up waking up in the middle of the night with racing thoughts. The thoughts completely consumed me and I couldn’t stop thinking about where I am ‘supposed’ to be and what job I am ‘supposed’ to be doing. I realized the next morning that I could never again do any job applying stuff right before bed. It is so important to shut your mind off so you can get a good night sleep and be ready to get at it the next day.
These are just a few tips because I would have to say I feel pretty close to being an expert in this area by now. Just remember, it is your senior year, still! Don’t let this process completely get in the way of you having fun.