As the academic year ends and graduation looms, you may be feeling a range of different emotions. I imagine the excitement and pride you are feeling might be slightly overshadowed by the nagging thought of “what am I going to do next and how am I going to get there”.
In 2024, the job market may seem impossibly daunting. It is not lost on me that deciding what to do next can cause a feeling of unease. Let me tell you that the struggle sometimes leads to the best opportunity. A cliché, I know, but this was the case for me.
In 2021, I was in the same position many of you are now. Once that final exam was complete, I should’ve been dancing the night away with my friends. Instead, I had a little voice in my head that continued to say, “You should’ve planned your next step.”
Fast forward two months, hundreds of job applications and what felt like countless interviews. I felt like all my efforts, the 3am coffees, the rushed assignments, the hours of missed sleep, had been for nothing.
Something had to change. As I reflected on why I wasn’t meeting the mark with these companies, I realised that I had been striving to present myself as the ideal employee. I was attempting to embody a non-confrontational, bright-eyed and eager young person, willing to go to any length to secure the job. I believed I was telling the interviewers what they wanted to hear. Evidently, I was not.
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So, I decided to be myself and answer the questions honestly. If I didn’t know how to do something, I told them so. But I also told them if you’re willing to teach, I’m willing to learn. I was direct but kind, much like I am in real life. I cracked a joke or two, and suddenly I got the call.
Was it exactly what I wanted to do in life? No, but it was a step in the right direction. I met some of the greatest friends, made memories during my first “big girl” job and threw everything I had into it. But it soon ended.
After two years, the company I started to call my “home away from home”, like so many other organisations around the world, had to downsize and I was hit with redundancy.
As we’ve talked about honesty, I won’t lie to you – I was devastated. I couldn’t believe that after all that work, time and networking it was just over. For a long time, I took it so personally. I thought I had done something wrong or missed the mark, despite my managers and colleagues telling me otherwise.
I was back to square one, I had no idea what the next step was or how I was going to get out of this. And I started the process all over again. Only this time I remembered something that my hiring manager had said when I first started. She told me that she had hired me because of my “attitude” in my interview.
Plain, simple and direct. In some ways I stumped her, I answered all her questions as if she were just a friend or a stranger on the street. In her words, “There was no fluff, you were just yourself unapologetically” and I took that and applied it to my job hunt.
Remember I said that struggle will sometimes lead you to the best opportunity for you? Well, the cycle started again, interview after interview, application after application.
And soon I found the position that I hold now. My time at the Global Undergraduate Awards has given me freedom and amazing opportunities, and I’ve met some incredible folks along the way. I never thought I would find a job better than the one I had before and yet I found one that was so much better for me.
As a member of Generation Z stepping into the workforce, the transition can feel daunting. The established workforce may be hesitant to embrace the fresh perspective and new approaches you bring. Consequently, navigating the job market can be challenging, with doors often seeming to close before you.
But the thing is, the right employer will see what is so great about you as an individual. Don’t be afraid to be unapologetically yourself. You have completed the hard work in your studies and proven that you can do amazing things when you put your mind to it. Be yourself, I promise it will get you a lot further in your life than pretending to be anything or anyone else.
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