The worst words in any college senior’s definition are right around the corner- graduation. For somebody like me (the average collegiate at UT), this means a reality check hitting me like a ton of bricks (excuse the cliché). I mean literally—we’ve only got like three weeks left and what do we even have to look forward to?
Twenty-two and the job market sucks, getting jobs are competitive and the pay in some cases are way below what college graduates were coming out of school making four years ago (thanks el Busho). The American government is in a terrible time and Gen-Y is the first generation to absorb this impact. And we’re not even ready for it!
Let’s get down to business; with senioritis in full swing, applying for jobs isn’t any easier and a full job in itself. And who wants to sign with a company for a multi-year contract? I’m too busy freaking out about what’s due next week and how I’m getting to the beach Saturday. We’re young and always changing our minds…a permanent job can be intimidating in that respect. After all, we are the short attention spanned, spoiled rotten and the ‘feel-entitled-to everything’ generation.
In retrospect, we do get to officially be done with classes, teachers and homework. But not really. Instead we get ready to enter a world full of meetings, bosses and deadlines. Exchanging lounge wear for suits, and pool time for one hour lunch break. We’re trading college lifestyle for grownup lifestyle, and now we find ourselves asking if this is even the time to be entering the work world.
Luckily, there are alternatives. Along with being a savvy, technologically advanced and open minded generation, we thrive on new challenges and changes of scenery. This isn’t 19—anything! In the twenty-first century we are multitasking while working, cramming our schedules and constantly running ourselves to exhaustion. We don’t feel the need to conform just because we’re finishing undergraduate degrees, nor are we obligated to follow the footsteps of our parent’s. Again, this is your parent’s last few weeks of college in the ‘70s on crack. We literally have oodles of choices on what to do next with our lives.
Some people will move back home with mom and pop and look for jobs around where their old friends now reside. And that’s great if you’re looking to go home, save up cash and take a bit more time to really refine your passion and dreams. Nothing in this life is certain, and you don’t want to keep making the wrong rash decisions. Take your time, chill and enjoy being home with the parental units for a while.
Then you’ll have the students who are fascinated by culture and diversity, and ever perfecting their love of a new language. Plenty of young adults want to really branch out and go flip their life upside down by teaching English in a foreign country. It makes sense in most ways; cheap living, enough pay to save gradually and you will still be on your own experimenting with new ideas and discovering chillingly awesome history. You gain the experience of living in a completely different environment, and will probably open up plenty of doors as you gain appreciation for other people’s outlooks on life.
And of course, if you’re feeling really indifferent towards the job market and moving back home, you might be on your way to graduate school. To me—it makes the most sense. Better paying jobs for the most part require some sort of master’s degree, and furthering your education will always add more qualifications to your resume and career track. The bang for your buck will be high, but well worth it. And if you’re going for a law degree or doctorate, go that extra mile and get into the school you always had high hopes of reaching. It is more schooling, but you’re all ready in the swing of studying and doing homework right? Jump on the bandwagon and go for it.
The ups of finding a corporate job are that you’ll be making your own money, paving your own success, and letting go of mommy and daddy’s credit. Nothing feels quite as empowering as cutting the cord on your own and paying for your own things; choosing your passions and vices, making it rain on whatever you want it to rain on. And once you make some dough, you can invest, expand, buy companies—again, the opportunities are endless. I don’t have to tell you how business works.
Some may know what they want or where they will go, and some may not. Each of us are destined to our own new path, with the ultimate goal of wanting lifelong happiness. Being twenty-two is hard, and being pulled in multiple directions by multiple influences doesn’t help. But just remember to focus on where you want to be, what you want out of life and where you’re most comfortable; isn’t that what we all want?
These last two weeks are going to be brutal for most, but may be paradise for others. With the sky as the limit for potential outcomes, we all just have to trust and brace ourselves for the plunge into adulthood and real life.
Whether you’re going to be a ski or beach bum out west, or move to the city and progress through the corporate ladder, each day will slowly lead you to your state of eternal bliss and peace. These next ten years are going to be challenging yet beautiful; full of afflictive hardships and untimely temptations.
But we’ll all get through it, in our own ways, beginning our own chapters to our own lives. And don’t fret about being split from your college buds, we’ll always have Facebook and cell phones to stay in touch. Just think of what crazy technology is in the works. Class of 2010, we did it. I don’t know how, but we somehow did it.
Robert Stephenson can be reached at rstephenson@ut.edu.