How to Survive Your First Summer as a College Grad

By Madison Jeffery

You just graduated college. It was beyond exciting and you’re ready to burst forth into the real world as a gainfully employed, productive member of society.

I know. That was me last year.

It’s funny how grown up we always think we are. It happens after every graduation. Post-high school, you were the most mature, adult human being ever, going off to flourish on your own at college. Then you got there and realized you had no idea what you were doing.

After blindly smashing your way through the last four years (don’t lie — we all did it), you’ve reached college graduation and you have the same feeling. You are for real an adult now. High school you had no idea what adult was. I mean, hey, you can legally drink, you have a piece of paper with your name on it that you paid thousands of dollars for to tell people you’re smart, and you’re about to have a line of excited employers waiting to hire you and pay you lots of money.

Well….. maybe not quite.

Turns out, that thing everyone says about it being really hard to get a job is true. It took me 8 months to get a full-time, salaried position after graduation. Here I am, a whole year later, adulting to the max and thinking back to that fateful first summer after college.

There are a few things I did that ended up being life-savers and others I wish I did more of. But don’t fret, dear friends, I’m going to lay it out straight for you.

Here are five ways to survive your first summer as a college grad and set yourself up for success in your first year of adulting:

1. Get your personal brand in tip-top shape.

First things first, you really need to invest in your personal brand. This includes everything from your social media profiles to your resume and interviewing tactics.

Get online and Google your name. What comes up? Would you want POTUS to see it? If the answer is no, take it off. Quit swearing and ranting on Twitter, take all those drunk party pictures down (yes, all of them), and for goodness sake if you aren’t on LinkedIn please get on.

Oh, and your resume? It can no longer be a boring, horribly formatted piece of paper with your credentials on it. It’ll go in the trash (virtual or real, I couldn’t tell you). Your personality has to come through. Throw in a pop of your favorite color, use a funky but easy-to-read font, play with text size and formatting; there are a million ways to stand out. Find one. Two tools I love for resume creation? Canva and Creddle (they’re to die for — and free — you’re welcome).

Last, but definitely not least, in terms of your personal brand is your interview skills. Get your butt on The Muse and read up on do’s and don’ts. Landing an interview is hard enough, you don’t want to blow it once you get there. Pro-tip: don’t spend hours trolling The Muse instead of making your resume awesome and applying to jobs… it’s easy to get sucked into the wonderful black hole of inspiration.

2. Try out a freelance gig.

I found an awesome freelance job on my college’s careers site a few days after graduation. I shot off my resume (beautifully designed on Canva), went to an interview, and had the job two weeks later.

It was a 10 hour per week gig designing a WiX website for an international non-profit and it paid $10/hour. Doesn’t seem like much, but it’s blossomed into an amazing long-term side job. The results? I’ve gotten to add some pretty stellar projects to my portfolio, put new and desirable skills on my resume, and expand my network to get several other clients’ projects under my belt.

I picked a side gig doing something that isn’t at the center of my skill set: web design. Luckily it included additional skills that I hone at my day job as well, like copy writing and editing. But what started out as a “just because” side job has become a necessary and cherished creative release for me outside of work and has driven me to develop my skills in different areas through other freelance positions.

Worth it. Much experience. Many credibility.

3. Apply, apply, apply.*

Seriously, do. not. wait. to start applying to jobs. This was a huge and confusing thing for me just before and just after graduation. I started to get stressed about when to start applying. Was two months before too early? Too late? Should I wait until after? I had no clue. It’s kind of a question you have to answer for yourself.

My recommendation? Start sending out resumes no later than a week after you walk across that stage. I didn’t follow my own sage advice (which I wouldn’t be able to give to you if I had… so…). I got hired for the freelancing position and became complacent. I waited until August when I moved home to start really applying to jobs. That’s probably why it took four more months to actually find something.

My little asterisk in the header is to let you know applying for every single job related to your skill set isn’t a good idea, no matter how many people tell you it is. Apply for jobs you actually want. If you’re throwing resumes out willy-nilly and going on interviews at companies you’re not super interested in, it’s not going to work out anyway.

Even if you do get the job, you’ll get bored quickly and be on the hunt again. You’re going to spend more time at work than you do at home and see your coworkers more than your dog (sad, I know). Make sure the companies you’re applying to are places you can really see yourself being happy and making friends.

4. Start your work wardrobe.

Companies today have a myriad of dress codes. Some stick with the old school business professional, others are cool if you come in wearing jeans.

Either way, you need to start building a professional wardrobe. Gone are the days when you can roll out of bed and go out in public wearing sweatpants and a two-day-old t-shirt. Even if you’re scoping out companies who allow casual dress, you need at least a few professional staples in your closet (for interviews and that off-chance you land a job at the White House).

There are ups and downs to the whole no sweatpants thing. The downsides? You really want the sweatpants back if you end up working in a cold office and professional attire can be extremely expensive. Upsides: you feel like a Girl (or Guy) Boss all the time and after a couple weeks, getting up early to make yourself presentable is kind of awesome (so much time, so many hair possibilities).

Make sure you become intimately familiar with each “style” of dress code whether it’s business professional, business casual, or just casual.

5. Enjoy every minute.

Savor all that free time. Your life is about to become a blur of work, gym, home (where you try to smush in time to read, watch tv, shower, love your dog, see your significant other, and attempt to cook food), sleep, repeat. For some reason, having a full-time big girl job makes time go by super fast.

Plan plenty of fun trips to new cities (and, if you can swing it, countries), go on local mini adventures and discover new spots in your city, spend all the time you can with friends and your dog and your mom. But most importantly, schedule time to sit and do nothing.

As a fully functioning adult (lol, right) you rarely have time to just sit and do nothing. So take the time to turn off the tv, open the blinds and watch the rain, go outside and watch the clouds, read a million books, or just stare off into space. You’ll be glad you did.