This has been a great self-discovery period for me.
It’s been two weeks since I went to a career panel here at USM and it has kind of just jump-started my thought process.
My boss set up a career panel for juniors and seniors and I helped with some of the organizing but also decided to go myself. I’ve come to the conclusion that I am at a similar place in my life as these graduates are: unsure of my future, looking for a career path, and armed with my degree.
BUT. After a few meetings, interviews, emails, and the kind words I’ve been getting, I feel energized. Though I do not have a career or really a specific interest in any industry, I have a lot to offer and I am actually, in MOST ways, nothing like this year’s graduates.
At the career panel I mentioned, I became very interested in what one woman had to say. She is in the consulting business and I wasn’t sure what exactly that entailed so I asked. Since graduating college and questioning a job in my degree’s (Journalism) field, I’ve taken to interviewing everyone about their jobs: what they like about it, what they don’t, and what it IS. (I guess I am putting my journalism degree to good use).
K, the consultant, agreed to meet with me to talk about what she does and to have a look at my résumé.
I could not have imagined what I ended up getting from that hour conversation. She got me excited about my life and saw some things in myself that I had never seen before.
“I like your energy; you have a very positive and optimistic attitude,” she told me.
That meant the world to me as I have struggled with my attitude most of my life. And honestly, until that moment, I had considered myself a pessimist. Often times I was very negative with myself and the people around me, especially in college. But the years I have put in since graduating in 2007 have helped me grow. I have a lot of life experience and I am starting to learn that it is invaluable. The experiences I have been through are things that can’t be taught; they come with time, and they come with doing. Taking risks, making mistakes, reviewing those mistakes and coming out a better person.
So that’s where I am at. I’m putting my mind to things and I’m doing them. I am doing them the only way I know how and that’s hard and with everything I have. That effort will be applied to my search for a job as well. I’m ready to find something and I am ready to learn, try new things, and push my limits.
It’s quite common for me to worry about my future but then I have weeks like these and I realize that it’s bright. I’m continuing to learn and experience new things and I’m excited about it.
I moved back to America about 13 months ago and it has been nothing but rewarding. In Europe, I spent lots of my free time reading about searching for jobs and discovering what I want to do and now I’m trying to do them. I’ve learned you can’t really understand something second hand, you have to experience them yourself and make your own conclusions.
It’s really funny how when you aren’t desperately looking for something, you often times trip over it. If you put yourself out there and aren’t afraid to be honest and open, opportunities are everywhere.
