Career Advice for New Graduates?

I always appreciate when career coaches and authors give great advice (heck, I am one). But just because the economy is difficult, doesn't mean soon-to-be college graduates should give up. From a recent Wall Street Journal article: "Broaden your search to lesser-known firms and less glamorous roles. 'Just because you're not going to fall in love with a job doesn't mean you can't learn something and make some money, too,' Ms. Levit says."

Seriously? I know, times are tough, but advising a college graduate to take a job to learn something and make some money is just plain blind advice. It isn't about settling or being pragmatic. Yes, new grads aren't going to be running the show or get a Director title out of the box.

New grads should be realistic but they also should customize their search to the economy. Instead of settling on a job where some lessons might be learned, what about looking in more cities than just your hometown? Instead of journalism, what about a writing job for a magazine? Instead of a few networking contacts, aim for 10 or 20.

In a bad economy, you can still land the dream job, it just might take a creative view and double the effort.

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Comments

Hi Susan,

Thanks for your thoughts regarding my comments in the WSJ. I do agree that college graduates can and should pursue work that's personally meaningful to them - heck, I just published a book on that very topic.

However, I do stand by my opinion that finding a dream job is not something that always happens right away. The fact is that the majority of college graduates will have to work in a large corporation, in work they don't consider 100% ideal, before they are able to connect with their passion. There's no use in them feeling like failures because they have unrealistic expectations of how fast, and how easily, they should get to that perfect work situation.

Best,

Alexandra Levit
Author, How'd You Score That Gig? A Guide to the Coolest Careers and How to Get Them
Blogger, Water Cooler Wisdom
http://www.alexandralevit.com

Posted by Alexandra Levit | June 6, 2008 12:08 PM

Alexandra--you are right, it does take time. What I advocate though is there is no dream job, there is the right job, right now. Meaning, that the dream job is what best fits you at any given moment. No one can have everything in a job but you can have what matters most to you at that time in your life. It parallels Marci Alboher's idea of Slash Careers--the changes that come from re-evaluating what matters to you in your life at any given moment.

Keep up the great work--love the book.

Posted by Susan Strayer | June 17, 2008 01:38 PM

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