Article Treasure Cove

As you might know, I am a college graduate of the University of Georgia with a degree in Mathematics. When I graduated, however, I didn’t really have an idea of what I wanted to do with life. I knew, though, that I a) wanted an IT career that wasn’t heavy on programming, b) wanted to live in an area where I didn’t have to spend a lot on my house/apartment and where I had a social circle, and c) did NOT want to go to grad school. With that being said, here are some things that I have learned about the working world. They all might not directly apply to each of you, but they worked for me and I hope you can take some of these to heart.

1) It doesn’t matter what you got your college degree in

I can’t stress this enough. I spent my first two years of college major hunting before I finally settled on what I enjoyed doing and not what I thought I was supposed to be doing. My advice if you’re still in college (or entering college): choose a major that you not only thoroughly enjoy but that you are also good at. Even if you’re planning on going to med school or law school, you’d be surprised at how little your major matters, as long as you take the necessary electives. I got a job as a Systems Engineer for an IT consulting firm with a nice salary and great benefits with a math degree and an average GPA. I didn’t take a single class in college that taught me anything about what I did on the job. However, times are tough right now so I no longer have this job, which brings me straight into my next point:

2) Network, network, NETWORK

Anybody who knows anything about life after college knows this is very crucial to having success in the working world. It really is all about who you know. If you’re still in college, get to know your professors. If you’re a young graduate and aren’t working, reach out to anybody who knows you well and/or anybody whom you have a professional relationship with. Talk to former employers that you’ve had good experiences with and find out if there’s anything you can do. If nothing else, volunteer your skills. I know this doesn’t help you much short term but you never know when someone is going to notice you. Just make sure that you always make yourself presentable.

3) Keep in touch with people with whom you’ve established a relationship

This is probably something that I’m sure a lot of you fail to do. You establish strong professional relationships with people close to you (professors, employers, experts in a field, family friends, etc) but you fail to keep in touch with them and eventually the relationship drops off. This is a HUGE mistake. In this day and age, you never know when the economy might leave you unemployed and searching for work. How nice would it be to have a contact who can mention your name to a colleague and immediately have the ball rolling again on your career? And a lot of you might also be surprised to find out how easy it is to maintain contact with people. Send them a card during the holidays and on their birthday. Email them or write them a letter thanking them for any impact they’ve had on your career. Simple things to make them think about you and remember you. Doing this could really come in handy down the road, especially if they’re looking for help.

4) Don’t be afraid to settle if needed

So you went to college for four (or more) years and have a degree you’re pretty happy with. You made good grades and were quite active on campus. You interviewed with several companies who all seemed to like you. You’re feeling pretty high on life and can’t wait to start your career. However, none of the job offers that you got pay you what you feel you deserve. That’s ok. You’re 22 years old and you’re a recent college grad; there’s no need to panic. This isn’t the time to freak out about finding your dream job with a company that’s going to set you for life. Get your foot in the door, stand out at your position, and make sure you do plenty of networking. I made the mistake of letting my ego get in the way of my voice of reason and it kept me from getting a decent, but not great job. After I got laid off, I got offered the chance to take a position with an old employer making significantly less money than I was making before the layoff. Of course I told myself that I deserved better and thought I would be better suited sucking it up and searching for a higher paying position. Safe to say right now is not the best time to be getting greedy. Don’t rush your career. If you’re really good at what you do, people will notice and things will fall into place.

5) Don’t forget about your personal life

Working or not, you’ve got to make sure that you’re happy with who you are away from work. If you’re not happy at home, you won’t be happy at your job and your work will most likely suffer from it. Maintaining that level of work/life balance is absolutely critical to keep sane. For me, location is much more important than starting salary. Like I said in #4, I know the money will eventually come as long as I continue to impress those around me. I want to make sure, most importantly, that I’m happy in the city that I’m working and that largely depends on the people I’m around. I love having friends and family to come home to that I care about and enjoy being around. On a personal level, I feel very good about my quality of life and I wouldn’t even think about giving that up to move to a foreign place. That might work for some people but not me. Regardless on the kind of decisions you make about where you work, I strongly urge you to enjoy yourself outside of the office.

Your Career

There you go. Five simple things that I’ve experienced that I feel are useful to anybody starting the job process. What do you think? Is there anything that you picked up while you were going through that part of your life that really helped you out?

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