The perks of being an entry level… or not.
Do not seek any educative purpose or political orientations whatsoever behind this work. The following story is obviously inspired from my own experience, which I believe makes it more realistic and easy to understand.
ID: optimistic, newly graduated, and craving for adventures
To introduce the topic, here is a short story: the daily life of a freshly graduated 25-year-old Engineer and Business female student, hyperactive and looking for a job abroad. Her experience will be the basis of a generic portrait which will be our main character.
January 2017. It has been 2 months already that our 25-year-old woman came back home after many months spent abroad. She is newly graduated, and looking for any possible way to take off again towards new horizons. She forces herself to set an alarm every morning, from Monday to Friday, as if she was really going to work. But she takes her laptop and her smartphone instead, pour herself some coffee and eats breakfast; a gesture that has eventually become her ritual. While she is still eating, she resumes her perpetual research using 3 channels: category 1 as corporate websites, category 2 as school career portals and random employment pages; and category 3 as personal contacts and relations.
By sticking to that routine, she enjoys a sense of purpose and responsibility. She is also convinced that it is critical for her to remain motivated, cheerful, and organized — for the sake of both her sanity and her first job.
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” (W. Churchill)
After a few hours of diligent research, she feels incomplete, and particularly in need to do something else: as an active individual, she practices several activities per day; filling out the blanks in her not-so-busy-anymore planning by taking a license in a fitness club, participating in group activities, or — for instance — reading and writing. It is not as if she was going to call anyone anyway, since everybody from her circle of friends or acquaintances has a job. As the day comes to an end, she can go back to civilization and meet people after work, eventually. However, all this remains a routine, like a continuous cycle.
The above story helps understanding that slowly routine becomes a problem and, as a rule, problems have their own way to mess with our emotions. It is rather easy to find official reports or scholar papers dealing with the nature of the employment barriers that entry level people have faced for years. However, let us try and study the emotional side of it.
Feeling n°1: motivation
That’s it! Your internship is over, you are (or soon-to-be) graduated; thus, you can finally be projected into the awesome galaxy of job offers. You know you have degree(s) — meaning that your education is good or excellent — and you proudly display a great international experience. You are confident that those elements will prove critical to be spotted amongst many. You soon circle the most common qualifications required from companies:
- You need to come from a Business or Engineering School;
- You also need a few years of experience in a dedicated field [or often, several fields];
- You are asked to be fluent [or to have a good, excellent, awesome, formidable level] in English, sometimes in a third language [or “preferably” more];
- You obviously need [Excellent, great] communication and personal presentation skills;
- You finally should possess [Impeccable, high] work ethic and autonomy.
Depending on the jobs and missions, the above qualifications are combined with more specific skills and superlative terms, such as:
- An [incredible, magnificent] analytical mindset;
- A [great, incredible] taste for organization and detail;
- A [wonderful, passionate] ability with numbers, charts, and a full Excel and PowerPoint proficiency. *
*the above list is non-exhaustive
Yet, you invariably face a great China Wall: the experience. You may be the most motivated woman or man on Earth, you bump into that huge oak tree that needs climbing. Many would know the emotional lift induced by spotting your dream offer, getting all too excited… and finally looking upon the requirements. Feeling let down by the all-too-common “5 to 8 years in [the field] are strongly recommended/required/preferred”. The exaggeration serves the purpose of this paper.
At this instant, an unwelcome and universal feeling takes hold in your mind: frustration.
Feeling n°2: frustration
I believe that our mind is like a software designed to tick which applies to the current swings of emotions inside our brain. When a situation settles, it eventually comes up with an “emotional cloud”, as computers do. If I refer to our 25-year-old character from earlier, she would think:
It is the real paradox between the initial motivation and the resulting frustration. Luck puts our emotions under strain as well. Consequently, our character feels awkward, because everybody around her seems to be so sure about her abilities and skills; they believe that “with her former education, it should be more than OK” [a very French point of view, I might say]. She is slowly starting to feel strangely disconnected and out of place. She senses that her relatives cannot really understand: they can sympathize, but they cannot entirely circle the problem she is trying very hard to deal with.
That is when you start suffering from the effects of a new feeling: isolation.
Feeling n°3: social and sentimental split
I could put a more generic word on that sense of rejection, instead of a long — and rather pompous — expression. But what matters is the meaning of it. While our entry level character aspires to personal and financial independence, she cannot afford leaving by her means anymore because she has no salary. She must get back to her family’s, after having known the sweet taste of freedom. At first, she is happy to be among her folks. However, she soon wishes she could take off again: there is nothing thrilling left to say and, as comfortable it might be to benefit from her reassuring cocoon, something inside of her has felt different ever since her first journey abroad.
“It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed is you.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
Therefore, as our 25-year-old persona does, you find yourself in a position where any sentimental involvement is to avoid: you cannot really steady your life, because you ignore where you will be in a week, or in a month. You are expecting an opportunity to knock at your door sooner or later, so you patiently await your moment. Alone. Getting involved with someone, you feel that everyone could lose at the end. Some choose to remain in their native country/ city to find a job and settle with their family, boy/girlfriend, and close circle. Some could say it is a safer path, less risky and comfortable. Anyway, you chose a different career orientation, and you are aware of its implications. You sincerely wish you could work abroad, and you know you must take risks today to get ready for tomorrow.
Given our character’s youth and high energy level, she believes that her incredible and exciting project should be worth the social and sentimental sacrifice that comes with it when starting from scratch. Therefore, she is not really complaining about the challenge being tough. It is a big deal, but it is also worth it: the newly found courage does tamper the disorganized flow of emotions induced by the revelation.
Feeling n°4: resilience and perseverance
Our character has spent several weeks with a group of four people, meeting every morning, and looking together for jobs. Teamwork revealed extremely useful to correct resume or prepare for potential interviews. It appeared to be the best option at hand, and she felt glad not being left alone.
“Continuous effort — not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential.” (W. Churchill)
When her team members finally found a job, and left the group, she quickly realizes how valuable they were in her daily life. But she is adaptable and motivated, so she keeps on trying by herself: it is not the first time, and it won’t be the last. She only cares about finding the right push, a new surge of motivation to move forward even if it does not work out on the first few applications. Every piece of advice is useful. She takes it all and copes with the situation. Of course, she could just stay at her parents’: being fed, taken care of, and financially helped for as long as she would want to. However, she is not such a person, and she strives to start anew as soon as possible. While she is still fighting for her dreams to come true, real and appealing opportunities eventually show up. Her spirits get lifted, and she finally meet people that believe in her and her education. The vicious circle mutates into a virtuous one, making her see things with bright new eyes.
There are of course many other feelings and emotions related to situations like this one, the Human brain being far more complex to be qualified with a bunch of words. But it serves the purpose of this paper, and helps uncovering a morality out of it: whatever our methods while looking for job opportunities abroad, the key element to remain focused on is to find a purpose: purpose leads to determination, which gives the strength to persevere despite failures. Whatever the failures or the disappointments, it is part of everyone’s life at some point. Better learn sooner than later how to face them, because it is critical to always keep real and concrete goals in mind. They are the shelter needed to protect an individual from a storm, the golden compass when one is led astray: purpose and determination safeguard our spirit, they protect us from despair and despondency.
Referees
Mrs Anne-Flore MAMAN LARRAUFIE, Ph.D.
Academic Director MS SMIB — ESSEC
Co-academic Director Master MIPC — ESSEC/ISIPCA/UCP
Responsable Pédagogique du programme Business et Opérations en Afrique (BOA)
Mr Peter O’Connor
Professor of Information Systems
Dean of Academic Programs
Essec Business School
