So it's time for me to move onto bigger and better things as they quite often say. And I am proud to say that for once in my life despite not knowing what my future will look like, I'm excited and not scared. Maybe it has to do with me just growing over time, or actually incorporating all the education I obtained during the course of my time at Purdue. But honestly I think it comes most from the fact that I am now more aware of who I am and what I want more than ever before.
While I continue the job search beyond my graduation in a few weeks, the one thing I won't let happen is for me to become sad or feeling hopeless just because I don't have a career right out the gates. I am fine with this and have accepted this in the past few weeks. But one thing that is pushing me and should hopefully be pushing you is utilizing the knowledge not only from a Purdue education, but also your time at Purdue.
Here are some of the things I'll be reflecting on during my job hunt process to keep my spirits up in a difficult time.
Know who you are
I can't stress how important it is to know who you are not only during academic times, but at all times. Going into situations where you're asked about your qualities or strengths and not being able to respond is a nightmare. It doesn't mean knowing every aspect of your life ever, but instead being able to present and sell yourself. Know your strengths and weaknesses, have goals that are obtainable and know where to start to reach them . Besides can you expect others to get to know you and see your worth when you can't?
Resources, use them
Purdue has a gigantic list of resources to use such as professors, workers, faculty, students, and centers. I have already talked to certain professors and bosses and gotten letters of recommendation, and its not too late to even approach some this week or next week. Too often services such as career help and preparation go unused by a majority of students. I say no more. Go talk and mingle and make connections, you never know where they will take you.
Show what you have
No doubt during your time as a student you presented some amazing skills of yours maybe in print form, maybe in 3D form. Now is the time to bring all your great works together into a nice neat compact portfolio. This will help you get the upper hand when job hunting. It allows for others to easily see your work and shows organizational skills too!! I plan on collecting all my files during finals week and seeing which better represent who I am to future employees.
Keep Moving
Finally, I will leave you with this final tidbit of information. Don't give up just because times get hard or it seems like there is little hope left. Life is about making mistakes and failing, just so you can learn and grow as a person from this situations. Your dream job won't be available right away most the time, so go for those lower jobs that allow for upper movement, you'll learn more along the way than you could possibly imagine.
It's strange writing my final blog, even more strange to say this though, Goodbye Purdue.
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