Graduate Life | The Careers Service

Welcome back to the story of my life post-graduation. If you recall from my last post, I was wandering around aimlessly and low-key panicking about the fact I had no idea what to do with my life. The next part of my graduate story starts with an email.

I was scrolling through my phone when I saw an email ping through from the University careers service. Usually, I'd take a quick glance at the title of the email and ignore it. The careers service churns out a large number of emails into students' inboxes weekly and often the contents was nothing new or relevant to me. However, in my desperate, hopeless state I was starting to pay more attention to anything careers related.

The email was about a new graduate support programme the University was launching. It said everyone on the programme would be allocated an appropriate careers advisor to help them take their next steps after graduation. I scanned down the email and read words 'this would be ideal for anyone who doesn't know what to do after they graduate'. That was me. At this point, I was happy to try anything that would help me get some direction in life.

I had been to the careers service twice before. Once in final year for a general careers advice meeting and once to get my CV checked. The careers advice meeting I had wasn't very useful and it had got me no further to figuring out what I wanted to do. The advice was just to look online at some websites and think about what I wanted out of a job. After a 10 minute appointment I was sent on my way to figure out my future. Maybe that's all some people need, but I needed a lot more help than that.

The Programme

However, this 'programme' sounded different to the type of appointment I had had before. The careers advisor wouldn't just be there for a one-off 10-minute appointment and then merrily send you on your way. Instead, the advisor would speak with you regularly to guide you through the whole process of getting where you want to be. Whether you needed help with deciding what to do, applications, CV writing or interviews your advisor could cover it all! The best part was that you would have the same advisor throughout the programme so they would get to know you - your goals, your concerns and your journey.

I immediately followed the link to sign up for the programme. A couple of weeks passed by and I had heard nothing. I started to think I hadn't got a place on the programme after all, which would have been a real knock considering how deflated I was feeling at the time. With my anxiety over my uncertain future building, I sent an email to enquire about whether I had got a place or not. Thankfully, the reply I received told me that I had got a place and gave me the name of my allocated advisor. I wasted no time in getting in touch with her to arrange an appointment.

The Appointment

To my relief, the appointment was nothing like the quick, useless careers meeting I had attended previously. My advisor was lovely and let me speak openly about my thoughts, anxieties and uncertainties. I was totally honest with her about my lack of career goals and about my desire to travel more before settling into a 9-5 job for the rest of my life. I told her about how I was worried about choosing a particular career path, putting all my effort into chasing that career (finding jobs, interviews and completing relevant training programmes) only to later realise I hated the job after all.

What she said next completely changed my outlook on things:

"Don't think about this as choosing your path for the rest of your life, think about what would make you happy for the next 3 years. Then if it's no longer making you happy, you can always change it. You're going to put too much pressure on yourself if you think you have to choose a job for life."

I realised that she was right. I had been viewing this whole thing as if I had to make a decision right now about the rest of my life. And that is a terrifying thought. No wonder I had been basically paralysed by fear and unable to make any progress with that weight on my shoulders. Thinking of this next step as choosing what would make me happy for the next 3 years seemed much less scary. I walked out of that appointment with my mind more at ease and the most relaxed I had been since finishing uni.

I've decided to start leaving a little lesson of the week for y'all at the end of my posts, giving you the lessons that I learnt from that particular chapter of my story. So here's this weeks lessons...

Lesson(s) of the week:

• Don't ignore all emails from your university careers service and don't rule them out after one useless appointment - it could just be you don't gel with that particular advisor!
• Be totally honest with advisors/people who are trying to help you - don't pretend you've got it more figured out than you actually have. If you're totally clueless, say so.
• Finally, don't think of it as choosing your whole life plan right this second, think of it as choosing your what makes will you happy the next couple of years.

Tell me about your experiences with your careers service - good or bad - by tweeting me @thelydlife or leave me a comment down below. See you next week for the next instalment in my graduate life!
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