“What are your plans for life after graduation?”

As a student about to leave the school walls and enter the professional world, your obvious answer would be: “Get a job in the field that I studied.”

Life doesn’t go as planned.

During your studies, I bet you never envisioned for yourself that you’d have to move back in with your parents, be struggling financially and/or in serious debt, and couldn’t find a job that requires a degree. After spending countless hours of classwork, extracurricular activities, and paid work, not to mention the yearly tuition to earn your degree, you’ve no guarantee of a job. Sadly, for many graduates today, their dreams for life after higher education turn into this reality.

Everyone tells you to invest in an education; it’ll give you a bright future and help you to achieve your dreams. From a young age, society leads you to believe that getting an education will earn you a good job after graduation, because the degree/diploma is the requirement. However, for many students and graduates today, that is not always the case.

The “reality” for life after graduation is not what students planned. Perhaps this was the case for you. The jobsearch is a waiting game where after finishing on a “high” from completing your degree, you put in a million applications for jobs across the world, get interviews, and yet still don’t get a job regardless of the field. Many are asking themselves, “What did I do wrong?”

Don’t be ashamed. Even though it may feel like it, your lack of a job is not your fault or a result of your lack of trying. Your education was not a waste. Today’s job market is tough; finding work after graduation can be stressful. Putting yourself out there constantly through applying for numerous jobs only to be rejected can take a toll on your self-worth and make you want to quit.

I don’t want you to give up. You got through so many obstacles at school and you will persist through the job search. One of the applications will work. Keep moving forward one step at a time.

Keep trying! One of those tries will lead to something better than you could have ever imagined!

I know, because I’ve been through the job search and that is why I’m so empowered to help others who are in my shoes. Initially, I was ashamed to talk about my struggles finding work after graduation because no one else seemed to be having difficulty. I thought I was the only one going through it and thought something was wrong with me. However, through graduating twice, five years of blogging, experience in four post-secondary institutions, and putting in countless applications, I know my story isn’t unique and MANY are experiencing the struggle, regardless of their level of their post-secondary education.  This has got to change!

Thinking of ways to empower these students and graduates is what keeps me awake at night; I brainstorm how to share the insights and support I wish that I’d had when I was about to graduate. Reflecting back on my life after graduation, I never planned to be an author or blogger, but Arianna’s Random Thoughts stemmed from this deep passion to #fuelpersistence in new grads, students, and jobseekers through sharing my experiences. Opening up, voicing my journey, and having a supportive community around me fueled me to persist in the job search.

One of my readers summed up the value of persistence in the job search in my post, “The Narrative of a Recent Graduate”:

“... eventually one of those tries yielded an interview and then the job. There was no magic, just persistence. However, note that to fuel persistence you better truly have something driving it.”

Reading what this recent graduate went through, it perfectly summed up my mission and what drives all the work I do. Through various mediums, I “fuel persistence” in those who are in a spot where I was when I graduated.

This was never my plan for life after graduation, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! I can’t do this alone. Together we can change the story for students and recent graduates by helping them #fuelpersistence in their dreams and envision a bright future ahead!

Happy Holidays :)